Roasted Chicken in Milk, tasty but visually......

H

heather_in_sf

Well-known member
awfully unappealing!

It was so funny, I made this last night over at a friends place, and was merrily cooking away, it looked terrific after browning, and while it was cooking the house smelled so good! After 90 minutes it was perfectly cooked, so tender and yet so flavorful.

The sauce, however, was very very unattractive. I made a bagna cauda with a big bowl of romaine spears, celery and a tomato with a knife tucked in the bowl (my "deconstructed/unconstructed" salad), and foccachia from TJ's. Next to this lovely sight I put the sauce from the chicken in a bowl as I just couldn't bear to obstruct the lovely chicken with it. I said nothing.

My friend and I tucked in, tasting this and that, and she looks at the sauce and says:

A: It looks curdled.

H: Yes, supposedly the lemon zest does that.

A: Huh.

H: Well, does it taste good?

A: (Looking away from the sauce), yeahhh..... (pause)

H: You don't like it?

A: It tastes good but..... (pause)

Then she said something that I cannot quote only to state that most ladies have had the unfortunate experience of needing to visit the doc for some treatment for a common ailment, and that the sauce reminded her of this tragic experience, and we just looked at each other without speaking for a few moments. Then, burst into such peals of laughter! My sides were aching. We made her dogs bark and circle the table! Only true friends could get over a moment such as this.

Without a word I carried the offending sauce to the kitchen, put it on the floor and hollered "Doggies!!!" They came running and solved the problem. Then we enjoyed the rest of the dinner. Oh my, it truly was delicious! But hilarious and not a recipe I will repeat. Not after *that*.

I am, however, considering trying this with coconut milk and perhaps lime zest instead of lemon or omitting the sage or something like that, just to play around with it a bit. Or maybe not....

(my apologies if anyone is offended by this tale, I thought it was just really hilarious).

 
reminded me of Marcella Hazan...

Probably in her first cookbook (I only own but the one), she has a recipe for this pork cooked in milk and does mention that the milk braise will curdle and it doens't look great, but it does taste good.

You just re-reminded me of this recipe.LOL

The coconut milk sounds so good! Throw in some lemongrass and a couple of kaffir lime leaves and I bet it'll be awesome! (I'd also be inclined to stir in some red curry paste) But now that's a totally new recipe, isn't it? smileys/wink.gif

 
Hilarious Heather. It is better served by candle light as we do!! I also stripped it in the ....

kitchen and served it plated. None of us actually really inspected what we ate. The plates looked pretty with a small mound of delicious chicken and the long lettuce salad leaves and a parsley garnish. The rest of the sauce was disposed of.
It was very tasty and moist and I'd prolly do it again.
Ahhhhh....the only difference was I used preserved lemons 'cause I ahve them. I did not zest......perhaps that made the sauce appear less curdled.

 
We have close friends who are, to put it mildly, VERY picky eaters. The hubby...

...recently went to an upscale restaurant with a client and ordered something he thought was "safe". It was a stuffed chicken breast that contained cheeses and herbs and greens.

He almost lost it, because he said when he cut into the chicken, it looked like it was "still digesting something".

I just rolled my eyes...

Michael

 
A number of recipes for the pork warn that it's not "attractive" -- assuming you're from a country

where sauces are traditionally smooth. (The cat-vomit appearance is not an issue in Italy.) It *does* look gross, but man oh man, it's good -- we lick our plates. If you're really worried, you can always boil it down and then puree it with an immersion blender or whisk it, but purists would be horrified -- the curds, apparently, are desirable.

 
I'm really liking these "deconstructed" salads you all are coming up with. I must try this soon

 
I make Marcella's but then at the end, I put a stick blender to it

and sometimes add a little cream and pull it all together nicely - I am on FB and have a pix of it out there but it looks much nicer this way and gives you that wonderful gravy that you can stand to look at.

 
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