She Finished Leg Warmers and a Project Bag November 1, 2009

I'm still fighting with the Calvert Sweater, but I did manage to finish another pair of leg warmers for the girls.  This pattern is so simple, fast and easy.  It has become my go to "carry around" project of choice.  Soon to be interrupted by socks for Dad for Christmas.  Eeeek...did I admit to attempting Christmas Knitting starting at this late date?  I guess I did. 

The socks will be carried around in a fabulous little project bag, that I also finished today. The pattern is free!  The bag is adorable, fast, easy and would make a great gift.  I'm definitely making more of them.

I cooked our first home grown chicken tonight.  I put it in a brine yesterday...1 gallon water, 1 cup salt, 1 cup sugar.  Today I removed the bird, coated in olive oil, using a combo of salt, pepper, sage (Yellow House Farm) and rosemary (Nippo Brook Farm) for a rub, I covered the bird.  Then I poured about 1 1/2 cups of red wine in my Dutch oven, place the bird (my yard), surrounded it with potatoes (Meadows Mirth and Nippo Brook Farm) and mushrooms (David O'Connor).  The potatoes and mushrooms were sprinkled with remaining rub.  Covered and placed in the 325 degree oven, for 25 minutes per pound of bird, which worked out to be about 1.5 hours.  He weighed in a 4 pounds, not bad for a small egg laying breed.  I served the above with buttercup squash (Nippo Brook Farm).

Eating heritage poultry is definitely different than a supermarket bird, or even a "broiler" from a farm.  I'm amazed at how much more character and flavor the bird has.  Husband said the leg meat was more like eating steak than any chicken he's ever had before.  The bird was pretty good, but a bit too salty.  So foodie friends, did I brine too long (almost 24 hours)?  Should I have just used the pepper and herbs and no salt on the skin?  Are you supposed to rinse the brine off before putting it in the pan? I was just following directions from a foodie friend, so I'm not sure what I did wrong.  It was still good, but I'd like it less salty next time.

Day 2 of the Sprouting experiment:

Comments

[Joy]

One must rinse brined meats before cooking or they will be too salty. Thus says Cook's Illustrated and I agree.

[Debra]

For chickens, you can try brining for a much shorter time. CookWise says to rub chicken inside & outside w/salt, then cover w/cold water, stirring briefly, and let brine for 3 hours in fridge. My brother's mother-in-law just rubs the chicken w/salt and lets sit in fridge 1 to 3 hours, dispensing with the water part altogether. Definitely do rinse before cooking.

I confess I usually don't brine; it seems to change the flavor of farm-raised meat which I find enticing enough!

[Amy Ouellette]

Thank you, Joy and Debra. I will try the rubbing and leaving in water idea, next time. Seems more reasonable. One friend said that what I was told to do seems more appropriate for a Turkey, and that a chicken is too small to take all that salt. I agree with you Debra, about the flavor, as I tried something else, and liked it much better...I'll have to post about it.