Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 Page 27
WASHING AND DRYING
Because commercially raised chickens, on the whole, are packed in a communal tub of ice during at least part of their processing, it is probably wise to give them a thorough washing and drying before storing or cooking—just to be on the safe side.
SINGEING
Usually American chickens have been plucked absolutely clean. If not, pluck and squeeze out feather follicles, then turn the chicken rapidly over a gas or alcohol flame to burn off any hairs or feather bits.
CHICKEN STOCK
A little concentrated chicken stock is easy to make with the giblets and neck of a chicken and will always give more character to your sauce, however simple it may be.
Brown Chicken Stock
For about 1 cup
A heavy-bottomed, 2-quart saucepan
The chicken neck, gizzard, heart, and miscellaneous scraps
1 sliced onion
1 sliced carrot
1½ rendered fresh pork fat or cooking oil
Chop the chicken into pieces of 1½ inches or less. Brown them with the vegetables in hot fat or oil.
2 cups white or brown stock, or canned beef bouillon, or chicken broth
2 parsley sprigs
⅓ bay leaf
⅛ tsp thyme
Pour out the browning fat. Add the liquid, the herbs, and enough water to cover the chicken by ½ inch. Simmer partially covered for 1½ hours or more, skimming as necessary. Strain, degrease, and the stock is ready to use.
White Chicken Stock
Same as brown chicken stock, but do not brown the ingredients, and use white stock or canned chicken broth.
STUFFING WARNING
Stuffings may be prepared in advance, but a chicken should never be stuffed until just before it is cooked, as the mixture may sour inside the chicken and spoil the meat.
HOW TO TRUSS A CHICKEN
A whole chicken should be trussed so the legs, wings, and neck skin are held in place during its cooking, and the bird will make a neat and attractive appearance on the table. The following French method calls for a trussing or mattress needle and white string. There are two ties, one at the tail end to secure the drumsticks, and one at the breast end to fasten the wings and neck skin.
Tie Number 1
Thrust the needle through the lower part of the carcass.
Come back over one drumstick, through the tip of the breastbone, and over the second drumstick. Tie.
Tie Number 2
Push the needle through the carcass where the second joint and drumstick join, coming out at the corresponding point on the other side.
Turn the chicken on its breast. Fold the wings akimbo. Go through one wing, catch the neck skin against either side of the backbone, and come out the other wing. Draw the string tightly and tie.
The chicken is now ready for oven roasting, spit roasting, or poaching.
HOW TO TELL WHEN A CHICKEN IS DONE
A stewing chicken is done when its meat is tender if pierced with a fork. Roasters, fryers, and broilers are tender to begin with and are done when the flesh is cooked through so that the juices, when the meat is pricked deeply with a fork, run clear yellow with no trace of rosy color. For a whole chicken, the last drops of juice drained from the vent will run clear yellow with no rosy traces. While an underdone chicken is not fit to eat, it is a shame to overcook chicken, allowing the meat to dry out and lose its juice and flavor. However, we have noticed that the French criterion of doneness seems like under-doneness to some American palates. We consider a chicken to be cooked at a meat-thermometer reading of 175 to 180 degrees, and have based our recipes on these figures. The figure on American thermometers is 190 degrees.
TIMETABLE FOR WHOLE CHICKENS: Oven Roasting, Casserole Roasting, Spit Roasting, and Poaching
This table is based on unchilled, unstuffed chicken. Oven temperature for open-pan roasting is 350 degrees, for covered roasting, 325 degrees. Meat-thermometer reading is 175 to 180 degrees. Add 5 to 10 minutes more to the total roasting time if you wish a reading of 190 degrees. You will note that larger chickens require less cooking time per pound than smaller chickens. A 4-pound chicken takes an hour and 10 to 20 minutes, while a 7-pound bird requires only 20 to 30 minutes more. Stuffed chicken will take 10 to 30 minutes additional roasting than the total time indicated.
ROASTING TIMETABLE-OVEN TEMPERATURE: 350 DEGREES
ROAST CHICKEN
POULET RÔTI
[Roast Chicken]
You can always judge the quality of a cook or a restaurant by roast chicken. While it does not require years of training to produce a juicy, brown, buttery, crisp-skinned, heavenly bird, it does entail such a greed for perfection that one is under compulsion to hover over the bird, listen to it, above all see that it is continually basted, and that it is done just to the proper turn. Spit roasting, where the chicken is wrapped in fat and continually rotated, is far less exacting than oven roasting where you must constantly turn and baste.
Small French chickens are frequently roasted without a stuffing. The cavity is seasoned with salt and butter, and the skin rubbed with butter. For oven roasting, it is browned lightly for 10 to 15 minutes at a temperature of 425 degrees, then the temperature is reduced to 350, and the chicken is turned and basted until it is done. A simple, short deglazing sauce is made with stock and the juices in the pan, giving just a scant spoonful for each serving.
VEGETABLE SUGGESTIONS
Broiled tomatoes, buttered green beans or peas, and sautéed, roasted, souffléed, or fried potatoes, or potato crêpes
One of the potato casseroles and green peas or beans
Stuffed mushrooms, glazed carrots, and glazed onions
Ratatouille (eggplant casserole), and sautéed potatoes
WINE SUGGESTIONS
A light red wine, such as a Bordeaux-Médoc, or a rosé
For 4 people
Estimated roasting time for a 3-pound chicken: 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
A 3-lb., ready-to-cook roasting or frying chicken
¼ tsp salt
2 Tb softened butter
Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with the salt, and smear in half the butter. Truss the chicken. Dry it thoroughly, and rub the skin with the rest of the butter.
A shallow roasting pan just large enough to hold the chicken easily
To flavor the sauce: a small sliced carrot and onion
For basting: a small saucepan containing 2 Tb melted butter, 1 Tb good cooking oil; a basting brush
Place the chicken breast up in the roasting pan. Strew the vegetables around it, and set it on a rack in the middle of the preheated oven. Allow the chicken to brown lightly for 15 minutes, turning it on the left side after 5 minutes, on the right side for the last 5 minutes, and basting it with the butter and oil after each turn. Baste rapidly, so oven does not cool off. Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Leave the chicken on its side, and baste every 8 to 10 minutes, using the fat in the roasting pan when the butter and oil are exhausted. Regulate oven heat so chicken is making cooking noises, but fat is not burning.
¼ tsp salt
Halfway through estimated roasting time, salt the chicken and turn it on its other side. Continue basting.
¼ tsp salt
Fifteen minutes before end of estimated roasting time, salt again and turn the chicken breast up. Continue basting.
Indications that the chicken is almost done are: a sudden rain of splutters in the oven, a swelling of the breast and slight puff of the skin, the drumstick is tender when pressed and can be moved in its socket. To check further, prick the thickest part of the drumstick with a fork. Its juices should run clear yellow. As a final check, lift the chicken and drain the juices from its vent. If the last drops are clear yellow, the chicken is definitely done. If not, roast another 5 minutes, and test again.
When done, discard trussing strings and set the chicken on a hot platter. It should sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before bei
ng carved, so its juices will retreat back into the tissues.
½ Tb minced shallot or green onion
1 cup brown chicken stock, canned chicken broth, or beef bouillon
Salt and pepper
1 to 2 Tb softened butter
Remove all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan. Stir in the minced shallot or onion and cook slowly for 1 minute. Add the stock and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping up coagulated roasting juices with a wooden spoon and letting liquid reduce to about ½ cup. Season with salt and pepper. Off heat and just before serving, swirl in the enrichment butter by bits until it has been absorbed. Pour a spoonful of the sauce over the chicken, and send the rest to the table in a sauceboat.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
Roast chicken can wait for 20 to 30 minutes in the turned-off hot oven, its door ajar. It cannot be reheated or it loses its fresh and juicy quality.
Poulet à la Broche
[Spit-roasted Chicken]
Estimated roasting time: same as for oven-roasted chicken, see chart.
3 to 4 strips of blanched bacon (never use regular bacon; it will flavor the whole chicken)
Season and truss the chicken as described in the preceding master recipe. Push the spit through it starting at the breast end. Dry it thoroughly, rub with butter and sprinkle with salt. Secure the strips of blanched bacon over the breast and thighs with white string. Because of the bacon, no basting is necessary until the very end.
If you have a rotisserie, use the moderate heat and roast with the door closed. Remove bacon 15 minutes before the end, and baste with the pan drippings until the chicken is browned and done.
If you have a spit attachment in the oven, use a moderate broiler temperature, leave oven door ajar, and place a pan under the chicken to catch the fat and juices. Fifteen minutes before the end, remove the bacon, increase broiler temperature, and continue roasting, basting frequently until the chicken is browned and done.
Use the same tests as for oven roasting in determining when the chicken is done, and the same method for making the sauce.
Poulet Rôti à la Normande
[Roast Chicken Basted with Cream, Herb and Giblet Stuffing]
In this lush combination, the chicken is roasted as usual, but is basted for the last minutes with heavy cream, which rolls off the buttery, brown chicken skin and combines with the pan and stuffing juices.
VEGETABLE SUGGESTIONS
Serve sautéed mushrooms and sautéed potatoes, or green peas and braised onions.
WINE SUGGESTIONS
A chilled white Burgundy or white Graves, or a red Bordeaux-Médoc would be appropriate.
For 4 or 5 people
Herb and giblet stuffing
The chicken gizzard, peeled and minced
1 Tb butter
⅛ tsp oil
A small skillet
The chicken heart, chopped
1 to 4 chopped chicken livers
1 Tb minced shallots or green onions
Sauté the gizzard in hot butter and oil for 2 minutes. Then stir in the heart, liver, and shallots or onions. Sauté for 2 minutes more, or until the liver has stiffened but is still rosy inside. Scrape into a mixing bowl.
⅔ cup coarse crumbs from fresh homemade type of bread
4 Tb cream cheese
2 Tb softened butter
3 Tb minced parsley
⅛ tsp tarragon or thyme
⅛ tsp salt
Pinch of pepper
Blend in the rest of the ingredients and taste carefully for seasoning. Let the stuffing cool.
A 3-lb. ready-to-cook roasting or frying chicken
¼ tsp salt
1 Tb butter
Sprinkle salt inside the chicken, and loosely fill with the stuffing. Sew or skewer the vent. Truss and dry the chicken, and rub its skin with butter.
Roasting the chicken
1 cup whipping cream
Roast it either in the oven, or on a spit. About 10 minutes before the end of the estimated roasting time, remove all but 1 spoonful of fat from the roasting pan. Start basting with 2 or 3 tablespoons of cream every 3 to 4 minutes until the chicken is done. The cream will probably look curdled in the pan, but this will be corrected later.
¼ tsp salt
Remove the chicken to a hot platter and sprinkle with salt.
The sauce
3 Tb strong brown chicken stock or canned beef bouillon
Add the stock or bouillon to the cream in the roasting pan and boil rapidly for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping up coagulated chicken roasting juices.
3 to 4 Tb whipping cream
Salt and pepper
Drops of lemon juice
Just before serving, remove from heat and stir in additional cream by spoonfuls to smooth out the sauce. Correct seasoning, and add drops of lemon juice to taste.
Spoon a bit of sauce over the chicken and send the rest to the table in a warmed sauceboat.
Poulet au Porto
[Roast Chicken Steeped with Port Wine, Cream, and Mushrooms]
Chicken, cream, and mushrooms occur again and again, as it is one of the great combinations. This perfectly delicious recipe is not difficult, but it cannot be prepared ahead of time or the chicken will lose its fresh and juicy quality. The chicken is roasted, then carved, flamed in cognac, and allowed to steep for several minutes with cream, mushrooms, and port wine. It is the kind of dish to do when you are entertaining a few good, food-loving friends whom you can receive in your kitchen.
VEGETABLE SUGGESTIONS
Nothing should interfere with these special flavors. It would be best to serve only potatoes sautéed in butter, or a perfectly seasoned risotto. Peas, or asparagus tips, or braised onions, could be added if you feel the necessity for more vegetables.
WINE SUGGESTIONS
Serve very good, chilled, white Burgundy such as a Meursault or Montrachet, or an excellent, chateâu-bottled white Graves.
For 4 people
A 3-lb., ready-to-cook, roasting or frying chicken
Roast the chicken as described in the master recipe. Be sure not to overcook it.
1 lb. fresh mushrooms
Meanwhile, trim and wash the mushrooms. Quarter them if large, leave them whole if small.
A 2½-quart enameled or stainless steel saucepan
¼ cup water
½ Tb butter
½ tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
Bring the water to boil in the saucepan with the butter, lemon, and salt. Toss in the mushrooms, cover, and boil slowly for 8 minutes. Pour out the cooking liquid and reserve.
1 cup whipping cream
½ Tb cornstarch blended with 1 Tb of the cream
Salt and pepper
Pour the cream and the cornstarch mixture into the mushrooms. Simmer for 2 minutes. Correct seasoning, and set aside.
When the chicken is done, remove it to a carving board and let it rest at room temperature while completing the sauce.
½ Tb minced shallots or green onions
⅓ cup medium-dry port
The mushroom cooking liquid
The mushrooms in cream
Salt and pepper
Drops of lemon juice
Remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the roasting pan. Stir in the shallots or onions and cook slowly for 1 minute. Add the port and the mushroom juice, and boil down rapidly, scraping up coagulated roasting juices, until liquid has reduced to about ¼ cup. Add the mushrooms and cream and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, allowing the liquid to thicken slightly. Correct seasoning and add lemon juice to taste.
A fireproof casserole or a chafing dish
1 Tb butter
⅛ tsp salt
Smear the inside of the casserole or chafing dish with butter. Rapidly carve the chicken into serving pieces. Sprinkle lightly with salt, and arrange in the casserole or chafing dish.
¼ cup cognac
Set over moderate heat or an alcohol flame until you hear the chicken begin to sizzle. Then pour
the cognac over it. Avert your face, and ignite the cognac with a lighted match. Shake the casserole slowly until the flames have subsided. Then pour in the mushroom mixture, tilting the casserole and basting the chicken. Cover and steep for 5 minutes without allowing the sauce to boil. Serve.
(*) Chicken may remain in its casserole over barely simmering water or in the turned-off hot oven with its door ajar, for 10 to 15 minutes, but the sooner it is served, the better it will be.
Coquelets sur Canapés
[Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapés and Mushrooms]
Also for: squab pigeons, game hens, partridge, quail, dove
This is one of the classic French recipes for serving small roast birds. The livers are chopped, seasoned, and spread over sautéed bread rectangles; just before serving, these are run under the broiler. Then the roast birds are placed on them, and the dish is garnished with a wine-flavored deglazing sauce and sautéed mushrooms.