11.9 Cooking poultry

Chicken recipes → Turkey recipes → Duck recipes →

Cutting a chicken into ten pieces

Poultry cookery begins with disjointing: cutting the bird into halves, quarters and single portions. This method gives ten pieces:

• Lay the chicken on its back on a surface that is easy to clean. Pull a leg outward from the body. Slice through the skin, then between the muscles, heading for the hip joint.
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• Cut through the joint, then cut the muscle and skin away close to the body. On an older, less tender bird, such as a stewing hen for fricassee, you may need to snap the joint by hand. Repeat on the other side.
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• Bend the thigh and drumstick together to find the joint, and cut through it.
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• Pull each wing out to find its joint, and cut through it.
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• Find where the back ribs meet the front ribs. Cut through the skin and ribs on each side, from the tail toward the neck, then bend the breast back to break it from the back and cut the two apart.
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• Cut the back across into two pieces, and the breast into two, lengthwise or across.
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• Check every piece to make sure the bird was fully cleaned inside, and remove the kidneys if they are still there.

The safe temperature

Poultry must reach 74°C (165°F) inside and hold it for 15 seconds. Juices that run clear are a sign of doneness. Do not rely on time alone; check the inside with a thermometer.

For broiled, grilled and roasted birds, aim a little higher: 165°F to 170°F (74°C to 77°C) at the coolest point, read in the thickest part and away from the bone. The other signs of doneness, loose joints and clear juices, are set out with inspection and storage above.

Matching the method to the bird

Young, tender birds suit dry heat. Older, tougher ones need moist heat. Each kind of bird brings its own problem to the oven or grill.

• A large bird such as a turkey cooks best at low heat, yet its skin only crisps at a higher one.
• Duck and goose skin holds a lot of fat, which has to be rendered out as the bird cooks.
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• Small birds such as squab need heat high enough to crisp the skin, but they overcook in moments.
• A boneless chicken breast has no bone to help hold in its moisture, so it dries out quickly, above all on the grill or under the broiler.
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Chicken five ways, side by side

• Broiled. Brush the pieces with melted butter and lemon juice and lay them skin side down on the broiler pan. Turn and baste them every 5 to 10 minutes. They take about 10 to 20 minutes.
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• Oven-baked. Coat the pieces in flour seasoned with salt, paprika and pepper, roll them in melted butter, and bake skin side down, uncovered, at 350°F for 30 minutes. Turn them and bake 15 to 20 minutes more.
• Fried. Shake the pieces in a bag of seasoned flour, two at a time, and let the coating dry on a rack. Heat about ¼ inch of oil until a drop of water sizzles in it. Brown the meatiest pieces first, then the small ones, and do not crowd the pan. Brown both sides, turning with tongs, then finish in a 350°F oven for about 10 to 20 minutes.
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• Roasted. For a Cornish game hen, check that the lungs and kidneys are gone from the cavity, rub the skin with melted butter and set the bird breast up on a rack. Put a thermometer in the middle of the inner thigh. Roast it at 350°F for about an hour, and baste it with drippings or melted butter every 30 minutes.
• Microwaved. Set chicken thighs skin side up in a covered dish with a sauce, thickest parts toward the outside. On medium-high power they take about 9 to 11 minutes.

The bread dressing for the hen bakes separately, covered, for 45 minutes at 350°F, rather than inside the bird. Serve dressing within a few minutes of taking it from the oven; do not leave it standing at room temperature. Stuffing cooked inside poultry must reach 74°C (165°F). Microwaving is covered earlier. see chapter 7: Microwaving

Broiling and grilling

How the grill and broiler work is taught earlier. see chapter 8: Fitting the method to the food

Broiled or grilled poultry should be well browned outside, perhaps with crosshatched grill marks, and moist and juicy inside. Small birds suit these methods best: Cornish hens, chickens and squab. Split a whole bird or cut it into pieces, and break the joints so it lies flat. Thread quail and other tiny birds on skewers so they keep their shape and cook evenly. Watch breasts and boneless pieces closely, because direct heat overcooks them fast.

Poultry tastes fairly neutral, so it takes well to a marinade, or to basting during cooking with a flavored butter, an oil or a barbecue sauce. At the least, season it with salt and pepper just before it goes on. Duck breast and squab are sometimes served pink; all other grilled poultry is cooked well done. Because poultry is lean and the heat is fierce, it dries out and toughens easily, so take care not to overcook it.

• Heat the grill or broiler. Scrub the grate with a wire brush, then wipe it with a lightly oiled cloth to clean and season it.
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• Marinate or season the poultry, and brush it lightly with oil so it does not stick.
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• Turn it to mark it with a crosshatch, and baste it often. Turn it with tongs so the surface is not pierced and the juices stay in.
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• Move the pieces on the grate, or change their distance from the heat, to get good color while they cook through. Large or bone-in pieces that will not cook through on the grill can be finished in the oven.
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For large batches, lay the seasoned pieces in a shallow pan and slide it under the broiler. Baste now and then, turn them once halfway, and move the whole pan to the oven to finish. Serve grilled poultry with more of the butter or sauce it was basted with. Any marinade or sauce that touched the raw bird must be cooked thoroughly before it is served.

Roasting

Roasting itself, and carryover cooking, are taught earlier. see chapter 8: What roasting is

Almost every bird can be roasted, though young ones give the most tender result. Roasted poultry should be browned and crisp outside, tender and juicy within. Most roast birds are done when their juices run clear, though squab and duck breast are often served pink. Roasted poultry is usually seasoned lightly, with salt and pepper. Never put herbs on the skin of a bird roasted at high heat, because they burn. Put herbs and spices in the cavity instead, along with a mirepoix or a bouquet garni if you like. Ducks and geese are often filled with fresh or dried fruit.

Trussing means tying a bird into a compact shape with butcher's twine. A trussed bird cooks more evenly, stays moister and looks better. Some methods use a trussing needle; the steps below need none.

• Press the bird firmly into an even shape. Fold the first wing joint back under the bird, or cut off the first two wing joints.
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• Cut twine about three times the length of the bird. Lay the bird breast up, neck toward you, and slide the twine beneath it about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in front of the tail.
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• Bring both ends up around the legs, cross them to make an X between the legs, and pass them under the legs.
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• Pull the ends tight across the leg and thigh joints, then across the wings if they were trimmed, or just above them if not.
• Pull it tight and tie it firmly above the neck.

Barding protects a bird with too little fat of its own, such as a guinea, a squab or a skinned bird. Cover it all over with thin slices of fatback and tie them on with twine.

Each kind of bird roasts at its own temperature, because their fat content differs.

Roasting temperatures and times by bird.

The reasons behind the temperatures in the first column:

• Small birds roast hot so the skin crisps and colors before the flesh overcooks.
• Chicken roasts a little lower, so the skin crisps without the bird stewing in its own juices.
• Capons and turkeys start hot to brown the skin, then finish cooler so they cook evenly and stay moist.
• Ducks and geese need high heat to render the fat from the skin, and their skin is often pricked first so the fat can run out.
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A Cornish game hen can also roast at 350°F, for about an hour.

• Season, bard, stuff or truss the bird as the recipe asks.
• Set it in a roasting pan, raised on a rack or on mirepoix, so it cooks evenly and does not scorch.
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• Roast it uncovered, basting it every 15 minutes.
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• Let it rest before carving so the juices settle, and make the gravy or sauce meanwhile.
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Baste every bird except ducks and geese, which are fatty enough already. Spoon the fat from the pan over it every 15 to 20 minutes; a lean bird that is not barded gives too little fat, so brush it with butter instead. A stuffed duck or goose is raised on a rack or on mirepoix, so the fat that gathers in the pan cannot soak into the stuffing. Large birds keep cooking a little after they leave the oven, but this matters less with poultry than with meat, because a large bird is always cooked well done.

Bread stuffing and gravy are the usual partners for a roast bird. A capon or turkey gives enough drippings to make gravy in the pan. Squab, game hens and other small birds often get a wild rice stuffing and a sauce made on its own. Ducks and geese go well with a sauce of citrus or other fruit, whose acid balances the fat.

Let a roast turkey stand for 20 minutes, and a roast chicken for 15, before carving. To carve, cut through the hip joint to free each leg and thigh together, keeping the oyster, the tender nugget of meat beside the backbone, on the thigh. Then cut the breast away from the ribs, following the bones, and slice it at an angle for larger slices.

Poêléing

A poêlé sits between roasting and braising. The bird cooks in the oven in a covered pot, in its own juices and steam. That makes it a moist-heat method, but it is used only for tender birds, not ones that need long braising, and it takes less time than an open roast. The bird lies on a bed of matignon: onion or leek, celery and carrot, minced fine with thyme and bay leaf and cooked gently in butter until soft but not brown, then finished with a little white wine or Madeira.

• Sear the bird in hot butter or oil, if you want it browned.
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• Lay it on the matignon, with any other vegetables the recipe calls for.
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• Cover the pot and cook it in the oven until done, basting now and then with the pan juices or more butter.
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• If it was not seared first, take off the lid near the end so it can brown.
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• Lift out the bird. Add a liquid such as stock, jus lié or demi-glace to the juices and matignon, and reduce it into a sauce. Strain out the matignon or leave it in.
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Check doneness the same way as for a roast. Braising, the slower relative of this method, is taught earlier. see chapter 10: What braising is

Sautéing

Sautéing is taught earlier. see chapter 8: Sauté and pan-frying

Most poultry is tender enough to sauté. Small birds such as squab can go in on the bone, but large bone-in pieces from big birds should not. The best cuts are boneless breasts, supremes, scallops and cutlets. A boneless duck breast is fatty enough to sauté with no added fat. Stir-frying is a kind of sauté: boneless strips cooked fast with vegetables and seasonings. If the pieces are dusted with flour first, the seasoning can go into the flour.

Heat the pan and the fat before the poultry goes in. A thin boneless slice needs high heat, so the outside browns before the middle overcooks. A thick piece such as a supreme needs lower heat, so neither it nor the fond (the browned bits in the pan) burns before it is cooked through. Never let the pan cool; a crowded or cool pan leaves the poultry stewing in its juices and soaking up oil.

Thin cuts cook so fast that timing works as a guide. For thicker ones, press the meat with a finger:

• very undercooked poultry feels mushy and barely resists;
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• slightly underdone poultry feels spongy and does not spring back;
• properly cooked poultry feels firm and springs back;
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• overcooked poultry feels very firm, almost hard, and springs back quickly.

Put the presentation side down first and brown it, then turn the piece with tongs or a toss of the pan. Larger pieces can finish in the oven, either in the same pan or moved to another, which frees the first pan for the sauce. For the sauce:

• Pour off most of the fat.
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• Sauté garnishes such as garlic, shallots and mushrooms.
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• Deglaze with wine or stock, and scrape up the fond.
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• Reduce.

Serve with pasta, rice or potatoes.

Pan-frying and deep-frying

Frying, in shallow and deep fat, is taught earlier. see chapter 8: How much fat

Fried chicken is the best-known pan-fried poultry; young birds cut into small pieces work best. Boneless chicken breasts and turkey scallops are pan-fried too. The pieces are floured, breaded or battered, and the seasoning usually goes into the coating. A good result is juicy inside, with a crisp, golden coating that is not greasy and has no gaps for fat to get in.

Use enough fat to come a quarter to halfway up the pieces, at about 325°F (160°C), a little cooler than for sautéing. It must sizzle when the poultry goes in. Thin pieces cook hotter and faster; thick and bone-in pieces cooler and longer. Turn each piece when the first side has good color, by which point it should be about half cooked. Drain the pieces on absorbent paper. The pieces are often too small for a thermometer, and pressing them in hot fat is risky, so timing and experience guide the cook. Fried chicken can take 30 to 45 minutes.

Pan-frying leaves no fond for a pan sauce, so serve lemon wedges, a vegetable garnish or a sauce made separately. Fried chicken is the exception: it is sometimes served with country gravy, made from a roux of some of the frying fat with milk. If the fried poultry is warmed in a sauce before serving, leave it there only long enough to heat; never try to cook it in the sauce.

Portioned chicken and whole small birds such as Cornish game hens are the best choices for deep-frying. Season the breading or batter rather than the bird. Heat the fat to about 350°F (177°C): hot enough to cook the inside before the coating burns. Lower the poultry in with the basket, fry until crisp and golden, then hold it over the fryer to drain before moving it to a pan lined with paper or fitted with a rack. Salt it if you like. Hot food held for service is kept at 60°C (140°F) or hotter. A heat lamp keeps deep-fried poultry hot. Cooked chopped poultry can also be bound with a thick béchamel or velouté, breaded and deep-fried as croquettes.

Poaching and simmering

Poaching and simmering are taught earlier. see chapter 9: What poaching is

Poultry is poached or simmered in liquid. Poaching suits tender birds, cooked briefly; simmering suits older, tougher birds, cooked for longer to tenderize them. The two differ mainly in the heat of the liquid and the cooking time. Young birds and boneless chicken pieces are poached. Ducks and geese are seldom poached or simmered, because they are so fatty.

Use a well-flavored liquid: a strong stock with a sachet, or stock or water with white wine and a bouquet garni or onion piquet. Cover the poultry completely so it cooks evenly, but do not drown it in a weak liquid, which draws the flavor out of the meat. Older birds are often simmered in plain water with a sachet and plenty of mirepoix, and the strong broth they make is used in the dish or kept.

The liquid stays within these temperatures:

• Poaching: 160°F to 175°F (71°C to 79°C), for moist, tender meat.
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• Simmering: from 185°F (85°C) up to the boil. Never let it boil, or the meat turns dry, tough and stringy.
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The poultry itself must reach 74°C (165°F) for 15 seconds. Read it in the thigh or the thickest part; any juices should be clear or only faintly pink.

Serve poached chicken hot with a flavored mayonnaise, or with a sauce such as sauce suprême, made by reducing the poaching liquid. Poaching also makes a low-calorie dish, served with a vegetable coulis or some of its own broth. Cold, the meat goes into salads and other dishes that call for cooked poultry. A simmered bird meant to be served cold stays moister if it cools in its broth. Take the pot off the heat while the bird is still slightly underdone, then cool bird and broth together in an ice bath. Cooked food must drop to 20°C (68°F) within two hours of leaving 60°C (140°F), then to 4°C (40°F) within four more hours.

Braising

Chicken cacciatore shows moist heat on poultry.

• Brown the pieces in hot olive oil for about 10 minutes and set them aside.
• Soften mushrooms, onion and garlic in the drippings for about 5 minutes.
• Return the chicken and pour over a mix of tomatoes, tomato paste, broth and dried herbs.
• Bring it to the boil, then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink.
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Braising poultry is taught in full earlier. see chapter 10: Braising poultry