Alter's annual chicken thread

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

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I'm over-due for making a jambalaya - I'll have to do that soon.

Do you have a recipe you could share? Love jambalaya, and I recall that you are a fellow Prince's Hot Chicken Shack fan, so I can only assume you are excellent at eating.

I'm better at eating than cooking. My Jambalaya is very good - but I do not claim total authenticity. I made it up by looking at a bunch of different recipes. I also am not a measurer, so - everything is relative:

Start with medium chop of Onions / Celery / Green Pepper and some minced garlic in a large sautee pan (stainless). Sweat the vegetables in a bit of olive oil and remove most of them. Get the pan a little hotter, and add a few leg/thigh quarters which have been generously seasoned with a creole mix (I get mine from the spice house - but any commercial low sodium mix will do).

Brown the chicken on both sides and remove. Deglaze with a little red or white wine.

Now, you will need to have pre-measured 3 cups of water, and you will need to be using 1.5 to 1 rice (it just works the best).

After deglazing, put the chicken back in the sautee pan and add the 3 cups of water along with a little salt and pepper and some bay leaves.

Boil for a while, until chicken is done.

Meanwhile, heat smoked chorizo in another pan. Retain all that nice grease, and use it to brown your 2 cups of rice. When the chicken is done, remove it from the sautee pan, and replace it with the browned rice. Cook as instructed.

Now , go to another pan and start boiling some shrimp or crawfish. Shock cold when done.

In a mixing bowl, combine a bunch of canned CRUSHED tomatoes with the veggies and the chorizo and the shrimp/crawfish. Add a ****-ton more cajun mix, some salt, black pepper, and a bunch of tobasco (to taste). Pull the chicken off the bones, and put that into the mix too. When the rice is done, dump that whole thing in and mix it up. There should be enough that it coats the rice and makes it red, but not soupy (just enough that the water will evaporate off while you heat everything else up).

^ Sounds great, will be trying soon. Thanks!

my favorite lately has been a low-country chicken-and-rice ... pretty straightforward, but you brown bacon, remove and brown chicken in the bacon fat. pour off most of the fat and sweat the mirepoix ("cajun trinity": green pepper, celery, onion ... garlic goes without saying). Add the rice, add the stock, return the chicken to the pot, cover and cook until the rice is done (the chicken will be too). To finish, chopped cooked bacon and green onions. very nice, hearty country dish.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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It is really great. I'll post a full recipe later. It makes great picnic food as well.
OK, so here goes. In a pan place: 4 C. chicken stock 4 C. dark soy 2 C. light soy 1 1/3 C. Xiaoxing wine or dry sherry (not disgusting "Cooking Sherry") 175 g. sugar 5 whole star anise 5 pieces cinnamon or cassia 3 T. cumin seeds Bring to a boil in a pot large enough to hold a whole chicken, then add the chicken. Traditionally, you would then bring it back to a simmer, simmer slowly for about 20 minutes, cover, turn off the flame and let it cool in the stock. I do it this way, but it violates a whole number of safety standards, so you might want to simmer it until done (which will be more than 20 minutes) and then take it out of the pot rather than letting it cool in the liquid. The result the second way will give you less tender meat as it cooks more quickly at a higher temp. Still, it is good and I have made it this way as well.

getting some great ideas from this thread. i made this old Martha Stewart recipe for braised chicken with date sauce on Sunday:

season chicken with salt and pepper. heat oil over medium-high. cook chicken, skin side first (you want it browned and a bit crisp), for 6 minutes a side. remove chicken and add 2 diced onions to pot, stir and cook until softened. add 2 tbsps minced ginger, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp coriander, stir for 2 minutes. add chicken back to pot with 2 1/2 cups water, and bring to a boil. reduce to fast simmer and cook covered for 40 to 45 minutes.

remove chicken and increase heat to high. cook mixture until reduced by about half. add a cup of chopped dates and 3/4 cup of fresh chopped parsley and chervil (recipe called for cilantro but i prefer this). add salt and pepper to taste and pour sauce over chicken. serve with lemon halves over couscous.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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OK, so here goes.

In a pan place:

(...) Still, it is good and I have made it this way as well.

Thank you! Will give it a go this weekend.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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OK, so here goes. In a pan place: 4 C. chicken stock 4 C. dark soy 2 C. light soy 1 1/3 C. Xiaoxing wine or dry sherry (not disgusting "Cooking Sherry") 175 g. sugar 5 whole star anise 5 pieces cinnamon or cassia 3 T. cumin seeds Bring to a boil in a pot large enough to hold a whole chicken, then add the chicken. Traditionally, you would then bring it back to a simmer, simmer slowly for about 20 minutes, cover, turn off the flame and let it cool in the stock. I do it this way, but it violates a whole number of safety standards, so you might want to simmer it until done (which will be more than 20 minutes) and then take it out of the pot rather than letting it cool in the liquid. The result the second way will give you less tender meat as it cooks more quickly at a higher temp. Still, it is good and I have made it this way as well.
This sounds amazing. Cinnamon usually comes in different stick sizes. Is that something you have to worry about? (assuming of course that we're only talking about small increments). You ever try toasting the cumin? Brings out an excellent smoky flavor in it.

Originally Posted by mharwitt

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getting some great ideas from this thread. i made this old Martha Stewart recipe for braised chicken with date sauce on Sunday: season chicken with salt and pepper. heat oil over medium-high. cook chicken, skin side first (you want it browned and a bit crisp), for 6 minutes a side. remove chicken and add 2 diced onions to pot, stir and cook until softened. add 2 tbsps minced ginger, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp coriander, stir for 2 minutes. add chicken back to pot with 2 1/2 cups water, and bring to a boil. reduce to fast simmer and cook covered for 40 to 45 minutes. remove chicken and increase heat to high. cook mixture until reduced by about half. add a cup of chopped dates and 3/4 cup of fresh chopped parsley and chervil (recipe called for cilantro but i prefer this). add salt and pepper to taste and pour sauce over chicken. serve with lemon halves over couscous.
This sounds pretty damn tasty as well.

Originally Posted by Thomas

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Thank you! Will give it a go this weekend.
Post your results and which method you used (possibility of ride on the thunderbucket or no ride on the thunderbucket) please.

Well.the powers that be (wife) insisted on a roast chicken so I am doing something like that Zuni recipe. The chicken itself is (was?) a nice local farm-raised thing. Last night I had to clean it up a bit, removing the neck and excess fat. I made a stock with the neck, put some herbs under the skin and salted the whole bird. It will sit like that today and I will roast it up tonight.

I'm roasting three chickens in the oven - plus three pork roasts; I'm fortunate enough to have a regular-sized oven however if stuck in Japan, there are some half-decent convection ovens that sit on the countertop.




This year, I tried "dry salting" or "dry brining" beforehand.

For the pork, I created a dry 'paste' of mostly salt with mashed raw garlic, dry parsley, black pepper, cayenne pepper and let the frozen loins thaw in it overnight wrapped in saran wrap.

For the chickens, it was a similar dry paste of salt with mostly pureed garlic - stored overnight.

The pork I started on the night before. I rinsed off all the salt and then added three different 'rubs':

1. ginger
2. Frank's Red Hot sauce
3. a dry rub of cinnamon, cloves, a bit of ginger, some brown sugar and nutmeg.

On a bed of cut-up onions and three garlic bulbs - plus some sake & brown sugar; the salt from the brining is probably going to make the drippings too salty for gravy or cooking up vegetables alongside the meat.

First at 400F for 30 minutes or so, Then overnight at 180F.

The chickens were rinsed off in the morning, dried and allowed to get up to room temperature. A mix of diced apple, onion, orange with some cinnamon, brown sugar & brandy was placed in the cavities. Chickens were trussed, brushed with some grape-seed oil and then blasted at high heat at around 500F for about 30 minutes. The large one went in 15 minutes earlier on the high rack and the two smaller ones on the lower rack. Then for 30 at 350F and for the rest of the day -- around 180-200F with the pork roasts placed back inside the oven too.

Blackjack: Looks good! You are a lucky bastard to have a "normal" oven in Japan! I have a tiny countertop one that my wife refuses to replace because it was a gift from her now-deceased grandmother.

I did a dry brining as well. I will cook mine at a high heat for around an hour.

So...the Zuni-esque bird was delicious!

MMMM. Roast bird. Bubbie would be proud.

What are those little pink-topped thingies in the background?

Originally Posted by Rambo

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MMMM. Roast bird. Bubbie would be proud.

What are those little pink-topped thingies in the background?

The pink things are thin slices of very rare steak on sushi rice. There is a better pic in the "last night dinner" thread.

Wagyu nigiri?