I am wondering why broiling was so popular in the Mid-Century. Out of the hundreds of new recipes my Estate Sale find gave me, I am noticing a ton of recipes that are broiled. I made two entree recipes this week and that's right - both of them were broiled! I can honestly say that, to the best of my knowledge, I have used my broiler maybe two or three times in my 46 years on this earth. At least 36 of them have been cooking. That's really not that much. Is this an anomaly just for me, do you use your broilers more? Maybe I'm missing out?
My first broiled dish of the week was Lemon Butter Broiled Chicken. The recipe calls for a broiler fryer chicken that you cut up. I discovered while cutting the chicken that the meat scissors I have, which I thought were pretty good scissors, are really not that great. So my cuts were not quite as clean as I would have liked. So I may be making a trip to the local Williams Sonoma to purchase some nicer scissors. I'm sure my husband will be thrilled with that!
Should I make this dish again, I am thinking that you could indeed use a pre-cut chicken with bones, or even chicken breasts. The timing of the cook would need to be adjusted down if you cook it without the bones.
The lemon butter had a nice flavor to it. You know I love lemon, so I was expecting a bit more lemony flavor. I did baste the chicken several times with the lemon butter while it cooked. The skin was super crispy and had great lemon flavor, unfortunately the chicken itself did not. I think you could add some sliced lemon under the skin to give the lemon flavor some help. The chicken itself tasted very moist and butter, which was great, but not very lemony. . .
There is no way this is a meal for four normal people - there was enough chicken for at least six servings. I pulled the chicken that wasn't eaten off the bones and saved it to make a nice chicken salad for lunch sometime this week.
I also saved my bones and boiled them with onions, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, thyme and tarragon. I do this every time we have a fryer chicken, it makes a wonderfully flavorful stock. The stock can be canned or refrigerated. I love being able to use fresh chicken stock in recipes. It has much less sodium than the average store bought stock and just tastes fresher.
I served the chicken with buttered noodles and corn. Overall, it was a very nice meal. I am not opposed to making it again with some of the differences I mentioned above.
LEMON BUTTER BROILED CHICKEN
1 Broiler Fryer Chicken, Quartered
1 Teaspoon Seasoned Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1/4 Cup Butter
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1/2 Teaspoon Tarragon
1/2 Teaspoon Chervil (This is long leaf French Parsley)
2 Tablespoons Dry Vermouth
Sprinkle the chicken quarters with salt and pepper. Melt butter in a small saucepan; add lemon juice, tarragon, chervil, and vermouth. Brush lightly over chicken. Place chicken, skin side down, on a rack in a broiling pan. Broil, 6 inches from heat, for 20 minutes, basting frequently. Turn, broil 15 to 20 minutes longer or until nicely browned, continue basting with remaining lemon butter.
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