Chicken & Yellow Rice

[jennythereader]

I remember Mom making this all the time when I was little, but I don't think I've had it since she moved to New York. This was definitely my first attempt making it.

The recipe as Mom gave it to me is in bold print, with changes that I made this time in regular print after the original. Any changes for next time will be after the instructions.

Chicken & Yellow Rice

• 1 fryer, cut up I couldn't find anything labled a "fryer" at the store, so I used a "Grade A Chicken, split." It was 3.9 lbs.
• 1/3 cup margarine I used butter, and rounded down to 5 TBSP (since 1/3 of a cup is a pain to cut from a stick)
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder I used a heaping 1/2 teaspoon. There's no such thing as too much garlic.
• 1.5 teaspoon salt I used seasoned salt.
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper I didn't measure this, just shook it generously over the dish.
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 2.5 cups boiling water I used a pint of my homemade stock, and enough water to complete the measure.

Brown chicken in margarine. Place in a shallow 2 qt casserole dish. Sprinkle rice & spices over chicken. Mix the water with the pan juices & pour over chicken. Cover & bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

********************

Notes for next time:

• That chicken was not the right choice. The amount was OK, but I don't remember that many small bones when Mom used to make it. I'm not sure what I should have used instead.
• Some of the rice was underdone. I think if I had used the right size casserole dish (I used a 3 qt dish) it would have worked better. Either that or more stock/water. Or maybe both.

Comments

[inaurolillium.livejournal.com]

You used the right kind of chicken. (OK, probably used the right kind of chicken.) A fryer is a smaller chicken harvested young, so the meat is tender, about 2.5-4lbs. Probably the chickens your mother had were either partially deboned or she did it herself. I assume the small bones were the ribs? Those are very easy to cut off with minimal loss of meat. You just take a long, thin, sharp knife (usually a boning knife or filet knife) and slide it between the meat and the bones, angling slightly toward the bones to get the maximum amount of meat. (Er, sorry if you know that and I'm getting too basic.)

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

They were the ribs and the spine. Very annoying.

How to properly make big pieces of meat into smaller ones is something I need to learn. I suspect each of my parents thought the other one had taught me, with the end result that nobody did. It's the sort of skill I learn best hands on, so at some point I need to get somebody to demonstrate for me. I also need the right type of knife. I've got a decent chef's knife, and several paring knives, but no boning or filet knives.

[inaurolillium.livejournal.com]

Oh, you should always remove the spine entirely first thing. The way they taught us in school you take the boning knife and cut the spine from the ribcage, first one side of the spine and then the other (you can also do this with a really good pair of kitchen shears), and then you split the breastbone with a chef's knife or cleaver. To split the breast bone, take the chef's knife or cleaver, point the chicken butt away from you, and lay your knife along the inside of the keel. Put the heel of your left hand on the base of the knife's spine, and shove, hard, with both hands. It's a pain to learn to do, but worth it.

I used to have a really good knife skills books. I'll see if I can find the title for you, if you like. I'm also happy to give advice on knives, but be warned that I have Opinions.

[inaurolillium.livejournal.com]

Not the one I was thinking of, but Henckels has a knife skills guide that should be very good and includes fabrication (the proper name for cutting meat, fish and fowl up into cookable pieces). Henckles also make very good knives, if you can get your hands on the ones actually still made in Germany.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

I have a couple of books with pictures and diagrams of how to properly cut meat, but I'm running into the same problem I did with learning how to knit: I can't seem to translate the 2-dimensional idealized pictures into 3-dimensional messy reality.

I have a friend who has offered to demonstrate for me, it's just a matter of coordinating schedules.

[inaurolillium.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that happens. You could also try YouTube. Alton Brown has some excellent segments on fabrication in Good Eats, and those can often be found there.

[purpura.livejournal.com]

I was just going to mention that Good Eats episode. He even uses a dinosaur cam to help in the visual aid! I'm sure Jeff can find it online.

[stefka.livejournal.com]

We'll add that to the Patrick's School of Stuff curriculum. :) Oddly, a significant part of animal husbandry/preveterinary medicine involves butchering ...

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me.

We need to arrange a Saturday some time soonish.

[stonetimber.livejournal.com]

Yep, gonna hafta get the farm and start teaching basic skills.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

Trader Joe's sells cut-up chickens, if you live close by a TJ's.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

My usual grocery store does too, but since it gets cheaper the less processing you pay someone else to do, and I'm trying to save as much money as possible...

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like saving money...but I hate butchering chicken, so... ;)

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

The compromise I'm currently doing is to buy about 10 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken breasts at a time and keep them in the freezer for those times I don't have time or just don't wanna deal. Then I buy less processed stuff on the weekly grocery run (based on what's on sale), and use that when I can.

[stonetimber.livejournal.com]

After June 03, I can show people butcher techniques. Just need a bigger kitchen than we have. May be able to present a weekend by fall at our house, would like to introduce proper knife care and knife buying do's and don'ts. It is not only about the cutting skills, but the right tools.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Proper knife care is another skill I don't have, especially how to sharpen them. Dad is really picky about his knives, so I think Mom thought he had taught me, and he didn't because it was so easy for him to do that it didn't occur to him that us kids needed to learn too.

You announce a date and I'll be there with bells on. (Metaphorically, unless I decide it would be funny.:))

[stonetimber.livejournal.com]

Will do.

[purpura.livejournal.com]

Again, there's another Good Eats episode that can help. Hands on is best, but having a visual back up always helps. :)

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Once I get my computer to let me watch YouTube again...

Or maybe I'll see if it's on Netflix.