4. Oven-roasted herb chicken with Parma crackling and pan sauce
Here you see the chicken ready to eat, and on the side the pan sauce with the Parma crackling on top. (The Parma ham was removed before carving and broken up into smaller chunks to add some texture to the pan sauce.)
I was very happy with the look, smell, and even the taste of the chicken. The Parma ham cripsed up really well, and the taste of the herb butter and saffron softly permeated the flesh. The light acidity in this somewhat dark gravy worked well against the mild gamey taste of the chicken, which was almost duck-like in flavor.
Unfortunately the chicken was extremely tough. I never knew chicken could be so chewy...
I'm thinking these birds were more "free weight" than "free range" - they must have pumped some serious iron!
[After looking into it a bit and discussing this with others, it seems more likely that the chicken was "too fresh" at the time that I had prepared it, and therefore was still in rigor mortis...
With the leftovers the next day I started to turn it into a soup, slow cooking it overnight and eating it the next evening. That was finally enough to break down enough of the tissues to be "fall off the bone" tender, but there still remained some sections that stubbornly refused to yield to any of the extra cooking time...
Me thinks I should try this again on a "regular" store bought-bird...
Live and learn!]
4. Oven-roasted herb chicken with Parma crackling and pan sauce
Sunday, April 09, 2006
4. Oven-roasted herb chicken with Parma crackling and pan sauce
Here you see the chicken ready to eat, and on the side the pan sauce with the Parma crackling on top. (The Parma ham was removed before carving and broken up into smaller chunks to add some texture to the pan sauce.)
I was very happy with the look, smell, and even the taste of the chicken. The Parma ham cripsed up really well, and the taste of the herb butter and saffron softly permeated the flesh. The light acidity in this somewhat dark gravy worked well against the mild gamey taste of the chicken, which was almost duck-like in flavor.
Unfortunately the chicken was extremely tough. I never knew chicken could be so chewy...
I'm thinking these birds were more "free weight" than "free range" - they must have pumped some serious iron!
[After looking into it a bit and discussing this with others, it seems more likely that the chicken was "too fresh" at the time that I had prepared it, and therefore was still in rigor mortis...
With the leftovers the next day I started to turn it into a soup, slow cooking it overnight and eating it the next evening. That was finally enough to break down enough of the tissues to be "fall off the bone" tender, but there still remained some sections that stubbornly refused to yield to any of the extra cooking time...
Me thinks I should try this again on a "regular" store bought-bird...
Live and learn!]
4. Oven-roasted herb chicken with Parma crackling and pan sauce
Sunday, April 09, 2006