Gordon Ramsay recipe questions

[Rowley010]

Hi, just joined the forum and this is my first post here.

I've seen a Gordon Ramsay recipe on YouTube, well it's only about 45 seconds long so it's heavily cut down but it looks delicious and I really want to try it, but there's a couple of bits I was wondering if anyone could help me with.

So firstly the recipe goes something like this:

He has a boneless chicken thigh which he has opened out nice and flat. Onto this he puts a sausage meat stuffing. He then puts the thigh with the stuffing on top down onto some streaky bacon and rolls it up inside some foil nice and tightly. He puts this in boiling water and cooks in there for 25 minutes. Next he takes it out of the pan and places STRAIGHT into the fridge for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes takes it out, takes off the foil and puts in a frying pan to crisp up the bacon all round before slicing it to serve.

Sounds fairly simple to be honest right?

My questions are....

1/ I was always on the understanding that meat had to be cooled down before putting into the fridge. He puts it straight in. Is this ok??

2/ he takes it out of the fridge after 30 minutes then crisps up the bacon, but this isn't going to be long enough to warm the whole thing through again.mso surely your going to get a cold bit of chicken with hot crispy bacon? Am I right or wrong?

3/ because the video is so short he doesn't explain any reason for putting it in the fridge. Does anyone know a reason for this? Would it not be better to fry it straight from the boiling water so it's still hot inside and you also get the crispy outside? Or is there a reason why you wouldn't do this just like Gordon didn't on the video?

Any replies will be much appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[CraigC]

Welcome to DC! Do you have a link to the video?

 

[Rowley010]

Hi, here it is

http://youtu.be/bm00JauYEk8

I was wrong on the 40 seconds, was thinking of another video, this one is 2 minutes but still heavily cut down

 

[lyndalou]

I watched the video.It appears that the "stuffing" is just sausage and pistachios, then the thing is rolled up and boiled for 30 mins. Not enough time, in my opinion. You want the sausage cooked through. A meat thermometer might be what you need. I would let it cool down for about 15 mins before putting it into the fridge. Why he does that I'm not sure..maybe someone else will know. then finishing it off by crisping the bacon looks okay to me. Just my 2 cents.

 

[puffin3]

Welcome!
GR is not always the go-to chef IMO. For instance I watched a Youtube of him cooking pasta where he had the water boiling then poured a couple of Ts of olive oil on the boiling water.
Again IMO that's going to coat the pasta with oil making the pasta not able to absorb the sauce which is the whole point of adding a sauce.
He does things like this.
If you make his recipe you're going to need to know what temp the interior is after thirty minutes. It seems to me cooking chicken using water which is at 212 F for thirty minutes is asking for some pretty tough chicken.
I would have let the chicken rest in the foil at room temperature for an hour assuming the stuffing was properly cooked then unwrapped it then wrapped the bacon around it then into a medium hot pan to fry the bacon. This would have brought the interior temp. up before serving.

 

[Rowley010]

I've not really seen this method of cooking before for chicken. If it would make it tough would there be a better way to cook it with or without the bacon on in the first place? Would it be better wrapping it in the foil and then just oven cooking it?

 

[CraigC]

He is basically making a "sausage", using bacon as the "casing". IMO, poaching tightens up the "sausage". Chilling it brings the temperature down so that when it is sauteed, the chicken and stuffing don't over cook. If you didn't chill it, the carry over cooking might also cause over cooking. He used thigh and leg which will not dry out. Especially with the fat from the sausage, bacon and chicken skin.

 

[Rowley010]

Thanks for the reply.

So would you chill it as much as he does and also put it straight into the fridge? Or would you leave it on the side for a bit first?

 

[CraigC]

I would chill it according to his instructions. The bacon is going to take awhile to crisp, allowing the "sausage" to cook through. It gets to rest while the pan sauce is finished, which I believe, from the reduction process, will take a good 10 minutes.

 

[Andy M.]

I would follow his recipe as given but check the internal temperature of the center of the 'log' as soon as it came out of the water. It should be cooked through.

I think chilling it helps firm up the bacon so it won't unwrap when you take the foil off.

Sounds tasty, but I'm not sure about the texture of the chicken skin.

 

[Rowley010]

No I'm not either. My plan is to remove the skin right at the start and discard.

 

[GotGarlic]

What?? Discard?! Sacrilegious! Crisp it up separately! Makes a great snack!