I am far from the first person to bring the device into the kitchen... [T]he legendary cookbook author Marcella Hazan calls for a six-to-eight-minute session with a handheld hair dryer in her recipe for crisp-skinned roast duck.... Skin is a matrix of water, fat, and proteins—adding heat makes the water evaporate, the fat render, and the proteins settle into the rigid structure we call “crispiness.” By removing water from the equation ahead of time, you eliminate steam that might de-crisp the crisping proteins in the oven, for one thing; and, more importantly, the rigidity caused by the dehydration helps the skin stay in place while the proteins take their time firming up.... “When the bird roasts in the oven later,” Hazan writes, “the fat melts and slowly runs off through the open pores, leaving the flesh succulent, but not greasy, while allowing the skin to become deliciously crisp.”I'm hoping this a cure for the disappointing blobby areas that undermine my interest in taking the trouble to roast my own chicken.
I like the idea of bringing non-kitchen tools into the kitchen. Or are you repelled by the idea of getting something hair-related that close to food?
Rosner uses a Dyson hair dryer — and that's what I have too. I'm giving you an Amazon link in case you're motivated to buy one, because they're weirdly expensive, making it a good opportunity to support this blog which is part of the the Amazon Services Associates Program. The thing is excellent on hair and if it also works on chicken....
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40 comments:
This is the most interesting and useful thing I’ve read today.
I'm against over engineered recipes/cooking techniques. Usually, the extra steps aren't worth the trouble.
I've read of hair dryers used in the making of Peking Duck, too.
Or Elon Musk flame thrower after at the table.
Crisp statement and to the point. Good for you.
Sarah Hoyt on how to speak girl
$400 to blow your hair dry! Holy Shit! $400 to dry chicken skin! Holy Shit!
I don't own a hairdryer.
The manly way, and device, is via the map gas torch. I use it to caramelize the sugar on creme brulee too. Just sayin'.
-sw
We just buy rotisserie chicken from Costco.
"We just buy rotisserie chicken from Costco."
We buy the rotisserie chicken from Costco that hasn't been sold. It is then stripped off the bones and packaged as about a 3 pound pack.
Our basset hound loves it.
I use a rotisserie to cook whole chickens and turkeys. The cooking and crispy skin is uniform with no soggy spots. It’s actaully ancient technology perfected by cooking over fires. I’ll have to try the predrying; it could take roasting chicken to a whole new level.
Flash heating with a grill, a torch, a hot pool of oil (saute), and a hair dryer, too. We need a separation of bathroom and kitchen appliances. Keep it sanitary.
Start the chicken at 450 degrees after wiping it dry with paper towel A thin skim of butter also helps
Apparently, the best way to put a sear on your steak is with a blow torch. And the best way to get both the yolk and the white of a fried egg done correctly is to separate them, cook them separately, and then reunite them at the end. Or, so I’ve read.
She's correct about the moisture, but salt is faster and better than a hair dryer. Google 'Thomas Keller salt chicken' for some articles and a youtube video detailing the technique -- it will make your life simpler and happier.
What steve said.
Hagar : I read it as how to recognize/ be clear when it is 'girl' talk.
She doesn't know how to cook.
Just what I want, chicken that tastes like burnt human hair.
Spatchcock that thing.
"Our basset hound loves it."
My border coolie (sic) loves it to, but his digestion became a nightmare. Does better on dry dog food.
What simplefriend2 said!
Cooking good stuff is not hard, just cook don't come up with this crazy stuff.
Regular people would use a heat gun--the type you use for stripping paint. The best one have adjustable temperatures, up to the ignition point at the high end, and a variety of metal nozzles to get any heat spread you would need. Try the Milwaukee 1000 degree model. I think I paid $35 for it.
https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-8975-6-1000-Degree-Fahrenheit-Temperature/dp/B00004TI25
Ya, let’s just regroup here....lost enough time drying my own hair already.
Try putting the chicken in a v shaped rack to roast, most of the skin gets beautifully crisp. A roast chicken is one of the easiest meals to make and then you can use the carcass to make stock. For a large family whole chickens are a great buy.
Ditto on Spatchcocking, but aside from this - go to Lowes and get a heat gun for crying out loud, and (over)do it the manly way.
tcrosse FTW. Spatchcocked chicken, rub salt/herbs/olive oil/white wine under the skin, then a very light coating of olive oil on the skin + more salt, 400 degrees for 1 hour: crispy skin perfection and meat that actually tastes good, too.
Deep frying will crisp it up nicely, and leave the inside moist.
"My border coolie (sic) loves it to, but his digestion became a nightmare. Does better on dry dog food."
None of my bassets (four) have ever had dry food.
Maybe a breed issue.
Fabi said...
I don't own a hairdryer.
I don't own hair.
Cook’s Illustrated has a recipe for Glazed Roast Chicken that deals with getting the skin crispy. After patting the chicken dry you rub it with a mixture of salt, pepper, and baking powder. You let it sit in the fridge for about a half hour before you roast it. You also pierce the fatty skin of the breast and thighs. It really works.
Since we don’t eat the skin anymore now we spatchcock. I have done our Thanksgiving turkey this way the last two years. Yum.
Try putting the chicken in a v shaped rack to roast,
I get dents in the meat. Guess I need a better rack and firmer breasts.
Ha! So do I.
I used an acetylene torch to caramelize the sugar on creme brulee before they started selling those little blow torches made for just that. And I see unknown does that too.
Start the chicken at 450 degrees after wiping it dry with paper towel A thin skim of butter also helps
If you are trying to reduce the fat rubbing the skin with lemon or lime also works. You are also going to want to rub the skin with salt and pepper.
Inga is correct, making roast chicken is easy. Dry the skin, put some carrots, onion, celery, and herbs in the cavity. I don't use a rack, I just put some more vegetables at the bottom of the pan to set the chicken on. Put it in at high heat for 20 minutes or so, then reduce it to 350. Use a probe thermometer. When it hits 161 pull the chicken out, tent it with some aluminum foil, and let it set for 20 minutes. Probe thermometers with a cable are great because you can get the chicken to the exact temperature you need without opening the oven door. If you are looking, you are not cooking.
So, how many did you sell? That was a great ad. No blobby parts.
Apparently, the best way to put a sear on your steak is with a blow torch. And the best way to get both the yolk and the white of a fried egg done correctly is to separate them, cook them separately, and then reunite them at the end
Nope. Fry them under a clear glass cover and then you will know the exact second they are perfectly done, when the yolk is fully pink. That means the white is completely done and the yolk is warm, but not cook solid.
This is probably the most useful and truthful writing to appear in The Nooyahkah in decades.
Contradictory info.
Had some great wings with crispy skin on Super Bowl day. They were made by parboiling them in water first which rendered the fat and made the skin crispy when grilled.
No, Ann, no. I am not paying $400+ for a hair dryer. The last time either of us actually used one was several years ago, when the condensation overflow from our furnace froze solid and the water backed up until it came out the outlet at the other end and dripped through to the floor below. The time before that, I think, was also frost-related -- woke up to find the water off everywhere, tried the hair dryer among other things to loosen the outside valve, eventually did it with residual water boiled in the electric kettle. Neither of us has hair long enough to blow-dry, anyway.
(True story: As a HS student, on very cold days -- this was in upstate NY -- I wouldn't blow-dry my then-longer hair either; I'd go out with it wet, wait at the bus station until the water turned to ice, and then brush the crystals out. Yes, I was a pretty weird kid.)
Now, chicken: Lots and lots of ways to crisp the skin, and you can get rid of "blobby bits" just by rotating it in the rack, or (as several have suggested) spatchcocking first, though that isn't ideal if you want your chicken to look like a chicken. Hazan, who endorses the blow-dryer, also has some methods that are much more minimalist, like her "Chicken with Two Lemons," which is just what it sounds like: Poke the lemons full of holes, put in the cavity, sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, throw in the oven, eat.
Duck is harder. I love this Cooks Illustrated recipe, which makes it an all-day project, but the gist is you put the duck on a rack for 4 or more hours in a place with moving air (I use a fan, and our fans don't cost $400+ either); put it on a steaming rack over a wok or some-such nearly full of water, cover, and steam for an hour; and then roast it. The air-drying removes most of the water, and the steaming most of the fat.
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