I have recently discovered the delight in roasting whole chickens (well, maybe about 2-3 years ago). It started with just the chicken breasts, I'd roast one or two at a time, which was great, but you definitely don't get the same rush pulling two measly breasts out of the oven as you do with a whole chicken. I pretty much mastered the chicken breast (bone-in, skin-on, the only way to go if you're roasting it), producing moist tender chicken every time. I mixed it up, adding different herbs, stuffing different cheeses under the skin, etc... I'd roast a whole chicken every once in awhile, but not that often.
I had a bit more trouble with the whole chicken. Although it seemed it should be so simple, I mean really, how much harder could it be than just the chicken breast? Not that it didn't taste good, it was just inconsistent. Which kind of infuriated me because roast chicken is really a very simple meal that you can dress up or dress down depending on your mood (kind of like a great pair of jeans, which I am still searching for as well). I love that it has very little prep and you just throw it in the oven. You can make for lots of people or, like for us, have lots of chicken leftovers for things like chicken pot pie or chicken enchiladas (my favorites with leftover chicken). The inconsistency drove me a little crazy, I can't deal with things like that. So I started making it less and less often, until tonight, when I had my break-through moment.
Actually I think it was probably a couple months ago when one of my friends mentioned to me that you must must (I do believe she actually did use two musts) use a kosher chicken because it's salted. At least I think that was the reason, but I could definitely be wrong. So yesterday when we went to the grocery store and I was staring blankly at the meat department trying to come up with something for dinner tonight, chicken caught my eye. And I almost forgot about the kosher chicken rule, but I was having trouble finding a good looking chicken so I thought I'd try the kosher section and then I remembered that I was supposed to get a kosher one anyway.
So as you can imagine, I made roast chicken (from a kosher chicken) for dinner tonight. And, if I do say so myself, it was AWESOME. So, yes, the first argument one might make is that perhaps this was just an "on" night for me and my roast chicken. Since my issue in the past wasn't that the chicken was always bad, just inconsistent, perhaps tonight was just one of those good nights. BUT, if you were to make that argument, then clearly you've never had a kosher chicken.
It was more tender, more juicy and more flavorful than any roast chicken I have ever made. By far. By hundreds of miles. Well, ok, maybe that's a stretch, but it was really good if I haven't mentioned that already. Perhaps it was made better by the sweet potatoes that I roasted along side the chicken that also had the chickeny goodness. A total overload of awesome chicken flavor. Holy cow. I had to stop myself from picking up the carcass and gnawing the remnant chicken bits left on the bone.
Even Lola wanted to get in on the chicken action. She is pretty much the pickiest eater in the household, often times not even eating salmon. She rarely, if ever, eats my chicken (even when I think it tastes good). She too, wanted to attack the chicken carcass, I had to wrestle it out of her little paws (she's strong!).
So, I'd love to give you a recipe, but it doesn't matter what recipe you use, just use kosher chicken! Also important though to cook it to the right temperature...I did 170 deg taken in the thigh at the thickest part. And let it rest for 15 minutes after you take it out of the oven.
I think what I did was cook it at 375 for about an hour (I was aiming for 400 but well, my oven sucks) and then at 400 for about 15-20 minutes for maybe a four pound chicken (maybe it was more, or less, I really don't remember). I also brushed the skin with about 1-2 tablespoons of butter, added salt and pepper and stuffed the inside with onions and lemons. But seriously, pay no attention to the cooking temperature or the other extras, just make sure that you get the chicken temperature right and make it kosher! I'd also highly recommend roasting some veggies or potatoes or something inside the pan with the chicken, because it tastes so darn good (you just have to monitor it a little more closely and pull out the veggies if they are done before the chicken). Don't forget like I almost did, buy kosher!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Fondue for the February Blues
It started to overcome me in much the usual manner. First it was intermittent grumpiness, then cravings of rich foods (every night) which all culminated into the whining from the couch one Saturday afternoon, "I'm soooo bored...I don't want to do anything...I want to do something, but I don't know what...what can I dooooooooooo?" Jeff, at which point dragged me off to the gym and pointed to my favorite elliptical machine and insisted I get on it.
Of course it didn't help me feel better, we both knew it wouldn't, especially after Jeff said in an unassuming manner, "It's February." That was it. February. The longest month of the whole year. It sucks. It always has. Every year I make the rule that we must do SOMETHING in February and we always forget, then I'll hit the mid-February wall and we look at each other and wonder how we forgot once again. I have now named this condition I have, it's officially called "Mid-February F-ing Sucks Disorder" or MFFSD.
Aah, so you're curious now as to where the fondue comes into all of this, aren't you? So it was a connection that I would have never made in my mind. But independently one of my friends suggested that we go out for fondue at Artisanal (famous for fondue). We set the date and on a very very very cold February eve we met for our fondue.
Everyone knows fondue, right? Classic is the Emmenthal (at least as far as I know it is), all melted and gooey in a pot. We ordered two pots, a bottle of wine and all the fixin's (including the totally untraditional but most delicious kielbasa! yum! what polak wouldn't go for that!) Who doesn't love cheese, and even more so, melted cheese. So we indulged to our cheesy hearts content and topped the evening off with cheesecake. A perfectly cheese-filled affair. Wine, cheese, cheese, and cheesecake; good friends and conversation too. We even scraped down the pot at the end of the meal and ate those delicious golden cheese bits stuck to the bottom. Thank goodness we had a real-swissman with us to show us how to properly extract every bit of goodness from that pot. (is someone from Switzerland called a swissman? doesn't sound right to me, but I don't know how to search that one on google) I was absolutely perfectly satisfied after the meal. No February blues at all, in fact there was even a hint of happiness, or at the very least, contentness. Did the cheese have a magical potion freeing my February bruised soul? Perhaps....
So my theory goes something like this: it's cold and sad outside, cheese is hot and gooey inside, the bread even transforms from a sad hard nugget to a delightful warm soft morsel. The cheese can transform anything! Maybe all I'm saying is that February makes me a hard piece of bread, but I don't care, because Fondue Saves All! So I did a little research on this (well, just fondue research in Wikipedia) and it all started in Switzerland in the winter out of necessity, food was scarce in the winter so they had to melt cheese to make it edible (seems like you could just eat the cheese hard, but whatever). Perhaps I'm just getting back to my swiss roots (of which I have none), or maybe everyone has a little bit of swiss neutrality in them, clearly the swiss knew what was up when the winter time blues hit. This is how the swiss stay so peaceful all the time, they have fondue when the bitter winter sets in. Those smarty pants swiss.
I have yet to make my own fondue, mostly for lack of a fondue pot (and lack of a place to keep a fondue pot in our itsy bitsy kitchen), but all you out there with the means to do so - please, dig in to the fondue pot! Solve the MFFSD once and for all! Or head to Florida which is warm and sunny, that'd do it too.
Of course it didn't help me feel better, we both knew it wouldn't, especially after Jeff said in an unassuming manner, "It's February." That was it. February. The longest month of the whole year. It sucks. It always has. Every year I make the rule that we must do SOMETHING in February and we always forget, then I'll hit the mid-February wall and we look at each other and wonder how we forgot once again. I have now named this condition I have, it's officially called "Mid-February F-ing Sucks Disorder" or MFFSD.
Aah, so you're curious now as to where the fondue comes into all of this, aren't you? So it was a connection that I would have never made in my mind. But independently one of my friends suggested that we go out for fondue at Artisanal (famous for fondue). We set the date and on a very very very cold February eve we met for our fondue.
Everyone knows fondue, right? Classic is the Emmenthal (at least as far as I know it is), all melted and gooey in a pot. We ordered two pots, a bottle of wine and all the fixin's (including the totally untraditional but most delicious kielbasa! yum! what polak wouldn't go for that!) Who doesn't love cheese, and even more so, melted cheese. So we indulged to our cheesy hearts content and topped the evening off with cheesecake. A perfectly cheese-filled affair. Wine, cheese, cheese, and cheesecake; good friends and conversation too. We even scraped down the pot at the end of the meal and ate those delicious golden cheese bits stuck to the bottom. Thank goodness we had a real-swissman with us to show us how to properly extract every bit of goodness from that pot. (is someone from Switzerland called a swissman? doesn't sound right to me, but I don't know how to search that one on google) I was absolutely perfectly satisfied after the meal. No February blues at all, in fact there was even a hint of happiness, or at the very least, contentness. Did the cheese have a magical potion freeing my February bruised soul? Perhaps....
So my theory goes something like this: it's cold and sad outside, cheese is hot and gooey inside, the bread even transforms from a sad hard nugget to a delightful warm soft morsel. The cheese can transform anything! Maybe all I'm saying is that February makes me a hard piece of bread, but I don't care, because Fondue Saves All! So I did a little research on this (well, just fondue research in Wikipedia) and it all started in Switzerland in the winter out of necessity, food was scarce in the winter so they had to melt cheese to make it edible (seems like you could just eat the cheese hard, but whatever). Perhaps I'm just getting back to my swiss roots (of which I have none), or maybe everyone has a little bit of swiss neutrality in them, clearly the swiss knew what was up when the winter time blues hit. This is how the swiss stay so peaceful all the time, they have fondue when the bitter winter sets in. Those smarty pants swiss.
I have yet to make my own fondue, mostly for lack of a fondue pot (and lack of a place to keep a fondue pot in our itsy bitsy kitchen), but all you out there with the means to do so - please, dig in to the fondue pot! Solve the MFFSD once and for all! Or head to Florida which is warm and sunny, that'd do it too.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Not so special sauce
There is this most delicious hamburger joint in Michigan that is a must whenever I'm there. Last time I was back there I wasn't able to go, so this time I made it my #1 priority. After arriving at 8 am (and being awake for 4 hours), the first thing that I said when I got in the car was "wanna go to Red Coat for lunch?" followed by "can I get some coffee?"
After forcing three others to join me for lunch (they have the luxury of going whenever they want, so it's not so fun for them), we met there around 1 pm. I wanted to go there for lunch thinking there would be no wait...no such luck. We only had to wait about 15 minutes, but I still couldn't believe it, there isn't a whole lot of offices around there, so what did these people do that were congregating at the bar for a 3-hour lunch?
Anywho, the reason their burgers are so very delicious is because of this "special sauce" that they use. For the past few times that I've been there I have wanted to get a side of the sauce so I could taste it and try and figure out what was in it so I could try and make it myself. Of course I always forgot to do so. So this time my mom ordered her sauce on the side and I got super excited because that meant I could try it.
I always knew that it was some kind of mayo based sauce, but I could never figure out what else was in there. The moments ticked down until the burgers arrived. I could not contain my excitement, not only was I about to indulge in my favorite burger but I also had the opportunity to taste the sauce all on its own. So I first went in for the sauce..dun dun dah....
...mayo and, well, it just tasted like mayo and onions. That's it. There were definitely no other flavors in there that I could discern. Nothing. Maybe a bit of salt, but I really and truly believe that it was just mayo and onion. Totally disappointed I bit into my burger, and you know what? It didn't even taste as good now that I knew what was in the sauce. A sad, sad day.
I managed to finish my burger and lick the plate clean, but it certainly wasn't my usual Red Coat experience. I actually think my burger didn't taste as good because it was cooked a bit more than I like, which is almost always a deal-breaker for me and my burger enjoyment. Any bit darker than medium rare and my enjoyment exponentially falls off.
So maybe it was good because of the mystery in the sauce, I'm not sure. But I'm going to try and make my own onion-mayo sauce and see if my burger is any bit as good as I remember of the Red Coat golden years. I'm hopeful that there's more to Red Coat's burger than just the mystery of the sauce.
After forcing three others to join me for lunch (they have the luxury of going whenever they want, so it's not so fun for them), we met there around 1 pm. I wanted to go there for lunch thinking there would be no wait...no such luck. We only had to wait about 15 minutes, but I still couldn't believe it, there isn't a whole lot of offices around there, so what did these people do that were congregating at the bar for a 3-hour lunch?
Anywho, the reason their burgers are so very delicious is because of this "special sauce" that they use. For the past few times that I've been there I have wanted to get a side of the sauce so I could taste it and try and figure out what was in it so I could try and make it myself. Of course I always forgot to do so. So this time my mom ordered her sauce on the side and I got super excited because that meant I could try it.
I always knew that it was some kind of mayo based sauce, but I could never figure out what else was in there. The moments ticked down until the burgers arrived. I could not contain my excitement, not only was I about to indulge in my favorite burger but I also had the opportunity to taste the sauce all on its own. So I first went in for the sauce..dun dun dah....
...mayo and, well, it just tasted like mayo and onions. That's it. There were definitely no other flavors in there that I could discern. Nothing. Maybe a bit of salt, but I really and truly believe that it was just mayo and onion. Totally disappointed I bit into my burger, and you know what? It didn't even taste as good now that I knew what was in the sauce. A sad, sad day.
I managed to finish my burger and lick the plate clean, but it certainly wasn't my usual Red Coat experience. I actually think my burger didn't taste as good because it was cooked a bit more than I like, which is almost always a deal-breaker for me and my burger enjoyment. Any bit darker than medium rare and my enjoyment exponentially falls off.
So maybe it was good because of the mystery in the sauce, I'm not sure. But I'm going to try and make my own onion-mayo sauce and see if my burger is any bit as good as I remember of the Red Coat golden years. I'm hopeful that there's more to Red Coat's burger than just the mystery of the sauce.
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