Every week—often with your help—Food52's Executive Editor Kristen Miglore is unearthing recipes that are nothing short of genius.
Today: Kristen is gallavanting around on the Genius Recipes cookbook tour, so she's sharing an excerpt from the book (and a new favorite chicken recipe).
"Short of turning chicken on a spit over live wood embers, I know of no better process for cooking chicken, nor one that delivers more satisfying or true flavors,” Paul Bertolli wrote of this technique, which he calls "bottom-up cooking," in Cooking by Hand.
You don’t sear, and you don’t roast, and you don’t grill—you don’t do any of the things we’re taught to do to chicken. Instead, you lay the chicken, skin side down, in a barely hot pan. Then you leave it mostly alone for about 30 minutes, flipping only once. The skin becomes impossibly crisp, enough so to satisfy your darkest fried chicken cravings.
Bertolli’s is a worthy technique to play with, but Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer of Canal House have streamlined it for us. They use only thighs, which lie flat, maximizing the crisping area, and jigsaw easily into a round skillet. Unlike Bertolli, they also allow for a bit of olive oil to get the process rolling.
The simplest version of the sauce has only minced-up preserved lemon stirred into the pan juices at the end, but you can play with this technique as you like. Hirsheimer and Hamilton suggest two more seasoning variations—sherry and mushrooms, or bacon and olives. You can deglaze and make a gravy or a fancy pan sauce. Or just eat all the chicken as fast as you can.
Canal House's Chicken Thighs with Lemon
Serves 4
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Rind from half of a preserved lemon, finely chopped*
Lemon wedges, for serving
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
*Please note this correction from the first edition of Genius Recipes, in which "finely chopped" was missing—the second typo we've discovered. The first was weightier.
Got a genius recipe to share—from a classic cookbook, an online source, or anywhere, really? Please send it my way (and tell me what's so smart about it) at [email protected].
The Genius Recipes cookbook is finally here! The book is a mix of greatest hits from the column and unpublished new favorites—all told, over 100 recipes that will change the way you think about cooking. It's on shelves now, or you can order your copy here.
Photo by James Ransom
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Written by: Kristen Miglore
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19 Comments
Using the preserved lemon is a must besides the crisp skin, the lemon flavor is sooo yummy.
Try looking on www.omemade.co.uk for some great rubs to spice up your chicken thighs!
OR you can make your own [very simple process - find numerous recipes on internet or see below] They last a l-o-n-g time even without refrigeration or chemical preservatives, the salt does this job.
Making your own involves slitting washed lemons into quarters length-wise about 3/4 down [best if organic because there is no yucky resin/waxy additives to preserve the skin for longer shelf-life] but remember to leave the pieces attached/uncut at one end. Stuff each lemon with about 1 teaspoon of salt [I like sea salt or coarse/kosher salt], in between its quarters. Put the fruits into a jar where they are rather tightly-fitting, and leave them in a sunny window for a few weeks, then move them to pantry or cupboard. The salt will eventually cause the lemon juice to ooze out. When oozed liquid becomes thickish/gelatinous when you tip the jar, then they are ready to use.
"Lynette, it does require some lead-time but it's baby-steps simple and requires little attention, and is a LOT less expensive and more accessible than trying to find them ready-made. And you won't have the inevitable preservatives/added chemicals. I have made my own for >20 years and it works with limes also, never tried oranges. Good luck, it's worth it and you can even share with friends!
See what other Food52 readers are saying.