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thefourthvine) wrote2010-02-12 07:10 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2010-02-12 07:10 pm
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Chicken Help Requested!
Dear meat-cooking faction of my friends list,
I would like to make some chicken. I want it to be a mix of white and dark meat, something that I can easily convert into small pieces, and fairly tender (not dry, not very chewy). It does not need much of a sauce, because most of it will go into the freezer for Earthling Chicken Salad. (Chicken pieces + diced fresh tomatoes + olive oil + choice of flavoring.) Ideally, it should keep all the fat it came with.
What do I need to buy? (Keep in mind that I am buying this for Tiny Alice Waters, and thus should probably go for higher-quality chicken, if there is a variation in quality amongst chickens; also, for reasons of personal moral qualms, I am willing to pay more for more humanely-treated chicken, if that exists.) Where should I buy it? What do I need to do? How can I make chicken happen?
Please keep in mind that although I am a good home cook, I have never made meat. I was a vegetarian long before I learned to cook, so meat has always been a total blind spot in my kitchen vision, if that makes sense. If there is a ritual anointing that anyone would know to do? I don't know it. If there's some safe-handling thing that is so insanely obvious that no one ever mentions it? I won't do it unless you tell me to do it. You know those exercises you had to do in school where you had to pretend the teacher was an alien (generally not much of a feat of imagination, there) and explain to her how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Please pretend I am an alien, because I am. I have never visited Planet Meat before. I need a very thorough travel guide.
I have a crockpot, and if a crockpot can produce this kind of food, I would prefer to use it, since mine has three crocks and one can just become the Meat Crock. But if there is an easy, non-crockpot method for producing chicken, I would also enjoy hearing about it. (Please nothing that requires setting fires. I would prefer to emerge from this with all my parts basically intact.)
I would really appreciate your help. (And Tiny Alice Waters would, too.)
<3,
TFV
I would like to make some chicken. I want it to be a mix of white and dark meat, something that I can easily convert into small pieces, and fairly tender (not dry, not very chewy). It does not need much of a sauce, because most of it will go into the freezer for Earthling Chicken Salad. (Chicken pieces + diced fresh tomatoes + olive oil + choice of flavoring.) Ideally, it should keep all the fat it came with.
What do I need to buy? (Keep in mind that I am buying this for Tiny Alice Waters, and thus should probably go for higher-quality chicken, if there is a variation in quality amongst chickens; also, for reasons of personal moral qualms, I am willing to pay more for more humanely-treated chicken, if that exists.) Where should I buy it? What do I need to do? How can I make chicken happen?
Please keep in mind that although I am a good home cook, I have never made meat. I was a vegetarian long before I learned to cook, so meat has always been a total blind spot in my kitchen vision, if that makes sense. If there is a ritual anointing that anyone would know to do? I don't know it. If there's some safe-handling thing that is so insanely obvious that no one ever mentions it? I won't do it unless you tell me to do it. You know those exercises you had to do in school where you had to pretend the teacher was an alien (generally not much of a feat of imagination, there) and explain to her how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Please pretend I am an alien, because I am. I have never visited Planet Meat before. I need a very thorough travel guide.
I have a crockpot, and if a crockpot can produce this kind of food, I would prefer to use it, since mine has three crocks and one can just become the Meat Crock. But if there is an easy, non-crockpot method for producing chicken, I would also enjoy hearing about it. (Please nothing that requires setting fires. I would prefer to emerge from this with all my parts basically intact.)
I would really appreciate your help. (And Tiny Alice Waters would, too.)
<3,
TFV
no subject
Wherever you get it, be sure to keep it in the coldest part of your fridge before you prepare it. Take it out of its wrapping, rinse it under cold water, and if you bought a whole bird there may be a packet inside the chest cavity. That is likely to contain the neck, heart, liver and gizzard. You can cook these, or you can put them aside in the freezer and when you get enough of them you can simmer them with a bay leaf and garlic in a lot of water for a couple of hours and make chicken stock.
Anyway. If you want to roast the bird, you don't have to stuff it formally like a turkey. You can put a whole lemon inside for flavor, or pieces of potato or onion, and put it in a roasting pan. Opinions differ as to whether you should cover the pan or not; I have a self-basting pan, with a lid designed to collect moisture that evaporates and drip it back on whatever's in the pan, so I generally use the lid. Since I'm trying to be lower-cholesterol, if I have less than a whole bird I take the skin off, rub the bird with olive oil and put on dried oregano, basil, sage, parsley or other herbs. Put a tablespoon or two of wine in the bottom of the pan, cut up some carrots or potatoes or sweet potatoes and put those in the pan, put the lid on and cook it in the oven at 300 degrees F for an hour. Put a knife into it to see if it's done; if the juice is pink, it's not done yet. If you have a whole bird, shake the drumstick to see if it's done; if it is, the drumstick will move easily.
If you roast it without a lid, you may have to go into the oven to baste it a couple of times, or (if you are not worried about fat) you could lay strips of bacon over the top and the legs of the bird and let those keep it from drying out if you think that might happen.
You can also steam a whole chicken in a pressure cooker -- for that, check the pressure cooker's directions.