Heston Blumenthal's Roast Chicken recipe is pretty involved to say the least. If you're anal about your roast chicken, this might be something you'll care to try. It goes roughly like this:
1. Brine whole chicken for 6 hours in fridge.
2. Wash chicken and soak in fresh water for 1 hour, changing the water every 15 min.
3. Prepare boiling pot of water and bowl of ice water. Plunge chicken in boiling water 30 seconds, then immerse in ice water. Bring pot of water backto a boil. Repeat the process.
4. Pat chicken dry. Cover with cloth. Place in fridge overnight to dry.
5. Preheat oven to 60C or 140F. Bake chicken on a rack in a pan for 4 to 6 hours until internal temp reaches 60C or 140F.
6. Rest chicken for 1 hour.
7. Meantime, chop up reserved chicken wings and saute in butter. Strain this sauce.
8. Use baster with syringe and inject the sauce into different parts of the chicken.
9. Chicken is now ready to be served.
Reason for posting this is I want to understand why he performs some of above the steps. Heston does not explain why in the book. I hope our knowledgeable friends here could explain. My questions:
A. In step 2, why soak the chicken in fresh water for 1 hour after brining it? Won't this reverse the brining and extract juices out of the chicken?
B. In step 3, why scald and shock the chicken a couple times? It probably has to do with tightening the skin...
C. In step 4, why leave the chicken to dry overnight? Also, won't the brine seep out of the chicken and collect into a pool at the bottom?
See, if all the above steps make sense then maybe I'll try this recipe out one day! Maybe I am OC myself...!
Thanks in advance!
1. Brine whole chicken for 6 hours in fridge.
2. Wash chicken and soak in fresh water for 1 hour, changing the water every 15 min.
3. Prepare boiling pot of water and bowl of ice water. Plunge chicken in boiling water 30 seconds, then immerse in ice water. Bring pot of water backto a boil. Repeat the process.
4. Pat chicken dry. Cover with cloth. Place in fridge overnight to dry.
5. Preheat oven to 60C or 140F. Bake chicken on a rack in a pan for 4 to 6 hours until internal temp reaches 60C or 140F.
6. Rest chicken for 1 hour.
7. Meantime, chop up reserved chicken wings and saute in butter. Strain this sauce.
8. Use baster with syringe and inject the sauce into different parts of the chicken.
9. Chicken is now ready to be served.
Reason for posting this is I want to understand why he performs some of above the steps. Heston does not explain why in the book. I hope our knowledgeable friends here could explain. My questions:
A. In step 2, why soak the chicken in fresh water for 1 hour after brining it? Won't this reverse the brining and extract juices out of the chicken?
B. In step 3, why scald and shock the chicken a couple times? It probably has to do with tightening the skin...
C. In step 4, why leave the chicken to dry overnight? Also, won't the brine seep out of the chicken and collect into a pool at the bottom?
See, if all the above steps make sense then maybe I'll try this recipe out one day! Maybe I am OC myself...!
Thanks in advance!
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