Second of several

[madbaker]

This week's Resolution Recipe is excessively snotty: Cured Chicken (onsite)

Every salted fowl, such as geese, cranes, wild ducks, barnyard doves and other fowl, once they are out of the brine and with the brine well washed off them, are dried in moderate smoke or in the open air. To store them for a long time after they have been hung in smoke, preserve them in oil. Fowl that are salted are used more in cool places than in warm, and in places where the meat of quadrupeds is scarce. Ortolans, fig-peckers, and other small birds, after being kept for six days in brine, are removed and put in liquified fat that contains fennel seeds, in an earthenware vessel, letting the lard congeal about the birds. Alternatively those small birds can be kept in well salted vinegar that contains garlic, cloves and crushed pepper. I have seen them done both ways, and brought from Cyprus to Venice. For best storage they must always be in a cool place. (Opera, 1570, I.10)

5 lb chicken, cut up in pieces (2280 g)
9 c water
63 g salt
31 g sugar
5.625 g curing salt #1
chopped rosemary

Mix water and seasonings to form a brine. Brine the chicken for 18-24 hours.
The next day, remove the chicken parts, rinse and pat dry, then lightly coat in oil and pack into a stoneware crock. Cover with at least 1/4" of oil and top with a waxed linen lid, secured with twine. Keep in a cool, dark place for a week.

Remove the chicken, drain, and brown over a smoky fire.

Oils specifically mentioned in Scappi are almond, olive, and walnut; olive oil is the cheapest and most widely available.
I added the curing salt #1 for safety reasons; it helps prevent botulism bacteria from forming during the curing process. I added sugar to the brine to make it consistent with modern brine recipes.

Sources
Scappi, Bartolomeo, and Terence Scully. The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570): L'arte Et Prudenza D'un Maestro Cuoco. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2008. Print. ISBN 978-0-8010-9624-1.
Marianski, Stanley, and Adam Marianski. Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages. Seminole, FL: Bookmagic, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9824267-3-9.

What worked: This was the ultra-snotty one I wanted to do after the Quail Ham proof of concept: serve cured chicken that had all been prepared in a period manner onsite. I did so. People liked it. I finished the browning in a pan on the fire next to a roasting tri-tip, whose coals and wood provided some nice smoke to the chicken.

What didn't: I found it a bit bland. Partly because there was no garlic or pepper in the brine (because I didn't want to go through the hassle of chopping the garlic - should have done it beforehand) and partly because, due to lack of infrastructure, I wasn't able to smoke the chicken before putting it under oil. Also, as was entirely predictable, olive oil does not impart as much flavor as duck fat and really, this needs three weeks or longer under the fat rather than five days to really soak it in.

Will I make it again? This version - no. I can say I've done it, which I really wanted to do. I will make this again; but I will fully prep everything several weeks ahead of time at home, under easier conditions, and bring it ready to brown for finishing before serving.

Comments

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

We've got a 10 day event coming up in August. I may have to make this!

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend doing brining and smoking beforehand. But it's a good addition to the oeuvre of things to bring!

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I don't have any smoking facilities (yet), and I'm not sure I want to bring brined chicken with me on a 6 hour train ride. I'll try to get something from the local butcher when we arrive and get it started right away.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

That's a fair point. As someone else pointed out in the Saluminati group, the birds really should dry out before going under fat via smoking or air-drying. I'm more comfortable with the former than the latter, especially onsite. I just didn't do that, and it was a lesser dish because of it.