Pueblog USa
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Good Gravy
Advancements in toaster-ovens. Or how to rotisseire a small bird in Winter, without firing up the outdoor grill.
Yeah. Pretty mundane stuff that. Small kitchen applicances are so blasé. However, a several months ago, I noticed a new form of toaster-oven at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was a toaster-over that was also a rotisseire. This one was made by Euro-Pro, the people who bring you the charming line of Shark hand-held vacuum cleaners. We have several of them scattered throughout the house.
I didn’t think much of it at first, as we had a toaster-oven. A Black & Decker thingie we’d had for a long time. And I don’t make toast that often anyway. However, the B&D was showing it’s age AND the toast button would not function properly UNLESS you held down an additional button to get its attention so that it would work properly. Then there was the annoying tendancy to not toast a second batch properly unless it had cooled down to room-temp before doing anything else.
I got to thinking about it. I remembered how good a rotisseire-cooked chicken tasted. And I attributed the excellent flavor and juicy texture of the meat to the rotisserie approach. Oh. Sure. You can back a chicken and get something like that, but the rotisserie technique is continually basting the meat. That’s an important part of good cooking. Keeping the meat propelry moisturized. Rotisseire does that better. With less time and effort on the part of the cook.
So, I got to thinking about this and decided we should get one. Not just for the cooking of chicken, but for other things as well. I’ve got a killer barbeque sauce for pork based on a Virginian recipe from the 18th century. I like pork. Especially done this way. But doing it for two and firing up, i.e., wasting, the gas of the outdoor grill for a small meal just doesn’t sit right with me. Therefore, I had two reasons for getting this dingus.
I talked it over with the distaff a couple of months ago and she acquiesed.
Off to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Guess what. They were ‘sold out’. Heavy sigh. But they were planning to restock.
Yesterday, we tried again. Only THIS time to be told the item was discontinued. And, just to make things more irritating, no other toaster-oven offered had the rotisserie. Talk about flumuxed. Guess I’d have to order it ont he web. [Note: Isn’t it interesting that all too many things you want to buy these days have to be bought on the web? I’d invest in FedEx and/or UPS, if I played the market.]
So, as we trudged through the rest of the store, as the distaff had noticed a lot of things were on sale, we were picking up things here and there; flannel bed-sheets; cotton is TOO cold when slipping between the sheets on a cold Winter night. At the end of the circuit, I was standing beside a large rack of clearance items and what do I see—the toaster-oven-rotisserie. The display item. Sure. It has not box. It has no manual. It seems to be missing the pizza stone. Heck, it might not even WORK. But it’s half-off the original price.
I grabbed it like Larry Byrd does a rebound, before heading for his goal.
Well, we got it home and, along the way, we got a roasting chicken.
Set the dingus up. It fits perfectly in the space the old toaster-oven sat.
I prepped the bird; dousing it with rosemary-garlic seasonings. Trussed it onto the spit. Put it into the oven cavity. Fired it up. The dingus worked!
I cooked the bird at 350°F for two hours. Occasionally, I’d baste it, as I wanted to make sure the seasonings were continually applied to the skin, which was dripping them off like a drip coffee maker.
The bird was GREAT! Better than Safeway and Sam’s. Probably because I’m pleased with my own cooking. But, what the heck. I don’t see either of them offering rosemary-garlic rotisseire chicken anyway.
However, another thing I was impressed with was the amount of gravey I was able to generate from one chicken. There was 3/4 of a cup of oil in the drip pan. All flavored with the rosemary-garlic seasoning. I put that into a saucier and added an equal amount of white flour; making a roe. To this I added the water drained from the mashed potatoes I’d intended to have as a side dish. I added additional water until I got the consistency I was looking for. I wound up with almost two quarters of superb gravy.
What to do with all this gravey? I think I’ll get some extra chicken breasts from Sam’s and some mixed veggies too. And make chicken pot pies.
I’ve missed chicken pot pies, since Sam’s stopped carrying the Pepperidge Farm line. Those were good pot pies. Great for when you were in a hurry and need a tummy-warming meal, which can be frequently in Winter.
So, bottom-line. If you’re current toaster-oven is going south, I highly recommend you get a toaster-over-rotisserie when you get to the point of replacing your current system. In the long run, if you cook yourself, you’ll end up saving money; all the way around.
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