More Jam Chicken

Perhaps because we had enjoyed the sriracha hot jam chicken so much just a fortnight ago, I bought another roasting chicken -- this one organic and free-range -- during pre-blizzard food shopping yesterday. I was prepared to repeat the make-shift "recipe" I had used before, but true to the spirit of this project, Pam found a nueva receta in one of our oldest cookbooks. Clarification: the book is old, having been printed as I graduated from high school, but it is new to us, a thrifty find librarian Pam made on the free-to-good-home bookshelf in our university library.

On page 314 of the 1981 ring-bound edition of The New Cook Book from Better Home & Gardens, she found "Chicken with Currant Glaze." My first reaction was to think about the small remnant of a package of currants in our cupboard, but this was quickly made moot by the second line of the ingredients list: "1/3 cup red currant or raspberry jelly." Remembering that I had also purchased a nice local raspberry jam, I knew we had a winner for a hearty dinner I could prepare between bouts of blizzard shoveling.

Again using the upright roaster, I put Canadian whiskey in the well this time, and then prepared the chicken (with a simple rub of olive oil and a dusting of salt and black pepper. I roasted it for just over an hour, until it reached an internal temperature of 165F. A sign of changing standards is that the book calls for a temperature of 185F, which we now know as "dry" and which explains a lot of over-cooked poultry in our pasts.

At that point, I whisked together in a saucepan the ingredients for a proper sauce: the jam, 2 T lemon juice, 1 T butter, a dash of cinnamon, 1 T water and 2 t cornstarch. Pam kept mentioning that this book was for novice cooks, and I should have paid attention to one of its beginner tips. As I should know by now, the cornstarch works best when mixed with water and then added. I could not whisk out the clumps that were formed. I did make a nice, thick sauce, though, and passed it through a sieve before brushing it on.

Baking for about 15 minutes more at a moderate 350F, the glaze got just a bit crispy. The result of the cooking method and the selection of humanely-raised chicken was an exceptionally succulent meal. It paired well with the mashed potatoes I refried during those final 15 minutes and with the Malbec we selected.