Chicken briney

I have been charged with this task so I, like some knight of the food realm, must. I must blog about my culinary adventures and stop just teasing with my Facebook headers.

So, here you go. Last Sunday G came home with a medium sized chicken. We, being decent folk, decided to roast it. There isn't all that much that goes into roasting a chicken well (I know this is a much discussed and written about topic.) I am simply saying that the best chickens I have had, roasted, have a lemon shoved in with some herbs and a massage of olive oil, salt and pepper and they come out pretty perfect. G who so often and correctly looks to David Chang for a bit of inspiration pulled out a brine for the fried chicken, half cup of salt, half a cup of sugar, a warm water bath a couple hours in the fridge. Why not? we asked. So, in you go chickie. After a good soak, the chicken came up from the depths and into the oven with the aforementioned, simple ministrations. Well, out he came from the oven just the crispiest skin and the most succulent juicy meat I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. It was shocking how good it was. It changed chicken for me. It was a poultry revelation. If religion was this good, I might be interested.

We added to the meal some mashed sweet potato with miso butter. This, again thanks to DC for the miso butter, is such a lovely combination of salty and sweet that you will promise to not harm your precious taste buds with anything not so pure and good as these flavors again. (This may be a bit much but, I am going for it!) The chicken didn't ask for this addition to the plate, nor did it need it but, in the end it didn't seem to mind. Push a fluffy bite of sweet potato onto the tender meat and insert into mouth, savor, listen to the silence, marvel at the perfection your mouth holds within, look forward to another bite.

Well, it is Sunday again and chicken is on the menu. This week a good friend sent 'The French Menu Cookbook', thanks to you S, G wants to make a veal stock. I am making the shopping notes. The stock is to cook almost everything in. This is the new experiment, report to follow, this week photos of our friend and new love chicken briney for you to see.