Culinary Disasters

It is a sad day when the Washington Post posts an article exposing animal cruelty at a slaughterhouse that is a major supplier to the nation’s school lunch program (click here to read the article).  If you are brave enough and actually want to see the video Chris Consentino has it on his blog (Click here to see the video and read Chris’ viewpoint on this).  Note the video is graphic so don’t blame me if your kids are scarred for life or your significant other decides god forbid to turn veggie. 

Articles like this are all the more reason to get to know where your meat is coming from and who is handling it not just go for the cheapest crap that is on sale at the local megamart.  Find a good butcher or even better farmer and trust them to provide you top quality humane raised and humane slaughter animals.

What is a poussin?  A poussin is a chicken that is 4-6 weeks old and weighs less than 1 lb.  If you can’t find a poussin a cornish game hen or even a regular chicken could work with this recipe.  Just adapt the measurements and cooking time to the size of the chicken you are using (still the same internal temperature of 155 in the leg or the juices running clear).

The one major item I would change in this recipe is make sure the herb butter is soft when you put it under the skin.  I had placed mine back in the fridge and did not let it come back up to room temperature before placing it under the skin.  This caused the butter not to really spread and caused all those great herbs to sit in one place.  Luckily I noticed this early and started basting the chicken with more herb butter.  I also would tie the wings to the body.  I tried tucking them under but using a makeshift roasting rack out of celery and carrots caused them to break free.

For this recipe you are going to need:

• 2 poussins 
• 8 TB of butter
• 1/4 cup of assorted chopped herbs (I used parsley, sage, thyme, and rosemary)
• 4 cloves of whole garlic
• 2 slices of lemon
• 6 sprigs of thyme
• 3 whole stalks of celery
• 3 peeled and whole carrots
• Kosher salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  To make the herb butter place 4 TB of butter on the counter and let it become soft (about 20-30 minutes).  Add in the herbs and mix around to combine.

Pat the poussin dry inside and out.  Sprinkle kosher salt and pepper into the cavity.  Add in 1 slice of lemon, 3 sprigs of thyme, 2 cloves of garlic to each cavity.

Start at the neck use your fingers to carefully separate the skin from the breast.  Work your way down slowly pulling the skin away.  Be careful because the skin will tear.

Add a couple teaspoons of the butter mixture under the skin.

Take a piece of kitchen twine and come under the butt of the chicken.  Tie the legs in to close the cavity.

Since I lack a roasting pan I decided to fabricate one up using the celery and carrots.  I liked this way because the celery and carrots added to the flavors.  Also, how can you go wrong with edible butter soaked vegetables?

Place the whole celery and carrots down alternating to create a rack.  Place the poussins on top of the celery and carrot pieces.  Melt the remaining 4 tb of butter and using 2 TB baste the poussins.

Cook starting breast side up till the thigh registers 155-160 flipping halfway through (about an hour total).  Baste with the remaining 2 TB of melted butter.

Once done remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.  If you think your arteries are still working perfectly add another piece of herb butter to the poussin while resting.  I served mine sprinkled with some more chopped herbs and a simple couscous made with a TB of the herbed butter.

 

Tags: chicken //