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From the book "Poulet," by Cree LeFavour. If you don't have homemade chicken stock, LeFavour suggests using water instead of store-bought stock. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune) |
Chicken is due for a makeover.
Enter Cree LeFavour's new cookbook, "Poulet: More than 50 Remarkable Meals That Exalt the Honest Chicken." Maybe chicken isn't glamorous, but it's one of the friendliest, most economical focal points for a home-cooked meal. And at this time of year, you want comfort and simplicity along with a serious jolt of flavor to knock out the doldrums. That's what "Poulet" offers: recipes for flavor bombs that belie the amount of effort required to prepare them.
We talked with LeFavour and Mindy Fox, author of "A Bird in the Oven and Then Some," to get some tips for livening up the humble — and humanely raised — chicken.
Buy wisely. On a recent trip to the supermarket, the decision came down to two birds: an air-chilled, organic chicken raised on a farm that garnered a 3 on the store's animal welfare rating system or an air-chilled, non-organic chicken raised on a farm that rated a 4. A brief conversation with the butcher clarified that the non-organic bird was 50 cents more per pound. Confused yet?
LeFavour's book provides an excellent guide to untangling marketing claims on chicken labels. She provides the background and leaves it up to you to decide what you value most. But, LeFavour said in a recent phone conversation, it's a big step up to buy antibiotic-free chickens.
"If they're not using antibiotics, they have to treat the chickens better to have a product to sell at the end of the cycle. The other thing to look for is 'air-chilled,'" said Le Favour, referring to a process a chicken undergoes when it's plucked. "It's a good thing in terms of flavor. They're not going into a water bath, so they're retaining all their natural juices."
Trade breasts for thighs. Chicken thighs are cheaper, have fuller flavor and are easier to cook. The juicier texture alone can make chicken feel new again.
"It's very difficult to dry (thighs) out," LeFavour said. "If you do overcook it, it gets fall-apart tender, rather than dry."
Respect the skin. Even if you pull it off after cooking, the skin adds flavor. Fox suggests stuffing not only herbs and spices but butter underneath the skin on chicken breasts to further enhance flavor.
Roast a fryer. Or braise it. For Fox, the best way to get flavor from chicken is to roast a whole bird. Her cookbook offers 20 recipes for roast chickens and follows up with 80 more for sides and leftovers.
Because dark meat takes longer to cook than the breast, Fox recommends 4-pound birds to ensure that the white meat doesn't dry out. LeFavour offers recipes that cook whole chickens in a shallow pool of liquid; by braising the bottom of the bird, the cooking times even out, she says.
LeFavour's method worked beautifully in her roast chicken with kumquats recipe: The citrus zest of the kumquats woke up the meat's mild flavor. A sauce rich with chicken fat and caramelized onions was a soothing bonus.
LeFavour couches it as a Sunday recipe. But even with the two side dishes that round out the meal -- spicy butternut squash and cilantro rice -- it wasn't too taxing, even for a Wednesday night in the dead of winter.
Roast chicken with kumquats
Prep: 30 minutes
Rest: 30 minutes
Cook: 43 minutes
Servings: 4
Note: From "Poulet," by Cree LeFavour. If you don't have homemade chicken stock, LeFavour suggests using water instead of store-bought stock.
Enter Cree LeFavour's new cookbook, "Poulet: More than 50 Remarkable Meals That Exalt the Honest Chicken." Maybe chicken isn't glamorous, but it's one of the friendliest, most economical focal points for a home-cooked meal. And at this time of year, you want comfort and simplicity along with a serious jolt of flavor to knock out the doldrums. That's what "Poulet" offers: recipes for flavor bombs that belie the amount of effort required to prepare them.
We talked with LeFavour and Mindy Fox, author of "A Bird in the Oven and Then Some," to get some tips for livening up the humble — and humanely raised — chicken.
Buy wisely. On a recent trip to the supermarket, the decision came down to two birds: an air-chilled, organic chicken raised on a farm that garnered a 3 on the store's animal welfare rating system or an air-chilled, non-organic chicken raised on a farm that rated a 4. A brief conversation with the butcher clarified that the non-organic bird was 50 cents more per pound. Confused yet?
LeFavour's book provides an excellent guide to untangling marketing claims on chicken labels. She provides the background and leaves it up to you to decide what you value most. But, LeFavour said in a recent phone conversation, it's a big step up to buy antibiotic-free chickens.
"If they're not using antibiotics, they have to treat the chickens better to have a product to sell at the end of the cycle. The other thing to look for is 'air-chilled,'" said Le Favour, referring to a process a chicken undergoes when it's plucked. "It's a good thing in terms of flavor. They're not going into a water bath, so they're retaining all their natural juices."
Trade breasts for thighs. Chicken thighs are cheaper, have fuller flavor and are easier to cook. The juicier texture alone can make chicken feel new again.
"It's very difficult to dry (thighs) out," LeFavour said. "If you do overcook it, it gets fall-apart tender, rather than dry."
Respect the skin. Even if you pull it off after cooking, the skin adds flavor. Fox suggests stuffing not only herbs and spices but butter underneath the skin on chicken breasts to further enhance flavor.
Roast a fryer. Or braise it. For Fox, the best way to get flavor from chicken is to roast a whole bird. Her cookbook offers 20 recipes for roast chickens and follows up with 80 more for sides and leftovers.
Because dark meat takes longer to cook than the breast, Fox recommends 4-pound birds to ensure that the white meat doesn't dry out. LeFavour offers recipes that cook whole chickens in a shallow pool of liquid; by braising the bottom of the bird, the cooking times even out, she says.
LeFavour's method worked beautifully in her roast chicken with kumquats recipe: The citrus zest of the kumquats woke up the meat's mild flavor. A sauce rich with chicken fat and caramelized onions was a soothing bonus.
LeFavour couches it as a Sunday recipe. But even with the two side dishes that round out the meal -- spicy butternut squash and cilantro rice -- it wasn't too taxing, even for a Wednesday night in the dead of winter.
Roast chicken with kumquats
Prep: 30 minutes
Rest: 30 minutes
Cook: 43 minutes
Servings: 4
Note: From "Poulet," by Cree LeFavour. If you don't have homemade chicken stock, LeFavour suggests using water instead of store-bought stock.
