STUFFED: a food adventure: The Little Chicken that Could

There is an amusing story about this next recipe. If not amusing, it is, at the very least, educational.

Just before Christmas vacation, we decided to try this whole chicken roast. The recipe clearly states the amount of time necessary to cook but somewhere, somehow inbetween converting kilograms into pounds (time based on weight of chicken), I completely screwed up. I underestimated how long we needed to cook it by about 1 hour. (I did it for 55 minutes). We undercooked the bird and ended up cutting off all the meat and then continued cooking in a skillet, thinking that would be faster. I ended up spending my Christmas vacation with a terrible parasite.... and this cooking fiasco might be to blame.

SO. I knew the recipe had great potential and I finally got the nerve to try it again. This time, I cooked it for just under 2 hours and it was perfect. Well worth all the time spent marinating, letting the chicken rest at room temperature, the rub and seasonings, and the long amount of cooking time.

Lesson learned: make sure you cook the chicken long enough! I had never cooked an entire bird before, so I didn't have knowledge of what a "normal" cooking time should have been. Use the thermometer!

Peruvian Syle Roast Chicken

Buttermilk Soak
3 cups buttermilk
2 crushed garlic cloves
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons salt

Peruvian Style Rub
1 full head of garlic
1 teaspoon EVOO
4 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt

3-4 limes
3-4 springs fresh thyme, destemmed and chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
3-3.5 pound whole chicken, rinsed and tidied up

1. Mix together all ingredients for the buttermilk soak. Soak the chicken in the buttermilk brine for 3-4 hours. I place the chicken in a large ziplock bag and then pour all the liquids over it. Place in refrigerator and turn occasionally.

2. Roast the head of garlic. Slice off the top of the head, exposing all the cloves. Drizzle the oil in between all the cloves, and wrap the whole thing up in foil. Bake for about an hour at 350 degrees. (I use my toaster oven).

3. Squeeze all the tasty roasted garlic out into a small mixing bowl. Add the butter and spices, and the juice of one of the limes, and make a paste.

4. Remove the chicken & brine from the refrigerator. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Rub the paste under the skin of the breast and thighs and then over the entire chicken. Tuck one or two quartered limes in the cavity and truss the chicken loosely.

5. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature, and the paste to season the chicken, for about 30 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 375 with the rack in the bottom third of the oven.

7. Slip in the chicken, back side down, onto a roasting pan and then place in the oven. (In the states, I will probably use my Dutch Oven, but for down here, I bought an aluminom roasting pan and placed it on a baking sheet.)

8. The chicken needs to cook for a long time. The only reliable test is a thermometer reading of 160 degrees. I started checking mine at the one hour mark. Mine cooked for 1 hour and 55 minutes.

9. Remove the chicken and juices from the roasting pan and put it on the stove in a large skillet with deep sides. Over high heat, add thyme and 1/2 c chicken broth, then spoon the broth over the chicken. Allow the bird to rest for 10 minutes, then quarter and serve.

Bon appetit!