Review: lemon-herbed rotisserie chicken
Jun. 7th, 2009 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjIf I hadn't already had the chicken marinating, I would have skipped cooking dinner entirely from exhaustion, but it was worth the effort. Here's the experiment:
Gather several lemons from the lemon tree. Select those with the skin in best condition and zest them, and juice all. Mix a good handful of the zest with enough of the juice to become gloopy. Add about 2 Tbsp of softened butter and about 2 Tbsp of fresh oregano, chopped finely.
Work this between the skin and flesh of a chicken all over the breast and around the legs. (Don't entirely loosen the skin from the flesh -- just push it into several pockets, working from both the vent and neck areas.) Contain it in a plastic bag and refrigerate for a couple of days.
For a baste, take more of the lemon juice, about a quarter cup, mix with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, ditto of dark brown sugar, and an assortment of herbs (I used a commerical "Italian herbs" mix) and also let sit in the fridge.
Truss the chicken onto your spit, tying the wings and legs firmly to the body. Rotate over a hot flame, but with the lid of the grill open, for about an hour and a half or until a meat thermometer stuck in the thigh and/or breast registers poultry-doneness. During this process, baste every 15 minutes or so.
Evaluation: Totally delicious. My previous rotisserie chicken experiment ended up being a bit too toasted outside (although nicely done inside) and I think the trick is to leave the lid open to give the surface more of a chance to cool as it turns. (It would be even better if the rotisserie allowed for indirect heat, but it doesn't.) It's less efficient fuel-wise, but then, grill-work isn't really about efficiency.
I roasted some bell pepper and asparagus on the side. Also good, although the peppers were still a little crispy in parts. As an appetizer, I had yesterday's accidental cheese on some rice-crackers. Hmm, I'd only mentioned the accidental cheese on facebook, not here. (I can tell I'm going to lose track of what gets mentioned where.) So the milk that seemed perfectly fine when I poured it into the frothing pitcher turned into curds when I ran the steam through it. I drained them and mixed them with a little truffle salt. Not much taste to the curds themselves, but they made a nice carrier for the truffle salt.
Gather several lemons from the lemon tree. Select those with the skin in best condition and zest them, and juice all. Mix a good handful of the zest with enough of the juice to become gloopy. Add about 2 Tbsp of softened butter and about 2 Tbsp of fresh oregano, chopped finely.
Work this between the skin and flesh of a chicken all over the breast and around the legs. (Don't entirely loosen the skin from the flesh -- just push it into several pockets, working from both the vent and neck areas.) Contain it in a plastic bag and refrigerate for a couple of days.
For a baste, take more of the lemon juice, about a quarter cup, mix with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, ditto of dark brown sugar, and an assortment of herbs (I used a commerical "Italian herbs" mix) and also let sit in the fridge.
Truss the chicken onto your spit, tying the wings and legs firmly to the body. Rotate over a hot flame, but with the lid of the grill open, for about an hour and a half or until a meat thermometer stuck in the thigh and/or breast registers poultry-doneness. During this process, baste every 15 minutes or so.
Evaluation: Totally delicious. My previous rotisserie chicken experiment ended up being a bit too toasted outside (although nicely done inside) and I think the trick is to leave the lid open to give the surface more of a chance to cool as it turns. (It would be even better if the rotisserie allowed for indirect heat, but it doesn't.) It's less efficient fuel-wise, but then, grill-work isn't really about efficiency.
I roasted some bell pepper and asparagus on the side. Also good, although the peppers were still a little crispy in parts. As an appetizer, I had yesterday's accidental cheese on some rice-crackers. Hmm, I'd only mentioned the accidental cheese on facebook, not here. (I can tell I'm going to lose track of what gets mentioned where.) So the milk that seemed perfectly fine when I poured it into the frothing pitcher turned into curds when I ran the steam through it. I drained them and mixed them with a little truffle salt. Not much taste to the curds themselves, but they made a nice carrier for the truffle salt.
