The best-tasting chicken results when you don’t take it too far from itself, when you let the chicken taste like chicken. For that, you might start with the bird, and look to “the chicken whisperer” — more specifically Mike Charles, founder and CEO of LaBelle Patrimoine.
Charles grew up around chickens in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and has always been passionate about caring for them. (His family has been in the chicken business since they immigrated from Italy at the start of the 20th century.) In grade school, when other students brought their stuffed animals for show-and-tell, Charles brought in live chickens and taught his classmates how to catch them.
He’s now a sixth-generation chicken farmer, and his love for the birds underscores his operation, which lets them roam fields, jump onto hay bales and grow slowly, living 10 weeks instead of the usual six or so.
It also yields a finer end product: His birds are yellow (from all the vitamin D they get outside) and fatty in just the right places, with normal-size breasts and big thighs (from all the roaming and jumping), the kind of heritage meat he’s eaten his whole life. “This is how chickens used to taste,” Charles remembers his Italian grandmother saying, as they ate a simply salted and peppered bird. And therein lies perhaps the most important part for the chickeniest chicken: a straightforward preparation.
Taking bone-in, skin-on portions and roasting them with little to no fat in an uncovered pan is an Italian home cook’s method, which chef Paul Bertolli describes in his seminal book, “Cooking by Hand.” Cooking the portions almost entirely on the skin side like this, using the direct heat at the pan’s bottom, results in shatteringly crisp skin, beautiful rendered fat and evenly cooked meat — like roast chicken without the oven.
“It is truly the essence of the meat that remains attached to the pan,” Bertolli explained over email, delivering “a taste that is more ‘true.’”
A final takeaway? To listen. A gentle sputtering lets you know the chicken is releasing moisture, searing against the heat. When it stops, the meat is fully cooked, and the skin crisp and evenly browned. A quick pan sauce of chicken stock, lime juice and maple syrup, made glossy with a few pats of butter, completes this dish and deglazes the pan, saving you scrubbing time later.
Pan-roasting isn’t difficult, but it can turn a home-cooked meal into something restaurant-worthy. What chefs don’t tell you is that the difference between restaurant cooks and home cooks is the venue. The best restaurants for me are the ones that feel as if you’re eating in someone’s home, and the best home-cooked meals are the ones that feel as if you’re eating in a restaurant. A good playlist, nice tablecloths, a lit candle: It doesn’t take much.
Recipe: Crispy Chicken With Lime Butter
You don’t need a thermometer to know when these chicken thighs are done. You just need your ears. In this recipe, chicken thighs are slow seared using a technique from chef Paul Bertolli called “bottom-up cooking” where the chicken cooks almost entirely on the skin side over moderate heat, resulting in shatteringly crisp skin. The gentle sputtering sound that signals the release of moisture from the chicken hitting the hot fat in the pan stops when the meat is fully cooked and the skin crisp and evenly browned. A quick pan sauce of chicken stock, lime juice and maple syrup, made glossy with a few pats of butter, completes this dish.
By Eric Kim
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
4 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds) Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1/2 cup chicken stock or 1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving 2 teaspoons maple syrup 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pats Parsley, cilantro, basil or mint leaves, for serving (optional)Preparation:
1. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. If you have time, set aside at room temperature for at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium. Add the oil and swirl the pan to coat it. Place the chicken skin side down and cook without moving it until the skin is crispy and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Reduce the heat if the chicken splatters too much or browns too quickly.
3. Add the garlic to the pan. Flip the chicken and cook until the bottom is lightly browned and the meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, skin side up. Remove all but 3 tablespoons of the fat from the pan and save for another use (see tip).
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5. Serve the chicken with the pan sauce, lime wedges and the optional fresh herbs (spritzed with a little lime juice and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper).
TIP: Rendered chicken fat, sometimes called schmaltz when clarified, can be used to pan-fry vegetables and meat; to enrich a soup, stew, sauce or tomato-based braise; or to spread on toast.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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