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Roasting a whole bird
The biggest challenge in poultry cooking is roasting a whole bird. How can you get both
white and dark meat to come out at the same degree of doneness? That is a challenge. Dark meat
forms thick chunks in the legs and thighs with a thick bone in the center. It takes longer to heat
such massive pieces to the correct temperature than the breast meat which is less bulky and with
only thin bones as support.
Creative cooks have found some solutions to this problem, none of them easy. You can
rotate the bird in the oven part way through roasting to have the legs and thighs exposed to heat
as much as possible and drape cheesecloth over the breast to keep it moist and slow its cooking
slightly. (Remove the cheesecloth during the last half hour to allow the breast to fully brown and
crisp.)
Basting frequently also helps. The cooking time remains the same, but the breast tends to
retain more moisture when you baste. A troublesome technique that works perfectly well is to
debone the entire bird and butterfly the meat (split it through the center so only a narrow piece of
meat remains to hold the two halves together, then unfold it like butterfly wings). Sounds like a
lot of work, but if you have a little experience with cutting up chicken or turkey, you can do the
job in about 15 minutes. The butterflied bird, when flattened, cooks quickly and evenly in the
oven or over the coals, and it is a snap to cut it up into serving pieces.
Roasting duck and goose produces delectable crisp skin and deliciously succulent, moist
meat. The challenge is what to do with the extra fat. The fat is in a thick layer between the meat
and the skin. You can melt most of it out by starting to roast in a slow oven. Later, raise the heat
to finish browning the meat. To facilitate melting the fat, slip your hand between the meat and
the fat layer (not between the fat and the skin) and separate the two.
A Chinese Peking duck technique is more complicated but very efficient and elegant.
Immerse the duck or goose in boiling water for a minute, then let it air dry in the refrigerator for
a full day. This rest time tightens the skin over the fat layer. When in the oven, the pressure of
the tight skin helps to melt the fat.
Unlike in chicken and turkey, there is less distinct white and dark meat in goose and
duck. That helps to finish cooking both to the same degree of doneness.
TASTINGS Weight Loss with Different Cooking Methods
The less weight poultry loses in cooking, the juicier the meat will be. What you
lose is meat juices. Below are the weight losses for three cooking methods
(modified from Stadelman, et al.).
¨
¨
¨
stewing
frying
roasting
22%
23%
31%
You lose the least in stewing because the surrounding liquid inhibits the loss of
juices. The flavorful juices remain in the pot. Roasting is a slow, long process, so
you expect a relatively high moisture loss. Much of the liquid evaporates but the
flavor remains in the drip pan. The high temperature of frying also promotes
moisture loss that you see as steam billowing up, but this method is so quick that
there is not enough time for too much to escape.
play © erdosh 82
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