Roast Chicken

(based on The Foodie Handbook's Roast Chicken recipe page 62)

• about 2.75 lb free range chicken (original recipe sis 3.25 lb bird and roast longer)
  
• 3 tbsp soft butter
• s+p
• handful of italian oregano
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 4 heads of garlic (smashed)

1. preheat oven 425 F
2. sprinkle liberally with s+p inside and out
3. separate skin on top of breasts from the meat
   
4. stuff cavity with rosemary, garlic, and oregano
5. rub butter all over the cavity
6. grease lil more below on the sheetpan
7. truss up the chicken's legs and wings
8. lie it on one of the thighs
9. roast 30 minutes
10. baste and flip it to the other thigh to rest on
11. roast 25 more minutes...
12. done! (i took out prior to timer because meat pulled away from leg a lot..checked temp and was 170 at thigh and breast)
13. rest it with its tail up and breast down...let the dresses go into the breasts
    

grade B+

- needed slightly more salt
- ideally, more color on the breast...
- because the bird is so small, i needed to lower times before flip and leave some time to roast the breast
- just barely cooked through...see lil pink in the joint after cut into the thigh (originally thought not cooked enough..but i was wrong)
- breast quite moist but tough to say because it was freerange and very small breasts
- slight crispy..want it more crispy
- great flavor because of butter

next time:
- get a bird about 3.25 lbs
- roast as directions say...1/2 hour on a side, then 1/2 hour after flip, then 20 minutes for the breast and lower temp to 375 if not fully cooked and cook til juices run clear
- try to maybe roast one flip with the breasts down to leave breasts less exposed
- using an onion to stuff it more so heat doesn't go in would work better than just herbs where i can see the cavity open...
- learn to truss a bird properly

ideas:
- i like this idea of roasting on tights then keep flipping
- i also like the trussing as i believe it will allow for less heat to hit the breasts
- still feel that breasts will overcook esp if last minutes is to roast the breasts...
- i think best to roast first 20 min on one thigh, 20 min on other thigh, 20 min on the breast, and 20 minutes on the back....better than so much time with breasts exposed i think...

12/12 - Slow Cooker Braised Boneless Short Ribs

Ingredients:

• 4.4 lbs of boneless short ribs (costco)
• 1.5 - 2 cans of tomatoes
• 1/3 cup red wine (pinot noir)
• 1 onion (sliced)
• 1 carrot (sliced)
• 6 cloves garlic (whole)
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 pieces beef bone marrow (i added it frozen...think it lengthened the cooktime)
  

Method:

1. salt and pepper the meat...cut into 2-3 inch cubes
   
2. place all ingredients into crock pot and turn to high...cook til tender (i put veggies on bottom)
   
3. (did not sear as i feel the best stews have not been seared...meat absorbs flavors better
   

Notes:

• think it was a bad idea to put meat in last...should sit on bottom, not on top of veggies...but i wanted least heat to hit it as i don't want the hot bottom overcooking the meat
  
• first i started on low for 1 hour, but didn't do anything so boosted to high
• mom said that i should have boiled liquid first then add to crock pot so it would not take so long to simmer
• no simmer after 6 hrs (started at 8pm...checked at 2 am...so simmer)
• too much liquid at 2am, so scooped out about 1.5 cups of liquid as it might boil over
  

12/12 - Roast Leg of Lamb

adapted from giada's roasting temperture

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/herb-crusted-lamb-recipe/index.html)

ingredients:

• 5.38 lb tied boneless leg of lamb (australian lamb from costco)
• 5 five-inch sprigs of rosemary
• 10 garlic cloves
• 5-6 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 onion
• 1.5 carrots
• flour
• butter or olive oil
  

assumed method:

1. bash garlic with salt....then add chopped rosemary and bash with oil
2. salt and pepper the roast...rub all over with garlic mixture...place on a rack over a sheet pan
   
3. foil and tent and refrigerate overnight
4. take out of oven 1-1.5 hrs prior to roasting meat
5. chop onion into quarters and carrot into 3 inch pieces and place around the roasting rack on the bottom of pan
6. preheat oven 450
7. roast meat for 20 min uncovered
8. turn down oven to 375 + pour 1/2 cup red wine + 1/2 cup water onto bottom of pan + rotate
   
9. roast another 45-55 minutes til meat is 130-135 for med rare
10. (if gets too dark, turn heat down to 350.)
11. while meat is roasting, make a quick roux
12. pour juices into roux to make a slightly thickened au jus

What i did on 12/12:

steps 1-7 = same...

8. turn down oven to 375 + pour COLD 1.5 cups of short rib braising liquid onto bottom of pan + rotate
9. roast 1 hr 40min more til roast is 130 + take out
10. while meat is roasting, make a quick roux til nutty and light brown...about 10min (3.5 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp oil + about 3 tbsp flour
11. pour juices + red wine into roux to make a slightly thickened au jus
12. too thick so i added some short rib liquid to make thinner

Result:

• uneven cooking of roast
• some parts too rare (mostly underside of meat)
  
• needed more salt
• garlic and rosemary good taste on crust
• medium pieces tasted very good
• pan suace was good...perfect consistency
  

Next time:

• need to rotate roast every 20minutes to get more even cooking
• can try to flip roast midway through to get more even cooking
• need to add HOT liquid (water + wine is best) to pan, not cold liquid
• 130-135 degrees seems best for lamb roast
• can use more salt or even untie roast and salt and pepper, then tie up and roast...
  

11/27 - Thanksgiving Turkey

Problem:

• breast little dry and joints are bloody

Procedure:

• brined in rosemary, garlic, bay leaf, salt, sugar, and pepper for 1 day in bucket with ice
• washed off turkey from brine and air-dried in fridge for 10 hrs, flipping once then another 1 hr in fridge
  
• took out of fridge 1 hr before roast
• iced the breasts at same time roast was taken out of fridge
• oiled up bird but no salt at all
  
• roasted at v-rack in high edge baking pan
• roasted breast side down 45min at 425 (til slight dark)
• flipped to breast side up and cooked 1 hr 1 min at 325, and checked temp and 140 at the thigh and breast
• roasted additional 20min at 350...
• rested about 1 hr then sliced
  

Next time: (solution?)

• don't use the high edge pan as it is doesn't allow heat to get to the bottomside of the bird
• if need to use high edge pan, place on lower rack to get more heat
• using normal bake sheet with v=rack is best
• take out bird and ice it about 2 hrs prior to roast....1 hr too short
• roast at 425 for 45 min with breast side down, then turn down to 350 for 15 minutes before flip and cook at 325 (or 350 for better color) for 1 hour, 15 minutes (as i feel the bottom side needs more time to cook thighs better)...then broil the top skin for 5 min if needed at end.
  
• need to highly salt the bird before roasting...put salt under the skin too...good also to add sauteed garlic too under the skin...
• saute garlic with olive oil and butter...cool...then rub under the skin of turkey
• for brine, taste it to make sure salty enough...needs atleast 1/2 of the bucket to to be full...measure the amount of water to salt to get an accurate reading for next time...
• don't add garlic to brine...flavor better when in sauteed mixture...
• for brine, use only rosemary, bay leaves, and salt and sugar
• stuff with garlic mixture and salt the bird's exterior atleast 8 hrs before roasting to get max flavor and crisper skin
  

Temperature:

• ideal is 160 in breast meat 175 for thighs