Our cockerels should be cooked slowly at a low temperature to produce a silky, succulent texture to match their unbeatable flavour. We’ve put together a light-yet-satisfying Thai dish, but these birds can be used in any casserole, pot-roast or poaching recipe, for cock-a-leekie soup or traditional coq au vin, or a Heston-esque, 5-hours-at-90C-style roast. The large, meaty legs also make for excellent confit and rillettes.
The
end result isn’t the prettiest bird you'll ever present to the table - no crispy skin - but he has flavour in spades; boy is he tasty. The meat pulls away from the bone with gentlest persuasion, and the
reduced broth turns this meal into a laksa-type dish; comforting yet fresh,
suitable both for chilly nights and warmer days. If you don't have a large pot – and
this recipe does need a big one – joint the cockerel (or ask one of our
butchers to) before cooking and reduce the cooking time by 45 minutes. A
3kg cockerel will easily serve six.
Ingredients
For
the pot roasting
A 3kg cockerel
4 sticks
lemongrass, bashed with a rolling pin
5 kaffir lime
leaves (dried are fine, and the zest of a lime will also do)
5 cloves garlic,
peeled and bashed
A large-ish
(around 6cm) piece ginger, peeled and finely sliced
10 black
peppercorns
4 star anise
1 large bunch
coriander, stalks and leaves separated (retain both)
1tsp chilli
flakes
Sea salt
1 tin of coconut
milk (full fat is best)
1l chicken stock
A very large pot!
To serve
Thai fish sauce
Lime segments
The reserved
coriander leaves
2 spring onions,
finely chopped
Cooked rice or
noodles
Method
1. Heat the oven to
160C.
2. Un-truss the
cockerel to allow for even cooking and sprinkle a little salt inside the cavity
of the bird. Put the cockerel upside down into your large pot along with all of
the remaining pot roast ingredients, leaving out the coriander leaves, and
sprinkling a little more salt into the pot. Put a lid on the pot and bake in
the oven for 3 hours, baste every 45 minutes or so and carefully turn the bird
over half way through.
3. Once the cooking
time is up, allow the dish to stand for ten minutes before very, very carefully
removing the cockerel from the pot using a fish slice and a carving fork. The
tender wings may fall off at this point, and make an excellent snack for the
cook. Wrap the bird in foil and rest it until serving.
4. Reduce the cooking liquid
by around a quarter, until it loosely coats the back of a spoon, then strain
and discard the aromatics and spices. Add fish sauce to taste - a good
tablespoon should do it - and serve bowls of cooked rice or noodles with plenty
of sauce, -think half rice dish, half soup - pieces of succulent chicken, spring onions, coriander leaves, a
squeeze of lime and a dollop of chilli sauce for hot heads.
No comments:
Post a Comment