Cooking For Engineers

[Dilbert]

tripped across a discussion about brined & "dried" roasted chicken - method by Thomas Keller (French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon, Surf Club fame....) and decided to give it a whirl.

basically - brine chicken overnight; 7.5% salt brine, bay leaves, flat leaf parsley, fresh thyme, honey, whole garlic clove, peppercorns and _five_ lemons. as I put that together I chickened out and used just four lemons, quartered. the brine is brought to a boil and allowed to cool; insert chicken; refrigerate over night.
remove chicken, discard brine.
dry chicken uncovered 24-48 hours in refrigerator. I did 36 hours.
roast.

the full directions/etc. can be had here:
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/thomas-kellers-perfect-oven-roasted-chicken#chef-thomas-kellers-ovenroasted-chicken-recipe



the recipe appeared to go as planned.
the skin is curiously 'translucent' after brining



the cooking direction call for a 475'F roasting start; temp reduced after 20 minutes. I have found roasting vegetables at those temps rather dicey, so I did the vegetables in a separate pan. see the pix - 475'F roasting had the usual 'burnt' results.




outcome:
the chicken was indeed very moist and tender.
it was also very salty and had a distinct lemon twang.
if the other brine elements added anything, it was not detected.
I've done many 'lemon-chicken' dishes and found them quite nice.
this was a bit strong, and worse yet, the lemon flavors did not age well.
left-over slices for sandwich and cold plates were decidedly unpleasant.

[sensiblewall]

Wow! That looks sumptuous and thus making me starve right now. Will check the recipe and give it a try this weekend.

[Lyceme]

Wow @Dilbert! That is so yummy and healthy. I would love to try that recipe on my friend's wedding anniversary.

[Dilbert]

you should read the post.

it's not a recipe I would repeat.