2012 Turkey

Once again, B will have to work tomorrow, which is a bummer.

However, that's not going to stop me from starting a turkey tonight. Insane deals, I bought a 19lb frozen bird from Ralph's for about $12, which I will roast off tonight.

Following my 2010 turkey recipe, I anticipate roasting time of about 3 hours.

Here are some changes from last year:

1. Rosemary and 1/2 onion in cavity, no lemon
2. No butter on outside of skin, only under skin; dry outside well and salt liberally
3. Less butter under skin (only about 4 tbsp)
4. Roast @ 500F for 30 min
5. At about 25min of roasting, added 1c chicken stock and 1c white wine (Pinot Gris)
6. Roast @ 350F for about 3 hours

Results to come...

Roast Chicken Memorial Day 2010

Nice roast chicken last night. The flavor on this one was much more mellow and subtle than previous, mostly because no rosemary in with the butter. This one is based on Tyler Florence's "Ultimate Chicken" recipe. Skin got pretty crispy, but could've been more. The gravy was very subtle and nice too.

One 6lb. young chicken
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp butter, room temp, softened
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
2 carrots, peeled and rough chopped
2 celery stalks, rough chopped
2 cups water (or some combination of water, chicken stock, and/or decent white wine, like Charles Shaw Sav Blanc)
1 lemon, cut in half
1/2 onion, cut in half
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425F
2. Combine garlic and butter, set aside.
3. Remove giblets, and place in roasting pan, with onion, garlic cloves, carrots, celery and water.
4. Dry off skin of bird with paper tower
5. Separate skin from meat; put garlic butter under skin, work it under the breast and onto leg
6. Season skin liberally with salt and pepper; NO BUTTER ON SKIN, only salt
7. Stuff cavity with half-onion and half-lemon
   
8. Roast for 60 minutes
9. Reduce heat to 375F
10. Roast for about 35-40 more minutes, or until thigh temp reaches 160F.

Pan Gravy

Leftover pan juices
Leftover pan fat
Leftover roasted garlic cloves
1/3 cup flour
1 cup water
1 cup milk
2 tbsp brandy
Salt & pepper

1. Remove giblets and vegetables, leave garlic cloves in pan
2. Pick up chicken with wooden spoon, let juices train into roasting pan.
3. Separate juices and fat, if possible.
4. Mash roasted garlic cloves in pan with oil until they're a paste
   
5. Heat roasting pan over medium-high heat
6. Add flour to pan fat, stir fast, whisk for 30-60 seconds
7. Add brandy, whisk for 15 seconds
8. Add water and milk, whisk, bring to boil. Add more water or milk to adjust consistency.
9. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
10. Strain thru fine mesh strainer and serve.

Roast Chicken

Who says that meat can't be cheap? Foster Farms whole young chickens for 69 cents at Ralphs this week. Sure, it's not free range, but it's decent quality.

So here's my roast chicken (based on ATK):

1 young chicken
1 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 tbsp chopped fresh garlic
Salt and pepper
1 lemon, sliced in 1/2
1 onion, sliced in half
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 Fennel fronds, chopped (optional)
1.5 cups chicken stock
Roasting pan with V-Rack

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Combine butter with rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Remove giblets & set aside; rinse and dry chicken. Salt inside. Set in roasting pan.
   
4. In cavity, stuff 1/2 of onion, lemon, rosemary sprig.
5. Put butter under skin, then smear all over outside.
6. Salt and pepper outside.
7. Add remaining chopped veg (onions, carrots, celery, chicken stock, fennel) and giblets to pan.
8. Roast at 450F for 15 minutes, middle rack.
9. Turn down temp to 375F for 45 minutes, or until breast hits 160F. Check thigh too; you can always cut the thighs off and return them to the oven.