What is Broiled Butterflied Chicken?
sarah's space canada
(Jul.09.09)
Click here to find out what inspired Sarah to try mastering the art of cooking at home.
Of course I left my first recipe test until the very last minute and, of course, I got held up at the office so I didn’t even get to the grocery store until 8pm. No worries, I decided, Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom says broiling a chicken only takes a half an hour. Grabbing what looked to be the best chicken and a few other ingredients, I headed for home.
Once in the kitchen, I realized I didn’t exactly have the right tools. Improv time. Instead of a pan (mine was too small for the chicken I bought), I used a cookie sheet; instead of shears, thoroughly disinfected scissors; and instead of a brush for basting… Well, let’s just say I figured out a never-to-be-done-again solution, swore my husband to secrecy and I will be getting a proper brush this weekend.
Getting Started
Now on to the chicken; step one, I needed to remove the back bone. Once I was finally able to determine where the bone was, extracting it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be – even with my plain, old scissors. I then gave my chicken a Swedish massage with my fists to flatten it out and was ready to baste.
You can note, I skipped the steps about “folding the wings akimbo” (had to look that up, it means “under the shoulders”) and tucking in the legs. For the life of me, I could not figure out how to make this work so decided flattened would have to be good enough.
Bird Bath
Once my bird was well bathed in the butter and oil mixture, it was into the oven with Mr. Chicken (skin side down). I placed him six inches below the broiler and stayed close by, Julia was clear I needed to baste every five minutes and turn the bird in 15.
Five minutes into broiling and things were going well. Mr. Chicken had started to brown and I gave him another “brush.” Ten minutes in, my broiling bird’s aroma was in the air and I could hear him starting to sizzle. As I opened the oven, I realized he (and it) had begun to smoke. The chicken looked golden and delicious so I decided not to worry. That was when the smoke alarm started to wail.
Smoked Out
OK, now that was a problem. We live in a condo so disconnecting the alarm until we finish cooking is never an option. My husband (God bless him) got on a chair and started to wave a towel under the alarm. I looked at the stove. Smoke was now seeping out of the burners. Ding. It had been 15 minutes. It was time to turn the bird and baste again. I looked at T., told him to get ready and opened the door. The alarm screeched. This time I pulled the chicken completely out and closed the door. (I also threw T. my Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom cookbook to use as a fan. I figured it was the least she could do since she'd gotten us into this mess.)
Moment of truth, should we carry on for 15 more minutes of alarms and smoke? T. tried to put things into perspective, “What’s more stressful? The alarm or no blog post?” I threw the chicken back into the oven. I lasted three more minutes before I gave up. It was 10pm and I didn’t think the neighbours would accept freshly broiled chicken as a peace offering.
Finishing the Job
Since the chicken actually looked and smelled good enough to eat, I decided to finish the job with the microwave. It was more than a bit disappointing but it did the trick and by 10:30 we sat down and actually enjoyed the chicken (and just the chicken since I was so distracted that I forgot to start the rest of the dinner). It really didn’t taste bad, in fact it was quite good.
While not the complete success I had hoped for, I did learn a new method for cooking chicken and I truly do think it would work as long as you could disable your smoke alarm. As Julia promised, it cut down cooking time by at least half, but I think what she forgot to mention was that it increases cleaning time by 10. My oven is a disaster. I guess we’ll be having takeout for a while, at least until my next post any way.
 Read Tribute.ca’s Julie & Julia Movie Preview!
If Julia Child taught us anything about food, it's that everything tastes better with butter, and that a little "cognac never hurt anything." Whether it was her enormous presence on her televised cooking show, her passion for French cuisine or the charming warble of her voice, Child had that "it" factor that inspired audiences to get their gastronomy on and cook with flair. "She was one of those people whose character was sort of as huge as what she was trying to say," Meryl Streep says.... Read the more at www.tribute.ca. |