Tastes Like Chicken!!!!

Okay, sophisticates...

I am working on a proposal for a new book. This is the first time I've discussed it *anywhere.*

It's about chicken. yes, you heard me, chicken - the most popular meat eaten in the United States and quite popular around the world as well. Included in many fad diets, considered healthy. The best way to fry, roast, broil, boil saute etc. Many international recipes.

I will have a couple of hundred ways to cook chicken as well as commentary on commerical chicken production, free-range chicken, organic chicken, breeds etc.

I solicit all input. Any interest? (I did raise chickens myself on two different occasions.)

Chef - there's probably more ways to cook chicken than colors of paint at Home Depot. Personally, I almost never cook whole chickens, except for Cornish hens. I use cut up chickens for Cacciatore and Coq au Vin. Leg quarters (or thighs and drumsticks separated) I like marinated (I'm very fond of a locally made marinade called "Chiavetta's) and cooked on the charcoal grill. I have trouble cooking breasts on the grill. Boneless, skinless breasts I like to use in Scallopine (scallions, mushrooms, heavy cream, white wine). Leftover chicken becomes either fried rice or chicken salad sandwiches. Backs and necks get used for stock and soup.

As an aside, except for Wings, I don't think I've ever ordered chicken in a restaurant.

Chef - there's probably more ways to cook chicken than colors of paint at Home Depot. Personally, I almost never cook whole chickens, except for Cornish hens. I use cut up chickens for Cacciatore and Coq au Vin. Leg quarters (or thighs and drumsticks separated) I like marinated (I'm very fond of a locally made marinade called "Chiavetta's) and cooked on the charcoal grill. I have trouble cooking breasts on the grill. Boneless, skinless breasts I like to use in Scallopine (scallions, mushrooms, heavy cream, white wine). Leftover chicken becomes either fried rice or chicken salad sandwiches. Backs and necks get used for stock and soup.

As an aside, except for Wings, I don't think I've ever ordered chicken in a restaurant.

Thanks, Howie. I feel the same way about ordering chicken in a restaurant. Although, one time when I made an exception, I came up with a dish that has almost become a signature dish of mine. Inspired by what I ate. It's the Poulet Saute with Wild Mushrooms with a Puree of Garlic Potatoes.

Maybe with my roast chicken I can make you rethink cooking whole chickens.

[Jenise]

What kind of input are you looking for, chef? Chicken's my favorite meat, so I have a lot of opinions....

[Robin Garr]

I solicit all input. Any interest? (I did raise chickens myself on two different occasions.)

As an obligate city boy, I keep pets, and I let farmers and the food-supply chain handle my livestock and present it to me in sanitized form. I am okay with this.

Like Jenise, I love chicken, and I <i>do</i> order it in restaurants. I also love to cook it, whole and in parts. Jenise has teased me on occasion about my particular love for chicken thighs, which are far and away my favorite chicken part ... rich, dark, flavorful, as far as I'm concerned, others can grab the bland breast meat, although that said, white meat can be an acceptable-only-different alternative for veal in some recipes.

I have an older book around here that you should probably know about. It's buried now, but if you're interested I can dig it out and get you the publisher info and ISBN. It's called "How the World Cooks Chicken" or something like that and has probably over 100 chicken recipes broken out by continent, then by country within each continent. My recollection is that they're of variable difficulty level (but mostly on the medium-to-easy side) and some of them maybe of dubious authenticity (contributed by U.S. families based on family recipes, which can be real comfort food but sometimes drifts from the original). Still, it sounds like something you might want to have a look at.

I've got a copy of "The Chicken in Every Pot Cookbook," an artifact of my first marriage. I'll be happy to donate it in the cause of research...

Slightly OT, but I went to a farmers' market in Belgium last week where you could pick out your chicken live, and either bring it home that way, or have the guy at the cash register cash in the chicken's chips, so to speak. Interesting approach to shopping, and (I think) superior to our sanitized experience.

I'm very happy to see all the usual suspects chiming in here. I do have some things to say to each of you but have to run (not literally, of course) right now. I'll return in the morning.

Chef, I do hope you'll include a chapter on McNuggets. You know, the rich history of the food item, what the hell it is, stuff like that. After all, millions of chickens have given their lives to become that eminently American dish!

Myself, I always thought one of the most fascinating names for a chicken food item was "Chicken Fingers". Ewwww.

Sounds like you might have a winner on your hands.

When I saw the title of your tread I thought you were talking about alligator and rabbit and things like that. Are you, or is it just about chicken?

[James Roscoe]

When I saw the title of your tread I thought you were talking about alligator and rabbit and things like that. Are you, or is it just about chicken?

You could dedicate many chapters to recipes that "Taste like chicken".

I like the sounds of it, Chef! Particularly if it's in a similar format to Chef On Fire - ie. plenty of recipes and info with little emphasis on glitzy photos and such. (BTW, my bastardized version of your Italian Potato Salad was a big hit at a recent pot luck.)

Maybe a section on buying chicken as well? The Asian markets here sometimes have birds with heads and feet still attached which have far more flavor than the Foster Farms birds when roasted.

Mike

What kind of input are you looking for, chef? Chicken's my favorite meat, so I have a lot of opinions....

Anthing that strikes you, Jenise...anything you'd like to see in a book like this.

I solicit all input. Any interest? (I did raise chickens myself on two different occasions.)

As an obligate city boy, I keep pets, and I let farmers and the food-supply chain handle my livestock and present it to me in sanitized form. I am okay with this.

Like Jenise, I love chicken, and I <i>do</i> order it in restaurants. I also love to cook it, whole and in parts. Jenise has teased me on occasion about my particular love for chicken thighs, which are far and away my favorite chicken part ... rich, dark, flavorful, as far as I'm concerned, others can grab the bland breast meat, although that said, white meat can be an acceptable-only-different alternative for veal in some recipes.

I have an older book around here that you should probably know about. It's buried now, but if you're interested I can dig it out and get you the publisher info and ISBN. It's called "How the World Cooks Chicken" or something like that and has probably over 100 chicken recipes broken out by continent, then by country within each continent. My recollection is that they're of variable difficulty level (but mostly on the medium-to-easy side) and some of them maybe of dubious authenticity (contributed by U.S. families based on family recipes, which can be real comfort food but sometimes drifts from the original). Still, it sounds like something you might want to have a look at.

I, too, was a city boy, Robin. I was trying to not be at the time. I had a quarter acre organic garden, lots of fruit trees, some lop-eared rabbits, and a couple of dozen hens - Rhode Island Reds and Barred Plymouth Rocks.

Yes, I would be interested in looking at the book. Thanks.

I've got a copy of "The Chicken in Every Pot Cookbook," an artifact of my first marriage. I'll be happy to donate it in the cause of research...

Slightly OT, but I went to a farmers' market in Belgium last week where you could pick out your chicken live, and either bring it home that way, or have the guy at the cash register cash in the chicken's chips, so to speak. Interesting approach to shopping, and (I think) superior to our sanitized experience.

That's exactly the kind of thing I'd like to see, Stuart.

Chef, I do hope you'll include a chapter on McNuggets. You know, the rich history of the food item, what the hell it is, stuff like that. After all, millions of chickens have given their lives to become that eminently American dish!

Myself, I always thought one of the most fascinating names for a chicken food item was "Chicken Fingers". Ewwww.

Sounds like you might have a winner on your hands.

That sounds interesting. I'll need to get an informant and do some industrial espionage at corporate R&D.

When I saw the title of your tread I thought you were talking about alligator and rabbit and things like that. Are you, or is it just about chicken?

Well, my working title is: Tastes Like Chicken: Because It Is.

When I saw the title of your tread I thought you were talking about alligator and rabbit and things like that. Are you, or is it just about chicken?

You could dedicate many chapters to recipes that "Taste like chicken".

Well, yeah, but I believe that folks who use that expression a lot are probably suffering from either ageusia or ignorance.

I like the sounds of it, Chef! Particularly if it's in a similar format to Chef On Fire - ie. plenty of recipes and info with little emphasis on glitzy photos and such. (BTW, my bastardized version of your Italian Potato Salad was a big hit at a recent pot luck.)

Maybe a section on buying chicken as well? The Asian markets here sometimes have birds with heads and feet still attached which have far more flavor than the Foster Farms birds when roasted.

Mike

Thanks, Mike. Yes I have purchased fowl with heads and feet intact on many occasions - the extremities make great, semi-gelatinized stock. I had a great connection when I was in California. I have an Asian market just a few blocks from my house here. I buy all kinds of live fish and shellfish there - they have tanks with lobster, crabs, eel, catfish, tilapia etc - I take my students there. They also have fowl with heads and feet - unfortunately these are all frozen and I don't buy them.

Oh, and I have little control over the final format of a book, unfortunately. Maybe with a new publisher things will change.

Rattlesnake tastes like chiken.




No kidding.

[Jenise]

What kind of input are you looking for, chef? Chicken's my favorite meat, so I have a lot of opinions....

Anthing that strikes you, Jenise...anything you'd like to see in a book like this.

Okay. Here's one: if I pulled a book off a shelf that actually had a whole chapter on whole chicken preps, say inclusive of ideas like a cold Chinese "drunken chicken" for summer, I'd be all over it. It's a major failing of American cooking, IMNSHO, to regard whole bird cookery as both 1) only variations on roasted and 2) strictly cold weather fare. America needs someone to liberate them from those notions.

What kind of input are you looking for, chef? Chicken's my favorite meat, so I have a lot of opinions....

Anthing that strikes you, Jenise...anything you'd like to see in a book like this.

Okay. Here's one: if I pulled a book off a shelf that actually had a whole chapter on whole chicken preps, say inclusive of ideas like a cold Chinese "drunken chicken" for summer, I'd be all over it. It's a major failing of American cooking, IMNSHO, to regard whole bird cookery as both 1) only variations on roasted and 2) strictly cold weather fare. America needs someone to liberate them from those notions.

Thanks, Jenise. I, too, am a fan of whole chickens and have quite a few preparations.

[James Roscoe]

Thanks, Jenise. I, too, am a fan of whole chickens and have quite a few preparations.

Hey, it tastes like chicken!

While beef is still my meat of preference, we eaat so much chicken here I sometimes wonder why I haven't grown feathers yet . One thing I have noticed though is that people seem to have gotten stuck in a rut where chicken is concerned. At a church sponcered supper club function last year I made a version of Chicken Cacciatore and was very surprised at how many people told me that they could never make something like that because it was "too difficult". Suggestions for "easy versions" of some dishes (not a 30 Minute Meals or Semi-Homemade but rather a "this gets excellent results and is much easier than you'd think" type thing) might help things along for some of these people.

While beef is still my meat of preference, we eaat so much chicken here I sometimes wonder why I haven't grown feathers yet . One thing I have noticed though is that people seem to have gotten stuck in a rut where chicken is concerned. At a church sponcered supper club function last year I made a version of Chicken Cacciatore and was very surprised at how many people told me that they could never make something like that because it was "too difficult". Suggestions for "easy versions" of some dishes (not a 30 Minute Meals or Semi-Homemade but rather a "this gets excellent results and is much easier than you'd think" type thing) might help things along for some of these people.

Thanks, Carl. I am always trying to simplify.