In my last post, I forgot to mention the turducken -- a critical omission on my part. Yes, in future years, my family and friends may refer to 2011 as "the year we made turducken," as we did indeed accomplish this feat of cooking a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. Here it is:
And now, onto Roast Chicken #2.
As a reminder, I'm trying to teach Lydia to master the roast chicken by cooking several different variations, one a week. Last week was Thomas Keller's Simple Roast Chicken. This week's was Ina Garten's, aka the Barefoot Contessa (is she really ever barefoot?) on the Food Network.
The assignment I gave Lydia was to cook Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken. It's oh so different than Thomas Keller's -- rub things on the skin! stuff things inside! put vegetables underneath! Thomas Keller and his minimalist bird would faint dead away. My only instructions were to cook the recipe, and also to make potatoes, whether separately via my brother Brian's parboiling method or in the pan itself. (Note to Brian: I tried this and the bacon-wrapped James Beard roast chicken, and neither turned out great. Remind me to tell you later.)
Lydia was excited about doing an Ina Garten recipe. So she purchased the chicken Ina called for -- 5 to 6 pounds, which shocked me; what does she think she's going to put in there? -- and away she went.
Editor's note: At this I was confused. Didn't Lydia realize she was texting me? Why did she just address me in the third person? Then I realized, aaaahh, she's not writing to me, she's writing to THE BLOG. Carry on.
Well done, Lydia and Ina! Looking forward to the next one, I am contemplating recipes that call for turning, or for stuffing herbs under the skin, or lowering the temperature at a certain point, or butterflying. Or I could just give Lydia the original super-simple roast chicken recipe my mom gave me. Thoughts? Please let me have 'em!
