Basic Professional French Cooking

Poulet Rôti Grand-Mère

Roasted Chicken Grand Mother stye

Ingredients (for 8 servings)

2 Roasting Chickens, (1.5 kg / 3 Lb. each)

30 ml Oil (1 fl oz)

30 g Butter (1 fl oz)

For the Jus de Rôti:

1 l Chicken Stock

150 g Carrots (3 oz), mirepoix

150 g Onions (3 oz), mirepoix

100 ml White Wine (3.5 fl oz)

For Grand-Mère Garniture:

800 g Potatoes (28 oz), cocottes, rissolé

50 ml Oil (1.5 fl oz)

75 g Butter (3 oz)

150 g Pearl Onions (about 5 per person) (5 oz), glaze à brun

5 g Sugar for Pearl Onions (.2 oz)

200 g Bacon (10.5 oz), lardons

250 g Mushrooms (10.5 oz). quartered, sautéed

Salt and Pepper

10 g Parsley, washed, dried and chopped fine (.3 oz)

Procedure

Roasting the Chicken

1. -Trim excess fat off the chickens and truss them with or without a needle. Make sure that both techniques are mastered, If herbs are being placed under the skin, they should be inserted before trussing.
   

2. -Peel and chop the carrots and onions for the mirepoix.
   

3. -Brown the chickens in the butter and oil on all sides in a heavy bottomed roasted pan. Surround them with the necks and gizzards (not the livers, which should be saved for something else.)
   

4. -Roast the chickens on their backs in a 400 - 450 F oven for about 40 minutes.
   

5. -About 15 minutes before the chickens are done, the mirepoix should be added to the roasting pan.
   

6. -The chickens are done when the juices run clear (no blood) from a hole poked into the thigh. The internal temperature between the breast and the thigh should be 140 F.
   

7. -Place on a rack let air circulate.
   

Preparing the Grand-Mère Garniture

Potatoes

1. -Peel the potatoes and turn into Pommes Cocottes (5 cm / 2 inches long).
   

2. -Just cover the potatoes with cold water and bring the water to a simmer on top of the stove. Don’t use too much water or the potatoes will over cook. Drain them, without refreshing, right away.
   

3. -Put the blanched pommes cocottes in a small sauté pan with hot oil. When they are evenly browned, drain the oil, let the pan cool slightly and add butter. Season the potatoes and finish cooking in a 400 F oven.
   

Onions

1. -Peel the onions by first soaking them in water. Glaze them à brun. Be  sure not to use too much water - the water should be completely evaporated when the onions are done.
   

2. -Transfer the glazed onions to a bowl or bain marie.
   

Bacon

1. -Remove the rind and cut the bacon into 1/3 inch thick.
   

2. -Cut the slices into strips 1/3 inches wide to form lardons.
   

3. -Gently sauté the lardons. They should render some of their fat but not become crispy. Reserve the fat.
   

Mushrooms

1. -If the mushrooms are small the can be left whole. If larger, they should be quartered.
   

2. -Sauté the mushrooms in the rendered bacon fat and season them.
   

3. -When all of the garniture elements have been cooked, they may either be kept warm in a bain-marie or reheated to order.
   

Preparing the Jus de Rôti

1. -When removing the chickens from the oven, tilt them slightly so that any juice which has accumulated in the cavity drains out into the roasting pan.
   

2. -Place the roasting pan on the stove and boil down the sucs until they caramelize on the bottom of the pan. Be careful not to burn them.
   

3. -Once the sucs have caramelized, remove the fat. Deglaze the caramelized juices with stock or water. Scrape the bottom of the roasting pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge the caramelized sucs and stir until the dissolve.
   

4. -Strain the jus into a saucepan and reduce until full flavored. Adjust the seasoning.
   

Serving

1. -Carve the breasts and thighs off the chicken using a sharp fish of chef’s knife and a sauté fork. Get into the habit of carving without using the fingers. Remove the nubs from the ends of the drumsticks and the breasts (manchonner).
   

2. -Serve the pieces of chicken lightly napped with the jus and the Grand-Mère mixture. Extra jus should be severed on the side in a sauceboat.
   

On www.melaniff.com since 2016