Something to Crow About

ALL THINGS CHICKEN

If you were born and raised on a farm than chickens probably aren’t all that interesting to you. 🐔 But I was a city girl.

A city girl with a friend who’s father fancied himself a “gentleman” farmer. Meaning, he had a little garden out back where he liked to diddle around with vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, beans and cucumbers.

Summers were pleasant in their old farmhouse full of good stuff from the garden with canning continuously going on for the long hard winter they were always planning for. I usually was sent home with a basket full of goodies.

They also had chickens so they could have fresh eggs everyday. While he had a coop there were always one to two running through the yard picking up bits of this and that to eat and staying just ahead of the family dog on chase.

The chickens were very small and he referred to the breed as bantam. They were little and scrappy and I just thought they were adorable.

CHICKENS AS PETS-IS THAT A GOOD IDEA REALLY?

Prone to making everything into a pet at the time, one of the baskets I was sent home with in June for my birthday was a set of five bantam chickens of my very own.

I promptly named them all the exotic names from my favorite books and TV shows: something like Alexis, Christopher, Barnabas, Angelique and Josette.

We were getting ready to move into a brand new home in something called a sub-division; it was very posh and my father looked quite pained by those chickens wondering whether we could even have them in the new neighborhood.

But being the kind of father he was, he set quietly about finding a big box to make a coop for them in the basement until he could use the doghouse and chicken wire to build something better in our new backyard.

The life of a chicken can be quite precarious as it turns out. One of them died before we even got moved for some unknown reason. I mean it isn’t like you take a chicken to the vet right? They also grew up quickly and the roosters began to crow.

Happening very early every morning I am sure our new neighbors were all less than thrilled. It actually prompted an argument between my sister and one of the young boys living next door about which was dirtier; chickens or flies (she being positive it was flies-him implying we were raising dirty animals next door to him).

A DOG NAMED ROCKET

Remember that precarious part? Remember I told you this breed of chicken is aggressive and scrappy? The house across the backyard had a junk yard dog named Rocket. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs as you well know.

This dog was different. It was mean and sneaky. But the chickens knew they were fast and could fly short distances if necessary (which meant flying onto the lower roof deck most times when being chased for the kill).

The first time Rocket managed to snag a chicken my Dad literally chased him down and ripped it away from him pulling the poor chicken’s leg out of the socket while we were all screaming and crying.

My Mom, ever the crafty quick thinker and a school nurse, whipped out some popsicle sticks, fashioning small splints, stuffed the leg back in and taped up the whole she-bang. Crisis averted! 👏👏 Happy kids!

That rooster looked like a peg leg pirate for six weeks but it healed and gave the chicken a longer life only for him to miss that roof on the next chase and be immediately killed. That dog slowly and methodically killed them all off. 😲

I HEAR MARTHA STEWART HAS CHICKENS

So much for chickens as pets but I do hear Martha Stewart has chickens and they are the pretty and expensive kind that lay eggs with all the beautiful pastel colors. This has gotten to be a trend for city dwellers to get a couple of exotic chickens like Silkies and start having fresh pretty eggs all to themselves.

I have blogged about my friend Sam who has a small farm and I won’t tell you how much he paid to his friend who designed him a mobile chicken coop so he could move them around for cleaning up leftovers for sustainability purposes. (Those chickens live in one fine coop and he does name all his animals regardless of when they are destined to die…).

CHARLENE DON’T YOU NAME THEM CHICKENS

Unless you’re gonna call them lunch and dinner that is. 🤣 What most farmers probably tell their kids as I do believe as well, that it is harder to kill and eat something you have actually named.

In that spirit, it wouldn’t be right for me to let you go without sharing a few roast chicken recipes right? I love a good roast chicken (as long as I didn’t know the chickens beforehand).

It is the one dish that everyone should be able to do and do well. But so many can’t and there are differences of opinion about what makes a good roast chicken.

Some say the skin should be crispy and the flesh tender (that would be me) and some say the skin should be less crispy to lead to juicier flesh and some say it must be brined first for the best flavor.

Ina Garten tells young women who want to cook one thing that they should learn her perfect roast chicken recipe. She has been told more than once by the girls who have served it to their boyfriends that they have all gotten engaged within a week of doing so.

So it stands to reason that one of the first recipes I would share would be Ina’s. Do you want to get engaged? Do you just want to impress somebody? Make ‘em a chicken!

Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs

1 lemon, halved

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks

1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges

Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

1. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

2. Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

A FEW OTHER TIPS & RECIPES

According to The Week magazine, the French know their way around a bird and while there are many ways to cook it there are some things that emerge among the best thinking. It should be a good quality bird, it should reach room temperature before roasting, salt but don’t pepper it and turn the bird frequently.

Frederic Menager, of restaurant Ferme de la Ruchotte, suggests the high heat method of roasting should get you the crispy bird with tender flesh of your dreams (yes I dream about food…don’t you?).

THE HIGH HEAT METHOD

Place a cast iron casserole dish in the oven and preheat both to 475. Stuff a lemon, some thyme, garlic cloves and a tsp of coarse salt in the body cavity of a 4 1/2 lb bird. Season the outside with salt and 10 tblsp of soft butter. Sear the chicken on its back for 10 minutes. Turn it on it’s left thigh and cook 10 minutes. Turn it on the right thigh for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 300 and cook for 30 minutes on it’s back again basting every 5 minutes. Remove and lower temperature to 200 while chicken stands for 30 minutes. Roast at 200 for another 10 minutes. Let rest briefly before serving.

Arthur Le Caisne suggests the gentle heat method gets you a less crispy bird but a juicier flesh.

GENTLE HEAT METHOD

Preheat oven to 275. Place 2 tblsp butter, garlic cloves and herbs in the cavity of a 4 1/2 lb bird. Spread 2 tblsp of butter under the skin of the chicken and rub with olive oil. Salt the outside of the bird. Place in a baking dish slightly larger on it’s side. Roast 15 minutes and turn to other side to roast another 15 minutes. Turn breast down and roast 2 1/2 hours. Remove and let rest for 20 minutes.

Fabien Beaufour, of Dyades restaurant, prefers the bird to be brined before roasting. This makes for a more flavorful bird but requires more time and effort ahead of serving.

BRINING BEFORE ROASTING METHOD

Make the Brine

Boil 4 cups of water with 2 tblsp salt, 1 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup soy sauce. Add 12 cups water, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 lemon slice and 1/2 cup chopped onion. Let it cool.

Submerge a 3 1/2 lb chicken in the brine in fridge for 6 hours. Drain: let it dry for 3 hours. Place rosemary, 3 bay leaves and garlic clove in the body cavity. Mix 1/4 cup of olive oil with 3/4 tsp each of caynne pepper and paprika and rub over bird. Let dry 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Roast bird on it’s back for 20 minutes than for 15 minutes on each of it’s sides. Let stand 20 minutes before serving.

A WORD ABOUT STOCKS AND BROTHS

In the words of Andrea Nguyen, “think of broths as flavored water and stocks as diluted sauce”. So in chicken, does it really matter? The answer is probably maybe.

Do we all have a Swanson box or two sitting in the pantry or fridge when in a hurry? Heck yes! Does it mean that we are getting all the best from a recipe when we use that short cut? Heck no!

So can you substitute…yes! You certainly can. It is just that you won’t get all the love that you would get by using a stock. Stocks normally simmer for hours with lots of bone and even chicken feet (if you can get them) for stock that will gel when chilled.

You can make a knock out stock in an hour and a half by using a pressure cooker. Slow cookers work like a dream too. Making big batches and putting small amounts in tupperware in the freezer means you will have liquid gold for the special times you want to use it over store bought. It is a game changer to recipes.

In short, add some meat as well as bones and feet, add good water, add herbs and only a few vegetables for best flavor. Drain through a sieve and cheesecloth.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So I know you weren’t really sure what direction I was going in when this blog started right? But I did take you through all things chicken as promised from having owned them as pets to the best recipes for the ones you name lunch and dinner too! 😆😉

You have gotten some of the best roast chicken recipes out there that promise fabulous results. Make your own stock and try a recipe with Swanson and one with your stock. See what I mean when I say love on a plate. You might also like to read other blogs under the Edible Fare category.

Hey, don’t be a stranger! Let me hear from you on any great chicken stories or recipes you would like to share. If you try any of the recipes here, let me know how they turn out OK? What would you most like to learn how to cook? Until next time….

Cheers,

ArtsyChowRoamer

Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Twitter