Carnal Food: February 2009

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Day 3: Beyond the Feather Experiment

#3 was not all a bust. Also that day...

Another try at the pomegranate sauce- the vehicle for the feathers to stick to Henrietta's skin as well as the sweetness to her peck. 1/2 lemon. A bit of sugar. And yet another unknown amount of juice. Did we ever make a sauce before with the molasses? Yes, we did, and we burned it. (See Experiment #2 - The Distressed Chicken.)
The molasses is quite good. Successfully sweet. Following the heating instructions seemed to work. Do not overheat while drunk. This time, only moderately drunk, we did not overheat. Excellent combination with the chicken meat encapsulating the best flavors of Thanksgiving. The salty bird and the sweet berry.

And now: the sauce. Browning shallots and garlic in pan drippings. Deglaze pan w/ 1/2 cup of port. Add 2 tbls of molasses. Beef stock is on. The first tastings are phenomenal- an original sweet and sour sauce. Good and gelatinous. Maybe stretch it w/ a bit more stock or port? And when a piece of the chicken is dipped in the sauce it is perfect in deep blood hues and a huge success!

The next nest experiment- 1 egg, 1/2 cup of buttermilk, 1 cup parmesan. Far more batter like. Involving much more active soaking process. The nests go in.

And the nests- 25 min- very nesty. Photo worthy. Another success. The key is more parmesan than buttermilk.
An Egg filling theory. Goat cheese and milk (should be cream) w/ truffle oil and truffles and pepper. Rich. Creamy. White. Maybe too silty and too much on top of each other but otherwise farmy and country. Looks good in the egg. And if there’s a hole in the bottom, which there was this time, the creamy cheese slowly effuses and soaks into the nest. And when the nest is lifted the shell opens way to a diluge of sauce that overspills the egg and drips sinously downs the sides and onto the plate. Needs something to cut through the richness. Adding zest? Good Choice. A very good morning, wave out the window at the sun, country breakfast kind of feel.

The plate of the nest needs a good line of cilantro pesto across the plate as a seat.

So, to summarize #3. A triple disaster with the feather experiment. Three weak attempts at art. No heart to try w/ fourth piece of chicken at this point. But we end with a triple whammy of nests and chicken sauce and egg cream. The nest is under control. Chicken needs work. Feathers are at zero.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Day 3: Cosmetics and Fashion

The Feather Experiment

Dressing Henrietta for Her Big Day.

Today's idea is to quarter a chicken and experiment with 4 methods to "outfit" Henrietta so she springs off the platter with a lively cluck. We begin.

Shopping at Pike Place Market: with the cheese shops and the pepper shops and the butcher and grocer of greens and the wine tasting at the shop with proscuitto. $50 or so. Mostly we spend money on wine and cheese of very fine qualities that have nothing to do with Henrietta. Using Henrietta’s much smaller and younger sister for experiments. She is quartered.

Back in the kitchen, there's a little trouble with the quartering. Not in the groove yet.

Again w/ the beer straws. We need beer straws when working with raw chicken. And more practically- new, sharp knives.

Method #1- The pancetta method. Layers of thin pancetta (5 to quarter bird) and in at 425. What shape will the meat take? Curly? Feathery? Looks like a small, flayed cow head.

Method #2- The ratty old filo approach. We recommend buying new filo. We have unbehaving filo. Broken up into squares 6 or 7 pieces thick. Smoshed. And that’s it. What will happen at 425?
Yvette wants to know, what is the point of the feathers? My opinion. It is to add life, the bird should look as if it is cared for, fluffiness is needed. This is a fine meal rooted in contorted love . Hence the greens. At least as a bed. But Yvette has an aversion to spinach and all its ilk. Slimy turns her off. She’s willing to try as long it is bacon or tastes like pancetta. We have a small impasse.

15 min later Method #1 looks like a very dead thing.

Method #3 -The radicchio method. Cook a blank chicken- no flavor. Saute garlic and pancetta in olive oil. Add chicken stock. And steam the veggie.

Method #1 looks like food in Portugal. Smells Portuguese. Meaty.

Method #2 has promise. Country Style Greek Chicken. Fluffier and with a pastry shell. I wonders aloud to Yvette, do you really want to serve that? Yvette looks stunned, perhaps offended.

Method #1 produces an amazing chicken. Moist. Salty. Wonderful. Awesome meat on meat. Yvette is amazed with herself. But may not be the right thing. Not quite the look. It would be too much with the stuffing planned.

Method #2 is very lifelike. Crusty. But buttery. And it insults my intelligence, Yvette's words. Philo as feathers=the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line.

And Method #3 is bad in every way it could be bad. Bitter greens. It is unaminous. Radicchio is not what we want here. A sad, sad state of affairs. Terrible. The greens must be more raw and less murdered. It must be a good green and with more crunch. And for the sake of politics, it may need to be a bed of greens for those who like such things. This is called reaching across the aisle.

I hate them all, Yvette says. A bust.

Experiment #3 - Cosmetics and Fashion- could be called Good chicken with Bad things done to it. Its not the chicken’s fault.