What did you eat last night for dinner? - Page 1447

Wandered into a place called the Salty Pig with some friends in Boston. Unsurprisingly, ended up having one of the unhealthiest meals I've had in a long time. Shared head cheese, bresaola, saucisson, issau iraty, garrotxa, broccoli raab pizza, short rib, cassoulet, and, uhh, a salad that could not redeem the meal nutritionally. Everything was great except the head cheese (disturbingly bland) and the pizza (terrible, terrible crust).

I picked up a big piece of head cheese at Epicerie Boulud last weekend. It was gone before the evening.

Fancy nonsense

Looks very nice but don't be bitter my peasant fare warms souls.

rigatoni with black kale risotto and crisp-fried calamari. 2 blocks from my office. $8.95. I love the new downtown la.

Not bitter. Sweet and cinnamony.

The cracklings failed, need to get an oven thermometer. Gotta cook it again soon. Chicken was tasty but needs to brown better -- again, probably due to the oven temperature (although I suspect the oven to be hotter than wanted). I also put it in a big pan (so the juices aren't lost); is it possible that this influences the heat transfer/air circulation so the chicken thighs don't brown a lot? Sauces were delicious. So are fried brussels sprouts.

definitely. cooking in a bag can keep meat moist, but for the same reason it inhibits browning (skin won't brown unless it's dry -- boiling temp of water is lower than the starting point of maillard).

I need to check my posts for clarity better before posting. If it wasn't clear, I put it in a pan without a lid but with a relatively high rim.

i need to get new reading glasses. for some reason, i read that as "i put it in a big bag". it's hell getting old. i guess it depends on what you mean by "big pan" ... if it was braising pot or dutch oven big, with really high sides, that could make a difference. if it was merely a slightly deeper roasting pan, probably not. again, sorry for the confusion.

Hm, then why are the thighs always hardly browned? I pat dry and everything (did the dry salt brine again, delicious). I actually tried 410°F to see whether it gets darker/crispier to no avail. I figure that it's getting too moist, at least in the "lower" thigh area, due to the pan so placing the chicken on the oven rack should improve it. Will try next time.

you might try what i like to do: place a cast-iron frying pan in the oven while it's pre-heating, then roast the chicken on that. sucker'll brown for sure!

Opinions on cutting the spine out of chickens and cooking flat? Been reading lots of things about cooking like this. Brown the skin in a big cast iron fry pan, flip, then place in 425 oven type thing. After it's cooked remove chicken, deglaze pan and make a nice sauce.

It's really good if you put it between two cast iron pans. Makes it nice and crisp. No joke. It's a riff on the Italian chicken cooked under a brick.

I usually cook at 450-500 for 15 or so minutes before turning down the heat. You can also try pre heating a cast iron pan at those temps then dropping the bird right into the very hot pan, that help brown the thighs.