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Poulet et Mandarines à Mourir Pour (long)

Gator Bait
Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
 
Poulet et Mandarines à Mourir Pour or Chicken and Tangerines To Die For :laugh:

No, I don't speak the language, I cheated and let Babel Fish translate for me. ;)

The other day Sam's Club had in house whole chickens marked for quick sale, the sell by date was fast approaching and they had a whole cooler full of them. I picked up a package of two, almost 10#, for $7.54!

Now what to do with them in short order, they needed to be used up. My original thought was to stuff them with some lemon and a piece of onion or two. Sort of a Greek thing. When I got to the supermarket lemons were 3 for $1.99. A little further browsing and I found fresh tangerines 3 for $1! Hmmmmmmm, what can I do with chicken and tangerines?

Well, I had some homemade Herb's de Provence at home and a good supply of honey, why not combine the three and go from there.

I purchased a dozen tangerines in hopes that i would have a few left over for eating out of hand, they are a real treat. I started by making an herb butter, I had left the butter out before going to the market so it was good and soft. I used 2 sticks of butter (salted), three heaping teaspoons (regular spoon not a measuring spoon, I was to lazy to get up and get one) of Herbs de Provence and the zest grated from one tangerine, a pinch of S&P, and probably three or four tablespoons of honey and mixed all well.
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With that done (it tasted fantastic) I next juiced seven of the tangerines for a basting sauce.
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To this I added the zest from two tangerines and about three tablespoons of honey and set it aside till I was ready for it again.

I rinsed out the chickens well and dried them with paper towels.
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While they were air drying a bit more I took the carcases of the tangerines I had juiced and put them in a plastic bag to which I added a two or three teaspoons of Herbs de Provence and a good squeeze of honey from the bottle.
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These I stuffed (crammed, lol) into the cavity of the birds.
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I then started to slather the herb butter under the skin on the birds, first disconnecting any of the places where it is connected to the breast. When I had a generous amount of the herb butter under the skin I slipped in a couple slices of peeled tangerine under the skin and started to truss the little darlings up so as not to have anything falling out. I was also wondering how I was going to get both birds to fit on my medium egg! When removed from their package they had sort of relaxed and were looking much larger.
DSCN7800A_640.jpg

I covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the frig till I was ready for them again. I took the juice/zest/honey mix to which I had added about a teaspoon of corn starch and placed it on a 400º egg to reduce. Be careful, it can boil over.
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As it reduced I added more honey as needed. I had used a lot of zest and my sauce was becoming quit powerful! A good thing! I did not get it to sweet but knocked back some of the power of the zest. I probably reduced it by half and it was good and flavorful to say the least!

I retrieved the birds and finished slathering them in herb butter and add a truss to help hold everything in and give me a chance of fitting them into the egg. I did not truss the legs to the body as is traditionally done but let them hang out. The dark meat always takes longer to get to temperature so I tried to leave it exposed. It seams to have worked.
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They fit! This is about half an hour in when I started to baste them.
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I basted them ever fifteen minutes after that and had to re arrange them about half as often so they didn't burn in the eggs hot spots between the legs of the plate setter.
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More basting an turning, probably at the one hour mark. When I ran out of basting sauce I drained the contents of my drip pan into my little pot and basted with that. It had great flavor and much butter in it. It worked out very well.
DSCN7827A_640.jpg

I was running the egg at between 300º and 350º dome, indirect. After about two hours I was getting many different temperatures from my thermometer so I tested them to see if the juices were running clear when stuck with a fork. They were, so I called them done and pulled them. They were looking good and smelling great!
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I let them rest tented loosely with foil for thirty to forty minutes before cutting into one.
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Tender, succulent and juicy hardly come close to describing this chicken. The flavors are a great combination and not overpowering but very flavorful. This is the best chicken I have cooked on the egg by far!

My home made Herbs de Provence are:

4 T Thyme
3 T Marjoram
1 T Oregano
1 T Basil
1 t Rosemary ground
1 t Sage ground
1.5 t Anise Seed ground

Traditional Herbs de Provence does not have anise seed. It was what the French housewives and cooks could find growing outside their doors or on the near by hill sides. I have read that in the 1930's lavender was added for fragrance and to make it more appealing to the tourist trade, it to is not a traditional ingredient and if used to much of has a very soapy flavor. I added the anise seed once when I was experimenting and it fits in with the sweet herbs. Feel free to add it or not. This Herbs de Provence has a wonderful fragrance, if this is what the sun drenched hill sides of France are anything like I'm packing my bags. :cheer:

Have a woderful week,

Blair


 
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Comments

  • Very, very impressive! Great job improvising as well. Absolutely fantastic looking and I'm sure the flavors were awesome!
  • Austin  Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
    Bookmarked. Looks really good.
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
  • elzbth
    elzbth Posts: 2,075
    Very interesting dish - I'll bet is was quite tasty! As with all of your pics, these are great.... ;)
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Vincent, this was an eggperiment gone right. :)


    Blair


     
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thank you Joan, I am really happy with the way this came out. I like to experiment and am not always as successful as I would like. :laugh:


    Blair


     
  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
    Blair I tryed something like this a while back using orange coracia liquor. Was ok but not that orange flavor that I had hoped would come threw. Sounds like you nailed it! When my new computer gets in Tuesday I'll book mark this. Will try it for one of my first cooks again if I ever get off these OT's.
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Elizabeth, it's sort of my awkward spin on Duck a l'Orange with out the duck. :lol:

    I go crazy with photographs, thanks. If a photograph tells a thousand words why am I typing so much??? ;)


    Blair


     
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    DAMMIT BOY! You knocked dem birds outta da park! :)
  • :woohoo:

    What a fantastic meal!!!!

    You deserve some sort of Creativity Award for this!!!!

    Or we can just rename you Chef Gator Bait :kiss:B)
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks JL, I have made a orange flavored BBQ sauce before that had Grand Marnier (a nip), Cointreau (a nip), juice of an orange, the orange zest (may be half) and orange flavoring/extract (1/2-1 tsp.) from the cooking ilse at the supermarket. I used tomato sauce (small can) for the base and sweetened it a with a little honey to make up for the Cointreau and zest that are not sweet but bitter. I think I was using a little fresh garlic and just a few sweet herbs to give it a little savory side to it and simmered it for 15 - 20 minutes. I used it on BBQ'd Shrimp Wrapped In Bacon and used a good quality bacon that was cooked till just turning golden before hand so the shrimp only cooked for a few minutes. I alternated the shrimp on the skewers with chunks of fresh pineapple and half a maraschino cherry. You can NOT assemble these ahead of time as the bromelain (tenderizer/enzyme) in the pineapple will turn the shrimp to mush. I could work up a great orange flavor in a tomato based sauce that people raved over. I never would have thought an orange flavored tomato sauce would be any good, it is well out side the norm but it worked great. Orange is a great flavor to build with as there are so many sources to use to develop it.

    Good luck with the new putter,


    Blair


     
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Hoss, they only got as far out of the park as my dinner table, lol. :laugh:

    A bit of hot sauce would have been understandable in there somewhere but this was a first eggperiment so I was trying not to get it any more complicated then I already had. :)


    Blair


     
  • thebtls
    thebtls Posts: 2,300
    Awesome cook.
    Visit my blog, dedicated to my Big Green Egg Recipies at http://www.bigtsbge.blogspot.com You can also follow my posts on FaceBook under the name Keep On Eggin' or the link http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Keep-On-Eggin/198049930216241
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Kari, I was thinking it would be good with a rice pee-laugh (Rice-a-Roni is still good) and some of them fancy skinny little French green beans. No awards or fancy titles needed here, thanks, I'd have to start acting like I knew what I was doing. I don't need that responsibility!!! :lol:


    Blair


     
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Tony, it's a lot of fun when they come out the way you want. The meat of the birds is not over flavored but the baste and drippings I brushed on the outside have tons of flavor, it works well. :)


    Blair


     
  • Avocados
    Avocados Posts: 465
    Awesome cook and the photos look fantastic!!

    I will definitely have to try that one. ;)
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Barry, I'm already looking forward to left overs. :)


    Blair


     
  • LDD
    LDD Posts: 1,225
    that's cool. I love the the taste of orange with chicken. a little more subtle than lemon.(not that lemon isn't good)

    looks like you knocked this one outta the park
    context is important :)
  • Blair, that is some good lookin chicken. And it looks like you had alot of fun cooking it too.
    Happily egging on my original large BGE since 1996... now the owner of 5 eggs. Call me crazy, everyone else does!
     
    3 Large, 1 Small, 1 well-used Mini
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    Blair not something to do after work on a Tuesday :ohmy:
    What a nice meal man, thanks for posting.
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks LDD, the flavor in the meat is subtle and the meat is very tender and juicy, the flavor on the outside is rockin'. If I had a restaurant, this would be on the menu. I was surprised that all the peels I stuffed inside didn't add more effect then they did, they stayed subtle as well.


    Blair


     
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thank You Faith, you know how these cooks go, lol, sometimes we win and sometimes "there is no joy in Mudville." When we win they are fun, when we don't I can only hope they are still fun. :lol:


    Blair


     
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Mickey, no, not a work night endeavor. I was in part motivated because I knew it wasn't an overnighter. :)

    Knowing that they would cook while I sat outside with them was good. We were supposed to have showers yesterday but it turned into a nice afternoon. One of my resident Mockingbirds came down and paid me a nice visit which always fills me with wonder. It was perched with in a few feet of me at one point and moved around the patio without fear. This is not the first time it has visited when I am egging and it is always a bit of a thrill that it doesn't think of me as a threat. I like that. :)


    Blair


     
  • Beli
    Beli Posts: 10,751
    What a fantastic cook Blair, nice to see a different approach. Congratulations
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thank you rooster, I am looking forward to having these for sandwiches.


    Blair


     
  • Ripnem
    Ripnem Posts: 5,511
    Blair,

    I've never craved chicken at this time in the morning before :blink:

    You nailed it! ;)
  • eenie meenie
    eenie meenie Posts: 4,394
    Blair, the flavors sound delectable and the finished chickens look sinful! :) You know how to cook!!!!

    I suspect those chickens aren't going to last as long as you thought they would. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    Blair, You did those birds some justice, the color..wow.
    That'll make some great leftovers too.
    I like the recipe, thanks.
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thank you my friend. Living here in Florida citrus fruit is only natural to think of, sort of a no brainer when you are surrounded by it all the time. The tangerines are just bursting with flavor and were a good choice. The only trouble is the name, my spell checker does not like French at all. :lol:


    Blair


     
  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    Thanks Adam, straight off the grill they were so tender the breast meat was a little hard to slice, it was almost falling off and running with juices. I'll probably do these again with out any more eggperimentation. :)


    Blair