Themes - Gracious and Good, Next Steps
Food/Tech Tie In – Spatchcock prep, Marinading, Roasting, Smoking, Grilling
Homage - Every Chicken I Ever Ate at Home and Abroad
Sometimes, every once in a while...I just want Good Chicken...as opposed to bad chicken, which can fall into a myriad of categories, dry, rubbery, underflavored, as in no distinct flavor and egads, clutch the pearls...chicken that is not GBD (Golden Brown Delicious). Please note...there are several recipes where non GBD chicken can still be Good Chicken, but for the purposes of this musing...we are not talking about those.
Given the fact that Im a foodie, have traveled internationally extensively, always ensuring I experience the region’s cuisine, and have Culinary training...at some point, I’m poached, papillotte and sauced out. I just want what in my mind is regular ole roasted chicken that is flavorful and served with slightly crispy but not overly so, GBD skin, aka Good Chicken. Like...I crave it.
Lets roll this chicken thing back a few decades. Yup, there were those Sunday dinners with Esther’s (my Nana) fried chicken, potato salad and greens (for each of those dishes, hers were the only ones I would eat with a smile and ask for more. Others were merely tolerated), but the majority of the family’s chicken meals, were baked or roasted parts.
The value priced family packs bought on sale at the A&P were broken up, portioned out and put into the deep freezer, a separate and prized possession that a whole cow, pig and a flock of yard birds could fit into...together. For the portion that was to be served, it was salt and peppered up like no bodies business, adding the all-purpose seasoning of the day (Something that began with an A, then leveling up to something that began with an L that I know y’all still use today...a lot...but I ain’t talkin’ about nobody), some granulated garlic and always, ALWAYS paprika. Not the paprika we buy now at our local spice shops that make us feel all foodie and everything, not smoked or from a specific country, just regular everyday paprika in the white and red rectangular can, shaken on...for color All. Over. The. Chicken.
Dig this...I didn’t know roasted chicken wasn’t supposed to be covered in a blanket of red and black sprinkles until I was way grown...just sharing.
Into the oven in a casserole dish it went. No overnight marinade, onions, new or fingerling potatoes underneath to absorb juices and keep the flesh from sticking to the dish. No, no, no my friends, this was straight up roasted chicken, where when it was done, you had to literally peel each piece from the dish and place it on your plate next to your made from a box flavored rice or stuffing, broccoli or whatever other overcooked veg was being served. And I loved it.
The house, not just the kitchen, would smell amazing as it wasn’t the vast spaces with high ceilings and vented exhaust fans many live in today, but a contained space where a convo could be had with a person in the kitchen, one in the living room and one in a bedroom and no one missed a word. What went on in the kitchen did not stay in the kitchen, as it perfumed the house. It was warm, it was garlicky, it was red and it was home. I was always a wing and drumstick kid, so I was never in competition for the prized pieces...but things change, kinda sorta. I’m now a wing and thigh enthusiast, moving up the leg a little.
Now tie in all that I have been exposed to and am trained to do, my favorite way of getting my Good Chicken fix on is to make a spatchcock bird. Backbone removed, flattened with as much skin exposed as possible (unexposed skin does not get GBD), an overnight Latin inspired marinade, re-seasoning before cooking, including paprika, smoked, from Spain (I know, I know), and its ready. It gets roasted in the oven on a bed on onions or cooked on the grill infused with the additional smoky goodness of hickory or mesquite chips...Im here to tell you, with a few of those chi chi new potatoes roasted to perfection added on as a side...my flavor seeking HereInMyKitchen Fam...THATS Next Steps. That’s whats up.
After Traveling, I want Good Chicken. After Taste Of (put you city's name in here), I want Good Chicken. After two months of unctuous, yummy and robust Holiday meals, I want Good Chicken. The first Chicken recipe offered from HereInMyKitchen delivers on that and more. I hope you enjoy it and your own journey to...Good Chicken.
Oven Roasted
Smoked and roasted on an outdoor grill