Poulet Roti : Roast Chicken

Lovely looking, isn't it. Therefore, obviously, a pic from the demo. Mine, which in the rush to get it plated and judged I again forgot to photograph, was a little too crisp; the skin was dark and a little fragile. This also contaminated the jus with a sweet/tart/carmelized flavor (not a good thing).

1,5 kilo chicken; 180c for 45 minutes.

The key to this one is (1st) the jus {gravy} and (2nd) the chicken. Thus, the chicken is secondary [although mine was especially excellent I was told - so at least something went right; well, the vegetables were okay too].

Tricks for the jus: the mirepoix goes in with the chicken just for the end of the cooking time. After removing the chicken heat the residual stuff in the pan on a low-medium burner until the fat is clear (and all the water is gone); then drain the fat off.

Oh, and we also turned artichokes. I'll put in a pic of them too (along with the tray with a whole chicken presented). They were cleverly used as cups to hold the four (4!) different julienned veggies that we also had to make.
Reminder: boil water first; then add the vegetables. Reminder 2: start by cooking the white vegs first so you can reuse the same boiling water for the green &/or orange veggies.



After class it was off to FNAC to look for a couple of the "must have" cookbooks (Escoffier, Ducasse) - discovering by the way that the FNAC on the Champs Elysee does not carry books at all. Luckily the Virgin Megastore, just down the street does. My colleagues purchased several kilos worth. Oddly the (few) English language cookbooks are downstairs mingling among the French ones.