Posts Tagged roast chicken
Poulet de Bresse (Bresse chicken) at Le Splendid Lyon
Posted by tzuyen in Paris, Restaurant, Travel on October 2, 2011
Following a recommendation from Syd, we walked across the town of Lyon to get to Le Splendid for their roast Bresse chicken. The bird from Bresse is probably the most well known of the ‘expensive’ chickens. AOC labeled to ensure origin and breading methods are exact, the bird has a singature red crown, white plume and blue feet – quite French. At Le Splendid the cover of their menu is a bright caricature of the bird, revealing the restaurant’s specialty of the poulet de Bress with morel sauce. The setting was a classical brasserie with a light-filled, warm interior. We ordered the roast chicken with additional morels. The bones were trimmed for the touch of class we learnt at school. The meat was tender and moist, even for the breast. Definitely more flavourful and better texture than the average bird. Complimenting the chicken was a pile of whole morels in a buttery and creamy sauce. Absolutely delicious. Stunning setting.
Divine chicken with morel sauce
It is the best roast chicken I have had and easily beats what Cafe Vue or PM24 offers. But was is out of this world? It is still a chicken. Don’t get me wrong, it is excellent but I just want to stress, I still ate a chicken. I certainly have had chicken in Taiwan with very good flavour and bite. The local description is “soil chicken” – indicating they are older and, presumably, able to roam freely. Distinctively, I remember they have dark feet too. The Bress chicken is certainly one of the best chickens available for purchase but I want to point out that after all, it is competing with a fairly neutral-tasting field of birds anyway.
On another note, I never grew up with roast chicken. To many, the smell and the taste represents more of an occasion with family on Sundays. The wonderful feeling of sitting around a table discussing the week’s news and events is peppered with requests for which part of the chicken to tear up and what’s for dinner. Licking fingers. Crunchy potatoes. At least, that’s what I think a roast chicken does one’s memory. For our meal at Le Splendid, topped with a glass of wine and dessert, all lit up by the giant windows next to us will last in my memory for a long time. France is beautiful
High ceiling, art-deco lights, tiled floors, open kitchen
Chocolate moelleux with coffee ice cream - a very good chocolate moelleux
On a side note, I have been trying to perfect a roast chicken and have come across a few interesting resources apart from books. Thomas Keller keeps is simple and seasons the bird with salt, pepper and thyme only. No basting. Heston Blumenthal goes a few steps further and brines the chicken to give it extra moisture. He also carefully tasted different breeds of chicken in UK to find the best one. As he started cooking, the skin of the bird is blanched and chilled multiples times before drying to prepare a crispy skin like Peking duck. The chicken is then cooked at 60 degrees Celsius for 4 and a half hours before finally browning the skin. And if this wasn’t complicated enough, the people on thecookingissues blog (from The French Culinary Institute of America) decides that different parts of the chicken deserve different cooking temperatures with the sous-vide technique. Although they applied the technique to a Turkey, the principles are the same. The bird they served up looked amazing.
Oh, did I mention the price of the raw chicken?
Sold with the distinctive label, head and feet attached - 12-13 Euros per kg in the market
Our plate of roast chicken was 25 Euros, plus optional extra morels for 7 Euros – not bad at all.
Operation Roast Chicken
Operation Roast Chicken was initiated last year amidst a battle against the Oven Settings and Oven Temperature of the Delonghi Group. The Chicken won in the end after a long battle but it wasn’t a sweet victory. The fighting took 1 and a half hours longer than intended (total 2 hours and 15 min). Granted, a bottle of wine shared between two quickly erased the scars and the lack of enthusiasm for tomorrow’s weekend cover shift at the hospital.
Recently another battle broke out with some success with the duration down to 1 hour 30 min for a 1.5 kg Bird. There was an intermission (ie: parts of the bird not quite fully dead). The colour of the enemy was delightful though. I also prepared a liquid weapon of reduced, brown chicken stock loaded into a 20ml syringe and a 19 G needle. However the payload was too thick to pass through the needle and inject it into the enemy.
The Enemy
Ok, so I have had some trouble roasting a chicken but I never grew up with this stuff. I am looking for nothing less than a perfect bird (the bird itself important), breast is done but must not be dry while the rest of the bird is cooked (aiming for 68-70 degrees). The best roast chicken I have has so far is from PM24 by Philippe Mouchel. Soon I will amass another army and fight again. Curiously, I was reading the oven instructions on the numerous settings and realized that when cooking recipes tell you to pre-heat the oven, no one tells you what kind of heat source. I am assuming it’s either convection or fan-assisted/forces + convection.
Some videos and words of advice: Thomas Keller of the French Laundry makes roasting chicken look as easy as me pouring cereal into a bowl. Nothing fancy, no butter/garlic/herb rub or stuffing. But I suspect he would have some excellent roasted vegetables and sauce to go with it. Heston Blumenthal takes complexity to a new level if you wanted to know the intricacies of roasting a bird and his opinion on perfecting it. Please, if anyone has tips and tricks, write it below.
Which chicken?
This is a shop in La Boqueria, Barcelona, selling only chicken (? maby duck).
It’s great when writing medical notes I add a question mark in front of a point – it makes it all ok and valid.
I was reading Heston Blummenthal’s book In Search of Perfection on the perfect roast chicken (book, video) I am drooling to make a roast chicken. Secretly I haven’t tried roasting a whole bird. Which chicken should I use? Look at the chioice of birds in that shop!
Heston liked the Bresse chicken from France, though he used one from the UK with good flavour while supporting local farmers. The recipie involved soaking the bird in brine over night, drying it in the fridge, roasting it at a low temperature and then browning the skin to finish it off.
Sadly in Hamilton, there isn’t much to choose from. When I fire that oven, I will post the chicken on my blog. Tomorrow is apple and rhubarb with crumble to top.