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What’s for Dinner: Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic…in Mexico
What we have: a package of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, so over the boneless and skinless
What we don’t have: tarragon or thyme
What in the world is: Cognac (Is it brandy? Is it Hennessey? It sounds soo romantic and sniftery as Hell.)
Too many cooks: The original version is James Beard, but Ina Garten has her own recipe, as do Alton Brown (very stripped down) and Mark Bittman.
Limitations: As we are SOB with fewer grocery options I will substitute fresh rosemary for other herbs and crema for heavy cream. Obvs. will use white wine, other booze as available.
The goal: a rich and hearty supper perfect for staving off nasty autumn colds
As much as I try to be scientific when I cook ( I do?!) I rarely adhere to the letter of a recipe. What can I say? I am just a glorious jazz rebel, one needle away from a golden arm addiction that will threaten my life but is an illustrious boon to my artistic persona. I don’t want to combine too many complementary elements in one pot so I am basically going to follow in the unclad footsteps of The Barefoot Contessa as well as I possibly can so far from the Hamptons.
As we speak the chicken is defrosting on the counter safely in the fridge and I am gearing up to blanch 40 cloves of garlic to soften them up for easier disrobing from their papery dressing gowns. Hey-oh! Stay tuned for updates and ( I predict) sensational results. But if you’re looking for controlled variables and precise methods you’ve come to the wrong place. For sense as well as sensibility head over to The Manhattan [Food] Project, [they are] such elegant scientists.
So…how did it go? I’m interested, since chicken + garlic are pretty essential elements of cooking in this house, and I’m always looking for new (and non precise) ways to make it.
Thanks for the shoutout! I believe that brandy and congac are the same thing–they are distilled from wine–but cognac is a specific kind made in a certain way. Ina always cracks me up when she suggests keeping “good” cognac in your pantry (along with Campari and Pernod) as if you’re an idiot if you don’t.
It does make one hell of a sauce to go over steak au poivre, though.