Day 3: More Chicken and Turning Oranges

On day 3 we slow roasted a chicken that blew me away. It had only *four* ingredients, including salt and the chicken itself. All you need to do to get a really, ridiculously tender piece of poultry is have the patience to salt it ahead of time. Crispy skin lovers beware: this recipe might not be for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken
• 1tbsp salt
• 1 onion, chopped
• A couple carrots, chopped

Here’s the method:

• Salt your chicken 24-36 hours ahead of time and stick it in the fridge (either in a tupperware or on a sheet tray). Take it out of the oven about an hour before you’re ready to cook so its not cold.
• When your chicken has come to room temp, preheat your oven to 325.
• Place the carrots and oven in a dutch oven on medium high heat, and sauté for a few minutes - no salt, oil, or anything else needed - promise I'm not crazy. 
• After your veggies have cooked down a little bit, put the chicken, breast side down, in the dutch oven. Put the lid on, and pop into the oven for ~2 hours. The lid is critical because it traps the steam, keeping everything exceptionally moist. 
• After about 2 hours, take the chicken out and turn it over (still in the dutch oven). The chicken is cooked when it is literally starting to fall apart, and the legs are reallyyyyyyy flexible. If they’re still feeling a little stiff, and kind of boing back into place if you pull them together, then it needs a bit more time.
• If you’re thinking “this is the ugliest chicken I’ve ever made”, don’t fret! It will look pale and weird. But it will look better in about a minute.
• When you've determined that your chicken is cooked, let it rest for 10 minutes and then carve. Serve with the delicious chicken-dripping vegetables on top!

Note - you can use an oven-safe pan that isn’t a dutch oven (as long as it has the lid). The only difference is that you won’t get the nice caramel-y brown bits in the vegetables. You can accommodate this a little bit by continuing to reduce the drippings/vegetables while the chicken rests.  Will still taste delicious.

We also learned how to “turn oranges”, which is also called Orange Supreme (said in a fancy French way). This just means removing all of the orange peel and membrane so what you’re left with is just the fruit. It’s gorg.

We turned these citrus slices into a really beautiful, simple salad: place pieces of sliced oranges with on a plate, and top with parsley leaves, some maldon salt and some good olive oil.

We also made gougeres! The base of this recipe, minus the cheese, is used for things like cream puffs and pate a choux.

Ingredients:

• 236 grams of water
• 56 grams butter
• 4 grams salt
• Pinch each of cayenne pepper, nutmeg
• 120 grams bread flour
• 150 grams eggs (about 3 eggs)
• 170 grams grated gruyere cheese

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring water, butter and spices to a boi
2. Add flour and stir vigorously to combine, until a “skin” has formed on the surface of the pot. Your mixture will kind of resemble the texture of play-doh
3. Remove from heat and stir until mixture stops steaming - you want it to be very warm, but not “ouch!” hot.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
5. Add cheese and blend
6. Scoop onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake ~15 minutes until nutty and brown and puffed

Also, couple of new terms:

Sweating: Means to cook gently vegetables (likely onions) with a little bit of butter but in a way that does not let the vegetable get brown. Salting the vegetable is critical during this period - the salt draws water out, which allows the vegetable to break down and cook faster (in addition to making it tasty and delicious).

Tomato Concasse: Refers to peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (which you can do easily by blanching them - makes the peels come right off).