I am reading a new biography of Julia Child, Dearie, The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz. I am enjoying his ribald quotations and his wit. And it is renewing faith in my cooking abilities. (Do not listen to my children tell you about too much butter swimming in the Potatoes Anna, or their cries of foul when another foodie experiment goes wrong.) I am not likely to become an expat in Paris and sign up for classes at the Cordon Bleu, but luckily, Julia did all the fieldwork and the intensive research for us.
I whine sometimes about not living in New York City where we would have access not only to many different cuisines and food cultures, but we would also have great restaurant delivery services. Sometimes I fantasize about having a stack of menus for Chinese, and Thai and Italian take away food. Or a corner deli that I could walk to when I want a roast beef sandwich and fresh Kosher dills. (The Tall One just had his first NYC bagel with lox – a memorable moment for him.)
Instead, we live in the suburbs and the nearest deli is 5 miles away. Julia Child is teaching me that even home-cooked humble foods can be a delight. And the economic benefits are many! Last Friday night, instead of the rolling out the usual pizza, I roasted a chicken, vertically. And we ate it all weekend long. It was easy, it was tasty and we saved some money and felt oh, so virtuous. There is nothing quite like a nice cool chicken sandwich on a Sunday afternoon, coming back for Round Two of the Sunday papers. Toss on a few Wickles, and a handful of Wise potato chips and you have a veritable feast. Plus, you have the luxury of taking a nap when you are finished with lunch if you dine at home.
I started with a 3-pound bird and cleared out the cavities. (I do not care what Roy Blount, Jr. exhorted us to do with chicken gizzards in the latest Garden & Gun , “The longer you have to chew on something, the longer you get to taste it.”) Then I shook salt and pepper over the chicken, pretending to be Hermione Granger, whispering a magic spell and hoping for the best.
I preheated the oven to 325° F, then I put the chicken on top of the vertical non-stick minimalist chicken roaster that Best Beloved gave me for Christmas a few years ago. (It’s OK, we give each other kitchen utensils in our Christmas stockings.) And then I balanced everything in a deep-dish pie plate. (I would do this differently the next time , kids. Really.) The dish was a little too shallow to contain all the drippings, and for the next week every time we used the oven, an aromatic wave of chicken-scented smoke wafted through the kitchen. Listen to the smart folks at Food52, and use a deeper cake pan.
And here is when you can be very clever – you can substitute a can of beer or a can of Coke for the wire rack I used. But considering what a mess I made, I will probably stick to my current method. I have included another recipe that uses the Aluminum Can Methodology, though.
I cooked the chicken for 20 minutes a pound, so about an hour. I left it in the oven for an extra 10 minutes, just to brown the skin a little bit. (Garden & Gun also had a recipe for frying chicken skins! Wowser.)
And that’s it: Easy Peasy Weekend Chicken. We had some rice and a salad, and some chilled cheap white wine, of course. And then we ate chicken sandwiches all weekend long. I believe a drumstick disappeared in a midnight raid on the fridge… Best Beloved even made some chicken salad with the very last bits, although he had to fight off the cat at that point. We didn’t have to leave the family compound, and we were very happy.
You can do this on Sunday night, which I have often encouraged the Tall One to try, because then he would have a couple of meals ready when Monday and Tuesday roll around. He is not impressed, and he still finds that grilled cheese sandwiches are both a food group and a culinary coup.
And not that I am encouraging you for one minute to divert your attention away from The Spy, but if you haven’t read Garden & Gun magazine, you really should give it a try. It is beautifully put together on lovely paper, with great photography and fabulous illustrations as well as excellent writing: Roy Blount, Jr. is one of my personal faves. Where else will you get a recipe for frying chicken skins, learn how to dress sharp, tell a great story and uncover the best Southern secrets? https://www.gardenandgun.com
https://food52.com/recipes/3324_wishbone_roast_chicken_with_herb_butter
https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/lynnes-vertically-roasted-chicken
https://southernfood.about.com/od/roastchickenrecipes/r/Vertical-Roasted-Chicken.htm
“I never see any home cooking. All I get is fancy stuff.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
..