Romertopf Chicken Part 1...

This is my mother's time tested clay pot chicken recipe. If I do say so myself, over the past six months I think I have finally come to a place of near perfection with this dish. I have modified the recipe slightly from the original, adding just one or two extra steps. My roommates brought this little broiler back from the farmers market but one day soon I hope to have (along with a kiln of my own) and nice little flock of broilers to fill the old Romertopf with every Sunday night.

An important note on clay pots: Earthenware clay pots like the one pictured above must be soaked in water for 30 minutes before being placed in a cold oven. This is essential for most pottery that is being cooked with, unless it is flameware.....but I don't know anything about flameware.

To start you will need:

• 1 - 3-4 lb chicken brined for 12 to 18 hours.

To prepare the brine dissolve 1 cup of kosher salt and 1/2 cup of sugar into a gallon of water. I usually heat up one cup of water on the stove and add the salt and sugar to that to help it dissolve.

• Roasting vegetables (I like to use some combination of the following: beets, potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, leaks, garlic cloves..etc) Cut into large chunks like pictured above.
• Olive oil
• 1/2 to 3/4 stick of butter
• Optional: Thyme, dijon mustard, white wine
  

Once the chicken is removed from the brine dry and truss it with butcher string. Both of these steps are in my opinion essential. The brining helps to both flavor of the meat and more importantly aiding in the meats ability to hold moisture. I have found that a brined chicken is more moist and tender than one right out of the fridge. Trussing the bird helps it to cook evenly. Click here for a tutorial on how to truss a chicken.

Now skin what vegetables need to be skinned and cut them into large chunks. I then put them in a large bowl and dress them with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Then take a second large bowl and put it on top of the first and toss it all around to ensure and good and even coating of the oil, salt, and pepper.

Now you can rub onto the skin of the chicken whatever you like. Tonight I did just dijon mustard, salt, and pepper but thyme is also very nice. Take a handful of vegetables and throw them in the bottom of the clay pot and place the chicken on top of them. Add the rest of the vegetables around the bird. Cut the butter into table spoon sized chunks and put it ontop of the bird. You may also add a glug or two of white wine at this time.

Put on the lid and place in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 450, set a timer for 1 1/2 hours and clean up (or read some blogs).

When the chicken is done I think it should register somewhere around 150 but someone feel free to correct me if that is wrong. After and hour and a half I then take the lid off and broil the bird for a few extra minutes to crisp of the skin and the top layer of vegetables.

I like to serve this with short grain brown rice and a large simple salad. There will be a lot of cooking juices at the bottom of the pan which should be spooned over everything. This is actually, despite my long winded rambling, a very simple dish to prepare. Enjoy...