Photo by Gloria Dawson/The Daily Green
After I reviewed Michael Pollan's book, Cooked http://michaelpollan.com I vowed to take a year, go through the chapters, and do a slow-but-steady turnaround in the kitchen and in the way I do things there.
Well, I've been good (A+) at the doing but have done not very well at reporting back to you. My first priority was to always have two good chicken stocks in the freezer. At all times. Without fail.
I bought the smallest local free-range chicken that I could find. Plump for its size and with no water added. I wanted it to render about three quarts of good, rich broth and that's exactly what it did. I intended it to be my Thai jungle soup broth but switched in the middle of my plan and made a savory, tangy stock instead. The smell permeated the house. Succulent, for lack of a more expressive word.
The local yardbirds are expensive but they are dense and tasty - like you remember from years gone by. Chicken pieces were smaller on Mother's platter. Yet, a chicken still gave the same feeling of satisfaction that these huge, watery, salty, and mushy legs, thighs, breasts, and wings do today. Probably more.
I made a Panzanella with chicken and capers while the broth was cooling down a little. That was my dinner yesterday. I had enough chicken left to make chicken salad for tonight - chunky, with the celery and apple cut the same size as the breast meat.
When I'm hungry for chicken again, I'll hunt down another one of these birds. Next time, I'll make the Thai seasoned broth for the freezer. I predict that I'll have enough chicken from that session for a Thai chicken salad and maybe a Chinese dish that requires cooked poultry.
I really need to sharpen my knives. These little birds will make several braised poultry dishes that I've been anxious to try. Now that I see how far the small, tender birds stretch, I know that one chicken will be enough for a family meal.
As an aside, the livers, gizzard, and heart that I found inside the chicken were fresh, healthy, and just the right size (versus grey, flabby, huge) I pulled out one of the restaurant-quality freezer containers that I bought from Brown's Kitchen Center http://www.brownskitchen.com/ when I began this project and began freezing them.
I'm using a small size jar so that when it's full it will hold enough for one single serving. No. Not fried like we used to make them. Sauteed in the finest olive oil/Irish butter mixture.
And so it is that my Cooked experiment is beginning to buzz along. I'll give you a recipe for a stock for oriental cooking as soon as I talk to you again about yardbirds.
