Ultimate Cook Book_ 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas - Bruce Weinstein [160]
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Kosher Chickens
Kosher chickens are raised and processed differently than nonkosher chickens. But without delving into kosher law, we can safely say that the main difference for home cooks is that the birds are salted during processing. Because of water absorbed during chilling, they are in effect prebrined. If you’re using a kosher chicken, cut down on the salt in the recipe—or cut it out altogether—because of the meat’s high sodium content. Never brine a Kosher chicken at home.
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How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken
Why pay extra for a cut-up chicken when you can do the job yourself?
Place the bird breast side up on the work surface and gently stretch one wing out from the body. Press your finger between the wing and the breast until you can tell where the two join, where the bone forms a knucklelike structure. Place your knife right over the joint in the bird’s “armpit” and slice down, cutting through the center of the joint. If you meet hard resistance, you’ve hit bone; adjust the angle of your blade to slice directly through the center of the joint, severing the wing from the body but taking a little breast meat with it. Repeat with the other wing. Cut away any hanging skin around the joints.
Do this same operation with the thigh quarters. Position the bird so that the large cavity opening is facing you. Hold the breast in one hand and the whole thigh-leg quarter in the other; gently pry them apart until you hear a pop, thereby disjointing the hip. Feel down into the meat for the ball-and-socket joint, which is now either loose or completely separated. Place your knife over the center of that joint and slice down, taking off the whole thigh quarter. Repeat with the other side of the bird.
Lay the thigh quarter skin side down. Wiggle the leg and look for the inside of the knee joint, again feeling it with your fingers. Place the knife right over that wiggle point and slice down, severing the drumstick from the thigh. Repeat with the other leg quarter. Trim off any excess skin.
What’s left is a whole breast with the back attached. Set it breast side up; it will tip slightly to one side. Insert the knife directly in the large cavity opening so the tip of the knife extends almost all the way through the body. Cut down through all the ribs and bones about 2 inches to the side of the backbone. Repeat this action on the other side of the backbone, thereby removing the back.
Lay the remaining breast skin side down on the work surface. Spread the two sides open flat, pushing them down toward the work surface until the breastbone cracks. Cut down through the middle of the breastbone. The breastbone of older or larger chickens will not crack easily. In this case, you’ll need to eye the breastbone and slice down one side of it, thereby leaving one side of the breast with the bone and the other without. Slice off any extraneous bits of rib and skin hanging off the bottom of the breast halves. The chicken now lies in 9 pieces.
Finally, there’s the question of what to do with all those giblets. Consider these four ideas:
Freeze them and use them cut into tiny bits to enrich most wine-based braises and stews (remember that the liver has a much stronger taste than the other parts).
Make Giblet Gravy for just about any roasted bird.
Make a Corsican fressure, a dish of stewed innards. Follow the recipe for Civet de Poulet, but use 3 pounds cut-up giblets, rather than the thighs and gizzards the recipe calls for. This stew will be quite rich and will easily feed 12 when served over rice, noodles, or couscous.
Use any and all poultry livers for Chopped Liver.
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Broiled Lemon Chicken
With an aromatic and slightly sticky glaze, this easy chicken dish is good party fare. Makes 6 to 8 servings
1 cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup white wine