Edible Roasting Rack
Posted by in Food
On page 50 of March Martha Stewart Living, there are instructions for creating an edible roasting rack for chicken. Basically you rip up a baguette and put it on the bottom of your roasting pan with some garlic and thyme. Brush the chicken with some butter and put some thyme under the skin, and place the chicken on the bread and roast it. I have to say I sort of scoffed at this initially, but it wasn’t bad. The biggest problem was that any bread that was not directly beneath the chicken burned to a crisp and was inedible. The bread that stayed under the chicken was delicious, and probably really bad for you! It was crunchy and greasy and really, really, really tasty. That being said, I don’t see myself doing this again. I felt WAY too guilty eating bread soaked in chicken grease and there wasn’t anything convenient or easier about this compared to a regular roasting rack.
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Good to know…I saw that as well and was going to try it sometime.
My favorite way to roast a chicken was one that some French (I think) chef did on the Martha Show. It’s called Potatoes Better Than the Chicken. Sounds sort of the same, but you put the potatoes on the bottom. I don’t feel guilty at all! Those potatoes are heavenly!
Oh dear. Now I need to try that. It sounds wonderful.
Ooh, I think I’d like the potatoes better than bread too. Interesting idea either way, though … especially since I don’t have a roasting rack.
Oooh, the bread sounds good, but the potato idea sounds WOW!
This is a great idea to soak up the juices. I bet if you cut off the crust you would get even juicier results so it’s more like stuffing. I wonder what temp you’re cooking your chicken at. I usually roast at 350 degrees C so I wonder if the bread would still burn. I am going to try this with my next roast chicken. YUM!
I cook at a higher temp – 425. I used to do 350, but Martha has convinced me a higher temp is better. The skin gets crispy and the meat says juicy and doesn’t dry out. The kitchen does get a little smoky and I usually end up opening a window, but I really like the results.
What a great idea! I would think you could use day-old bread, so it didn’t matter if you couldn’t eat all of it afterwards. I used to do the potatoes thing underneath when I lived in France. Over here, chicken tasted better, not so mass-produced. I have tried health store chicken but it’s still not the same. Does Martha have any tips I might have missed on how to buy a whole chicken with the old-time flavor?
Tee hee. I love chicken grease. I know I SHOULD feel guilty eating it but, honestly, my body does very well with chicken fat. Bacon fat is another story. When I eat that it makes me feel ill. THis looks like a way cool idea!
PS. Sorry for the typo. I meant OVER THERE, duh!
I think the best thing to do is buy chicken direct from a local organic farmer. In the summers, when we spend time at my parents’ lake house, there is a chicken farmer just down the road and I buy my chickens from him. They are pasture raised, which I think is another key factor. Organic chicken you get in a store is probably not pasture raised. Buying the chicken fresh and not frozen also helps with flavor.
This year I bought Martha’s organic pasture raised turkey from her web site and it was fantastic. I highly recommend that for Thanksgiving!
The potatoes do sound better. Actually, I’m ashamed to admit, the bread soaked in chicken grease sounds good too. I don’t think I’ll try it because I’d probably eat all the bread.
Yum. My mom makes bread and gravy where the gravy is just the steak drippings. It’s so bad, but so good. I’ll have to tell her about this one:)