The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 713

POULTRY COOKING METHOD 3 (For the Traditional Look): The HOT STEEL Say you don’t want to break down your bird for whatever reason—you prefer the whole-bird presentation, or the thought of poultry shears makes you squeamish I get it, sometimes you just need a different method Well, here’s a way in which you can start with a whole bird and end up with something that is evenly cooked with reasonably crisp skin, without the need to manhandle it before it enters the oven It does require one piece of specialized equipment: a pizza steel or stone Place it on the lower rack of the oven and allow it to preheat for half an hour with your oven at full blast Place the bird on a rack set on a rimmed baking sheet with the breasts facing up, then place the pan on top of the hot steel or stone Immediately turn the oven down to 400°F The retained heat in the steel or stone will give the legs a head start, and you’ll find that your whole chicken will come to the right temperatures at pretty much the same time Pretty easy, right? It won’t crisp up quite as well as a spatchcocked bird, nor will it cook as fast, but if you want your bird coming to the table looking like the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, it’s your best bet SHOULD I USE THE CONVECTION SETTING IF MY OVEN HAS ONE? A convection oven is nothing more than a regular oven with a fan mechanism inside it The fan forcecirculates air throughout the oven, overriding any natural convection currents that form through normal hot and cool zones in a regular oven What this means is that the entire oven will be heated to a relatively even temperature The fan also makes food cook faster and crisp better How so? In a regular oven, cool zones will naturally form around foods and in areas that are protected from ... Place the bird on a rack set on a rimmed baking sheet with the breasts facing up, then place the pan on top of the hot steel or stone Immediately turn the oven down to 400°F The retained heat in the. .. inside it The fan forcecirculates air throughout the oven, overriding any natural convection currents that form through normal hot and cool zones in a regular oven What this means is that the entire oven will be heated to a... cook as fast, but if you want your bird coming to the table looking like the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, it’s your best bet SHOULD I USE THE CONVECTION SETTING IF MY OVEN HAS ONE? A convection oven is nothing more than a regular