Extreme Cooking Blog

In the wonderful movie, Julie & Julia, de-boning a chicken is presented as the biggest challenge facing Julie in her quest to cook through Julia’s book. In reality, de-boning a bird is fairly simple, and with practice takes just a few minutes. I take a little longer with turkeys since I like to remove all of tendons in the drumstick.

This turkey was stuffed, smoked, and sliced up for sandwiches using this sourdough bread:

Also served with cherry chutney.

Did the buttermilk brine & all that, but with a major departure. I love big, meaty chicken thighs – skin on/bone in. The problem is that the crust can be almost burnt before the inside is completely cooked. So I brined them in buttermilk in a plastic pouch, and then cooked them sous vide @ 170F for a few hours; they were completely cooked, but still big and juicy. Then breaded them as usual, but only fried them for a few minutes until the crust was done. Very tender and juicy – not greasy. Much easier also. With mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and green peas

This one was a little involved, but fun and really delicious. Here are the basic steps:

1. Separate whole duck into parts.
2. Marinate with some rice wine, soy sauce, etc.
3. Seal in plastic pouches
4. Cook the legs and wings for 8 hours @ 175F
5. Cook the breast for 1 hour @ 145F
6. Remove all of the skin and cook until fat rendered out and the skin is crispy
7. Make Mandarin pancakes (see video below)
8. Make hoisin-based sauce and fava bean paste sauce
9. Assemble and eat!

Here is my sous vide rig:

Mandarin Pancake Movie:

I woke early and started the fire of oak and pecan, standing close to its warmth in the 5-degree cold as the sun was rising over the mountains. Later we feasted on a big fire-roasted chicken, dipping sauce, and thyme/honey sweet potatoes.

A beautiful day to give expression in the form of food to the many blessings in my life. Too busy take “before” photos. Above is a shot of the leftovers. Everything – turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce –  will be heated together to make our favorite sandwiches. These are more anticipated than today’s main event.

A sour-cream dough filled with duck confit. Boiled and then fried with chopped onions in some confit fat. Rib-sticking lunch for a very cold and windy day.

Deboned duck, sautéed in duck fat. Red wine sauce made with stock from bones. Baked figs. Served on brioche toasted in …… yup, duck fat.

So I had some ripe San Marzano plum tomatoes from my garden and I also wanted to try the recipe in the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated for Chicken & Dumplings. Lunch today became a fusion of the two – chicken braised in a tomato sauce with dumplings. I made one major departure from the CI recipe which I think worked very well. Instead of melted butter I used the fat that was rendered when I browned the chicken pieces. The combination of all of this was an explosion of hearty flavor and varied textures. Next time, I’m going to try the dumpling recipe on the box of Pioneer Buttermilk Biscuit Mix. There will definitely be a next time.