- [Andrew] This episode of "Basics with Babish"
is brought to you by "Basics with Babish,"
my new cookbook coming out October 24th.
Laborious, step-by-step photography,
emotive food theory,
and a description of how I've personally screwed up
every single recipe,
available now for pre-order,
and tickets for my book tour are on sale now
at bingingwithbabish.com/book tour.
(lively alternative music)
All right, so you did it.
You went out and you got yourself a rotisserie chicken.
Now what?
Do you eat it by itself,
with your hands, standing over the sink, not blinking?
Yes, of course we all have,
but there are some other options,
especially for the leftovers,
which this episode is primarily gonna be focused on,
what to do with white meat, dark meat,
and the remaining carcass.
Now, a store bought rotisserie chicken
is a pretty amazing value.
There's little as $5 in some stores, which seems impossible.
They handsomely serve one to two people on their own,
but have myriad other applications.
Pretty hard to beat from a price point perspective,
but if you're willing to pay a little bit extra,
whole fresh chickens are an average of $2 a pound.
They taste better, they give you a lot more control,
and provided you cook them correctly,
are a hell of a lot less dry.
The simplest, easiest,
and fastest way is to snip out the spine
using a stiff pair of kitchen shears,
opening up the chicken to reveal the giblet packet,
usually a paper or plastic sleeve
containing the liver, heart, kidneys, and neck.
Giblets are another episode,
but today we'll be making use of the neck
as well as the spine that we snipped out.
Now, to roast the chicken,
we're gonna complete the process of butterflying.
At the base of the breasts
you'll see a small piece of cartilage
that once lightly snipped
will make the chicken easier to crack open and lay flat.
It will also reveal the chicken's keel bone,
a dark red sort of blade that goes between the two breasts.
Go ahead and gently yank this out,
which is both gonna make the chicken easier to carve
as well as more attractive when laid out flat.
Then we're tucking the wings behind the breasts,
almost as if the chicken is stretching out
its shoulder blades.
And there you have it,
a spatchcocked or butterflied chicken,
one that's gonna cook up in as little as 25 minutes.
Butterflying more uniformly exposes the chicken to heat
in the oven, allowing it to both cook and brown more evenly.
Now it's gonna brown even better
if you lightly coat it in salt all over
and let it sit in the fridge uncovered overnight.
This dries out the skin, deeply flavors the meat,
helps the bird retain moisture and brown better.
That being said, rotisserie chicken is a convenience item,
so I understand if you don't want to add 24 hours
to your to-do list.
So it's still gonna come out just fine
if you throw it straight in the oven.
First I'm gonna give it a light rub down with vegetable oil
to help encourage browning.
Then to make cleanup easier
and to prevent smoking out our kitchen,
we're gonna lay down some foil on a rim baking sheet,
shiny side up, and dust with a layer of baking soda.
This is going to absorb the fat and juices
that would normally drip down from the chicken,
eventually smoldering and creating smoke.
Now this guy's headed into a preheated
450 degree Fahrenheit oven, preferably with convection,
where we're gonna roast it, rotating once or twice,
until the thickest part of the breast registers 155
and the thigh 175.
Consume as desired, and then wait to cool completely
before breaking down the leftovers.
So whether you bought it
or roasted it yourself, here we are.
Now what?
We're obviously gonna have very different intentions
and outcomes for white meat, dark meat, and carcass meat.
The first universal rule
for leftover roast chicken is stock.
All these bones and trimmings
are packed full of chicken flavor,
and especially if you roasted them yourself,
they're gonna make a killer chicken stock.
Now, technically we're making broth,
because we're gonna add some root vegetables,
carrots, celery, I like to add parsnips,
whole head of garlic, whole onion,
a few sprigs of thyme and parsley, a few bay leaves,
tablespoon of whole black peppercorns,
and don't forget, our chicken spine and neck.
Cover everything with about three times its volume
in cold water and bring to a simmer.
As it starts to bubble
you're gonna notice a sort of foam rising to the surface.
This can optionally be skimmed off,
which is gonna give you a clearer stock,
but if you don't feel like it,
it shouldn't affect the flavor all that much.
Keep this guy at a bare simmer.
That is tiny little bubbles just sort of dancing around,
about two steps of aquatic enthusiasm below a boil
for at least three to four hours,
and up to 12,
after which you should be left with
a rich, full-bodied broth
absolutely packed with chicken flavor,
one that's about 10,000 times better
than anything that's ever come out of a carton,
and that has absolutely endless uses,
including for a few of the recipes
that we're looking at today.
Strain through a fine mesh sieve
and allow to cool at room temperature for one to two hours
before fridging and using within three to four days,
or freezing and using within two to three months.
Now onto the leftover meat.
Let's start with the breast.
As you can see, I'm slicing it thinly across the grain.
This is the leftover rotisserie, so as you can see,
it's quite dry, so slicing it across the grain
is at least going to keep it tender, if not moist.
Since it is indeed so dry,
its best applications are for saucy or cheesy environments.
Believe it or not, it'll still stay dry in soup.
It'll just kinda take on a spongy texture.
So I recommend loading it up with Monterey Jack cheese,
scattering with peppers and onions,
maybe more cheese on top of that,
sandwiching between a tortilla,
and frying in a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil.
And just like that, you're only 15 minutes
and four ingredients away
from a restaurant quality quesadilla.
Now, as excellent as cheese is
for hiding the dryness of leftover chicken breast,
nothing quite comes close to mayonnaise,
making our leftover breast an ideal candidate
for chicken salad.
Ideally, we're gonna start with homemade mayonnaise.
If you wanna see how to do this,
click the link in the upper right hand corner right now.
Might seem like a hassle,
but it makes a much fresher, more flavorful mayonnaise
than you could possibly imagine.
I've got my home roasted chicken breast here,
which I'm cutting into cubes because it's much more moist,
so it won't end up spongy or chewy.
I'm eyeballing a good healthy shot of mayonnaise,
maybe not healthy.
Then I've got some toasted, cooled,, and chopped pistachios,
little hint of Dijon mustard, maybe a teaspoon and a half,
about a 1/3 of a cup of diced red onion,
some lightly diced cranberries
for a nice cranberry accent,
and about a tablespoon each
chopped fresh tarragon and chives,
seasoning lightly at first with kosher salt
and freshly ground black pepper,
adjusting as necessary after giving everything
a thorough mixing,
in preferably a bigger bowl than this one.
I like to really thoroughly mix my chicken salad
so that some of the chicken breaks up and shreds,
making it a less chunky
and more uniform, spreadable, sandwich-friendly mixture.
Taste for seasoning,
then all this guy needs is two slices
of hardy multi-grain bread,
a leaf of butter lettuce, and a diagonal cut.
Yet another quick and easy lunch
that is going to thoroughly
and efficiently stretch your leftovers.
So that's chicken salad, but what about salad chicken?
An ideal application for leftover breast,
preferably the home roasted one.
I've got some romaine here
that I'm tossing in Caesar dressing and grated Parmesan,
thinly slicing my homemade roast chicken.
As you can see, it's a lot less dry than the rotisserie,
tearing it up into bite-sized pieces,
adding to the salad, tossing around,
placing in a tortilla, wrapping up,
and redeeming every grilled chicken Caesar wrap
that you've ever had at the airport.
So that's three easy applications for the breast.
Now what about the leg and thigh meat?
Once being removed from the bone and shredded,
it takes much better to being heated,
so it's a perfect protein mix in for stuff like fried rice.
We've got two cups of leftover white rice here
that I'm gonna spread out evenly
on a parchment lined baking sheet and shove in the fridge
for at least one hour, ideally overnight.
Then we're heating a few tablespoons of oil to smoking
in a large wok, adding a 1/2-cup each
diced onion and carrot,
maybe some of those peppers and onions
from the quesadilla before, cooking over high heat
for about one minute
or until picking up some nice color,
adding a tablespoon each crushed fresh ginger and garlic,
mixing up and sauteing for about 15 seconds.
Then scooting everybody to the side of the pan,
adding one or two more tablespoons of oil,
and therein quickly frying a beaten egg.
Once nice and fluffy and scrambled,
go ahead and give it a toss with the rest of the stuff,
then add the refrigerated rice.
Toss that around, and then around the edge of the pan,
we're gonna drizzle two teaspoons of sesame oil.
Saute that for about 30 seconds.
Go ahead and add our chicken thigh.
We're adding it late in the game
because we just wanna heat it up.
Then again, on the outside of the pan,
drizzle 1 1/2 teaspoons of mirin,
one tablespoon dark soy sauce,
and one tablespoon rice vinegar.
Fry over high heat for one more minute, tossing.
Hit it with some sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions.
One more toss, and you're ready to serve.
Garnish with more sesame seeds and scallions,
and you got yourself another quick and easy meal
that's making the most of all your leftovers.
But what about all that beautiful stock?
Well, every time I roast a whole chicken,
I feel compelled to make chicken noodle soup.
First I'm saw it sauteing half a small chopped onion
and a few tablespoons of olive oil one to two minutes,
and I'm adding a couple of small chopped carrots
and ribs of celery, a couple optional parsnips,
and a clove or two of crushed garlic
and an inch of grated ginger.
Saute for another minute,
and then we're gonna add about four quarts of chicken stock,
in which the vegetables are going to simmer
for about 20 minutes.
I've also got two tablespoons each
fresh chopped dill and parsley,
which I'm gonna add about half of to the soup at this stage.
I like to add the rest at the end
for a fresh pop of herb flavor.
Once the vegetables are starting to get nice and soft,
I'm gonna add my shredded leg and thigh meat
and cook for another one to two minutes,
adding the remaining herbs
so that they just get a little bit of heat.
Now we come to the noodle juncture of chicken noodle soup,
which I always add a la carte.
In other words, I grab the amount of soup
that I intend to serve,
making sure that there's extra broth,
add the uncooked pasta,
and cook it in the serving soup
so that my leftovers don't end up having soggy noodles.
This helps the soup keep better.
It helps it freeze better.
And if you find yourself sick of chicken noodle soup
in a couple days, you then have the option
to turn it into chicken pot pie.
I've got five tablespoons of foaming butter,
to which I'm gonna add five tablespoons of flour,
whisking and cooking for one to two minutes,
and then slowly ladling in
our leftover noodle-less chicken soup,
whisking each addition until smooth
before adding the next to prevent lumps.
Add the right amount of soup
so that your desired thickness is achieved.
If you added too much soup like I did,
and you get too thin a texture,
you can always thicken things up
with a slurry of one tablespoon of corn starch
whisked together with a 1/4-cup of water,
whisking constantly as you add it.
I'm also gonna deepen the savory flavors
with a splash of soy sauce
and add some richness With a splash of heavy cream.
Let simmer gently until thickened, and boom.
You got yourself some chicken pot pie filling,
or chicken pot pie soup
if you just want to eat it like this.
Last but not least,
we have the ultimate in leftover-stretching comfort foods,
congee, or rice porridge.
We're starting with three cups each
of our homemade chicken stock and water,
bringing it to a simmer,
and adding one cup of plain white rice.
Then this guy's just gonna cook over low heat
for 1 1/2 hours,
until the rice goes 10 steps beyond overcooked
and breaks into a porridge,
which we can always top up with more chicken stock
if things get too dry or thick.
About 10 minutes before it's finished cooking,
we're gonna add our shredded dark meat
and two to three tablespoons each
finely minced ginger and garlic.
We're only cooking this for 5 to 10 minutes
because we wanna keep some of that raw ginger
and garlic crunch and heat.
Season to taste with kosher salt and serve,
preferably with delicious textural toppings,
like thinly sliced scallions and Szechuan chili crisp.
So there you have a whole bunch of stuff to do
when you find yourself staring down the barrel
of a whole chicken.
Make the most of your leftovers
and try roasting one yourself,
preferably with a little bit of irreverent guidance
from my new cookbook, "Basics with Babish,"
coming out October 24th,
available now for pre-order,
and tickets for my book tour are on sale now
at bingingwithbabish.com/book tour.
I look forward to seeing you guys in a couple weeks.
(mellow R&B music)