Let’s assume that you have gone out and got yourself a good, wholesome, free-range, farm-reared, preferably organic, corn-fed chicken.
What do you do with it?
Well, you’ve got several options…..
You could cut it into joints (or get your friendly neighbourhood butcher to do it for you) and do a sauté or a fricassée.
You could poach it whole with some onions, celery, carrots and a little white wine, and then carve it and serve it with a sauce made from the cooking liquid enriched with cream and some fresh tarragon.
Or serve it cold with a dressed salad and home-made mayonnaise.
Or you could roast it. Now that’s a good idea. Everyone loves a nice roast chicken. And everyone thinks it’s a really simple dish to make.
And, in a way, they’re absolutely correct. It is simple to roast a chicken. What’s not so simple is to do it right.
The problem when roasting a chicken is that the legs take longer to cook than the breasts. If you stop the cooking process as soon as the breasts are cooked to perfection, the legs will still be pink and underdone. If you wait until the legs are cooked, the breasts will probably be overcooked and dry.
So ….what’s the solution?
Well, there are two……
Many top French restaurants serve a whole roast chicken en deux services – in other words, in two stages. The chicken is roasted in the usual way, often with a generous amount of butter and tarragon. As soon as the breasts are cooked, these are carved (often at the table) and served in a sauce made from the pan juices with the addition of a little white wine and cream.
While the appreciative diners are tucking into this succulent dish, the legs are returned to the oven to finish cooking and then, once they are well-cooked and crispy, served as a separate course with a dressed green salad.
(This method also works for duck, pigeon, pheasant and other game birds).
Another method is to remove the legs from the carcass beforehand. Put them into a hot oven for 15 – 20 minutes or so, then lower the heat slightly and add the rest of the bird to finish the cooking process.
With a bit of luck and a fair wind the whole bird should be cooked to near-perfection in about 40-45 minutes (depending, of course, on the size of your chicken).
You see – we can still learn some things from the French!
This article has been adapted from a chapter in the author’s ebook ‘How To Cook A Chicken – The French Way!’ It’s packed full of tips, tricks and techniques for cooking the perfect chicken every time – and it’s a steal! You can check it out here:
http://www.cwpublishers.com/poulet.html
Tags: cooking chicken, french cooking, french cuisine, roast chicken
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