Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme

Why ever did I think this was going to be easy? This evening I attempted (at Nate's urging) to cook an entire 3 pound chicken.

Nate chose this recipe for me out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and upon first glance it looked pretty straightforward -- buy chicken, butter skin, do some other things. Sounds easy enough, yeah? HELL NO!

My culinary journey began at 6:45 this evening. I did all the prep work first so that entailed peeling 15 pearl onions and boiling them in salted water for 5 minutes, creating potato rounds with my mandolin and then boiling them, and gently simmering bacon lardons in water; this process took roughly an hour and a half. I felt I was then ready for the task of preparing my chicken.

I opened my little 3 pound bird and was immediately discouraged. The cavity still held the...um...innards, it looked far more chicken-y than I was expecting and just plain-old looked unappetizing.

I somehow gained the courage to remove the unmentionables, season the cavity and rub the skin with butter. At this point I was staring to feel confident, "yeah, Julia, I can throw this chicken breast-side down into the casserole and brown it" however, my courage was quickly robbed from me when I began browning and my skin was sticking, the chicken wasn't trussed (I couldn't find any twine anywhere), and it looked frankly disgusting.

It is now 8:30 and the sad, pale, skin-ripped bird has yet to even make it into the oven yet.

After making a bed of potatoes, bacon and onions I put the pathetic excuse for poultry into the casserole dish with a sheet of foil and the lid and prayed to whatever kitchen god could save this meal.

The oven alarm just sounded (it's 10:00 now) and the chicken doesn't look much different than when it went into the oven. No one likes to admit their failures, especially not to friends and family or random people on the internet but this time, I deserve my failure. Cooking a whole chicken is a nightmare!

Below is the recipe and I wish you all luck. I think I will be spending awhile licking my wounds before I attempt this again.

Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme (Casserole-Roasted Chicken with Bacon, Onions and Potatoes)

1/2 pound chunk of bacon
A fireproof casserole for cooking the chicken
4 Tbsp butter
 3 lb ready-to-cook chicken trussed and buttered
15-25 peeled white onions, about 1 inch in diameter
1-1 1/2 lbs "boiling" potatoes or small new potatoes
1/4 Tsp salt
Cheesecloth
4 parsley sprigs
1/2 bay leaf
1/4 Tsp thyme
Bulb baster
Aluminum foil

As I said before, I started with the onions. Peel them and then toss them in a saucepan filled with salted boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes, drain and set aside.

Move on to your potatoes. Slice them into rounds 2 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. Use a mandolin if you have one, it'll make your life so much easier. Place into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and drain immediately. Set aside.

Onto the bacon. Slice the bacon into lardons, or 1/2 inch wide and 1 1/2 inch long strips. Simmer for 10 minutes in 2 quarts of water. Rinse in cold water and dry.

In your casserole dish, saute for 2 to 3 minutes in 1 Tbsp butter until lightly browned. Remove to a side dish leaving the fat in the pan.

Make an herb bouquet using the cheesecloth, parsley, bay leaf and thyme.

Preheat the oven to 325.

Now for the...ugh...chicken. Season the cavity of the chicken with 1/4 Tsp salt, a pinch of pepper, 1/2 Tsp of dried taragon. Truss the chicken (assuming you actually have twine) and butter the outside of the bird.

Over medium-high heat, brown the chicken in the hot fat breast-side down. Brown for 2-3 minutes, "regulating the heat so butte is always very hot but not browning," thanks, Julia. You make it sound so simple. Turn the chicken to create even browning without breaking the skin (something I failed to achieve). This process SHOULD take 15 minutes. Dump out the fat (not into the drain though, use an old can or something).

Heat 3 Tbsp butter in the casserole over medium heat until it is foaming. Add the potatoes and coat them in butter for 2 minutes so they lose their moisture. Spread them around the sides, salt the chicken, and place it breast-side up over the potatoes, onions, bacon and herb bouquet. Baste with the butter. Cover with aluminum foil and the lid of your casserole dish.

Roast for and hour and 15 minutes or until chicken is done.

As I said, mine looked a pitiful excuse for a french chicken but at least it tasted alright. The meat was tender and moist, potatoes were soft and onions were succulent.

Good luck, readers, may your Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme turn out better than mine.