Painting a Chicken

Hello,

Last week, I told you guys about the pumpkin decor situation at my home. I've got an update. On Sunday, we drove up to a pumpkin farm in Pacoima and picked up several pumpkins of all sorts of colors, shapes, and sizes. I also added a pair of “witch legs” that are stuck in the garden bed. Things are clearly a tad more festive than I anticipated.

You can imagine my excitement when my copy of De Smaak Vergelijking, the Dutch edition of my cookbook, The Flavor Equation arrived in the mail yesterday. Now, it’s true that the English edition came out last year but to see the book translated into different languages over the past few months is a moment I will treasure forever. Yup, I'm using Google Translator to learn how to say it right.

A roast chicken is rewarding, in that it can feed several at once. Leftovers can find alternate lives and bones can make stocks but today, I don’t really don’t want to focus on what might happen down the road but rather what is on hand. What I do want to chat about is this glistening roast chicken slathered by several strokes of a chilli sauce made from the Indonesian fermented chilli paste, sambal oelek. Honey, vinegar, and soy sauce form the glue that holds it all together.

It’s true that under most circumstances, I would tell you to let the hot roasted chicken rest before you did anything else to it but this time, I stray away from my own rules. It is and I stress up on this, imperative that you paint the hot bird with the chilli sauce as soon as it comes out of the oven. The hot skin takes to the sauce like a magnet to an iron nail. There will come a point when you might feel like you're painting the chicken like a wall and you're right, paint-dry-paint-dry till that final coat of perfection is achieved. The drippings in the pan are always a bonus!

Forbidden rice and a quick cucumber salad are the light fixtures and furnitures to this painted room of a chicken. (Okay, I'll stop with the metaphors now.)

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The Cook’s Tips

Sweet and Sticky Sambal Chicken

Makes 4 to 6 servings

For the chicken

One 4 lb/1.8kg whole roasting chicken

Fine sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp baking soda

2 cups/480ml water

¼ cup/60ml apple cider vinegar or black vinegar

¼ cup/60ml runny honey

¼ cup/60g sambal oelek

1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 whole star anise

For the rice

2 ½ cups/600ml water

1 cup/100g of black/forbidden rice, rinsed and drained

fine sea salt

For the cucumber salad

1 large/about 300g English cucumber, peeled and sliced

2 tsp fresh lime or lemon juice

Fine sea salt

4 scallions, both white and green parts thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C.

Pat the chicken dry with clean absorbent paper towels and place the chicken over a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. If using a wire rack, place the wire rack perpendicular to the baking sheet to allow easy access to the liquids in the pan during basting.

In a small bowl mix together, 1 tsp salt, black pepper, and baking soda. Rub the mixture all over the skin of the chicken. Drizzle the oil over the chicken. Transfer the baking sheet with the chicken to the preheated oven. Fill the pan with water and let the chicken roast in the oven. After 20 minutes, rotate the tray and begin to baste the chicken with juices in the pan, every 10 minutes. The chicken will be done when the skin turns golden brown and crisp, and the internal temperature reaches 165F/74C, total cooking time 45 minutes to 1 hour. During roasting, if the water in the pan begins to dry out, add ½ cup/120ml more water. Remove from the oven.

While the chicken roasts, prepare the sauce. In a small saucepan bring the vinegar, honey, sambal oelek, soy sauce, and star anise to a rolling boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let sit for at least 30 minutes, not more than 1 hour. Discard the star anise.

As soon as the chicken comes out of the oven, brush it with the sauce and let rest for 1 minute. Get into all the nooks and crannies when you brush it. Repeat and brush until there is no more sauce left behind in the saucepan.

While the chicken cooks, prepare the rice. Add the water, rice, and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer covered until all the water is absorbed by the grains and they turn tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Keep covered and warm.

Toss the cucumber in a medium mixing bowl with the lime juice. Taste and season with salt.

Serve the hot or warm chicken with the cooked rice and the cucumber salad. Garnish with the scallions.

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What I'm watching this week.

This is when I publicly admit that I do watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and I will watch the finale this week (and as writer Charlotte Druckman informed me, it's a four episode reunion with lots of drama).

What I’m reading this week.

Jikoni by Ravinder Bhogal that shares its name with the London restaurant and the recipes and stories are evocative and wondrous. The asparagus with smoked paneer and the oyster pani puris are on my to-make-list.

I’m also back to flipping the pages of my treasured copy of Diana Henry’s Salt, Sugar, Smoke to plan out making fruit preserves to gift at Christmas. This is one book that remains a constant source of inspiration with its flavor combinations.

Previously on TIACL

Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin and Apricot Bread

My Favorite Cookbooks of Fall 2021