/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.14781288]

How the fuck do I cook these without smoking up the place? Most recipes online say to bake them at 450 for over half an hour, but I find they are usually done in about 20 or so min, at like 400 but they always smoke up.

[Anonymous No.14781331]

baste that shit bro

[Anonymous No.14781338]

>>14781288
the smoke is coming from the fat rendering and burning. The reason yours is cooking faster is yours is probably dryer, also online recipes are infamously shit for temperature control

there's a couple methods of solution, but in general what you want is a two stage cook. First at a lower temp of about 325 to 350 in order to render out the fat, then increase the temp at the end for crispyness and maillard. Poking slit holes in the skin will help the fat drain. A surface rub of salt, baking soda, and cornstarch (optional) will also help with getting very crispy skin at lower temperatures.

The rendered fat, called schmaltz, can be saved and used in much the same way as pork or beef fat as a flavoring agent or cooking medium.

As a general rule of thumb, Chicken Fat will melt at 325, and smoke at 375.

[Anonymous No.14781344]

>>14781338
Thanks anon, this is probably the best answer to any question I have ever asked on this board.

[Anonymous No.14781367]

>>14781344
chicken is a ubiquitous meat in the US but is something of a mystery to a lot of home cooks because it's physical properties (and the way it's handled) complicate the cooking process a bit. As a result, a 'simple roast chicken' is often anything but.

As mentioned, the fat smoking at a relatively low temperature (as well as the general leanness of the meat) is an issue. The other is how chicken is handled, or more specifically frozen. Commercial chicken pieces will be flash frozen in one of two ways - either by dunking in a liquid solution primarily of water that shocks the temperature down rapidly (and cheaply) allowing it to be frozen quicker, or by being put in an air blast chiller which takes longer and is more expensive.

Air chilled chicken will always be specifically labeled as such, and has a lower moisture content than 'normal' chicken which means it will probably cook faster and crisp faster. Liquid dipped chicken will always retain a good bit of moisture, meaning you have more dead weight to cook off thus lengthening cooking time. This can negatively impact flavor as well. The trade off is air chilled chicken is pretty much always more expensive because of the cost of the process. It's also not really something most people give a shit about so there's hardly a big market for it.