Mother Mary's Kooking Korner

Roast Chicken and Browned Potatoes
2 whole young fryers,
21/2 to 3 lbs each
I carrot diced
I large onion sliced
I large celery stalk (I rib) cut up
I piece of green pepper cut up
2 cloves garlic crushed
I half dollar size piece of bay leaf
2 small all spice (optional)
Use one of those dark blue 5peckled roasting pans. Place all the cleaned, cut up vegetables in the roasting pan. Peel and slice the onion. Wash and scrape the carrot, dice it, wash the piece of green pepper and remove any seeds, wash celery and cut up in pieces, add the bay leaf, 2 allspice and the two cloves of crushed garlic. All of my life I watched my mother crush a clove of garlic.

Sometimes she peeled it and sometimes she didn't. She took the widest part of her knife, I suppose because the knife happened to be in her hand at that time, and she flattened out a clove or two of garlic. I have done this all my life, too but now so you won't cut yourself you can take an empty cup and bear down on the garlic and you can crush it very safely without using a knife or garlic press. This brings all the oil of the garlic out.

Getting back to the chicken. All of the vegetables are in the pan. Add water, one tea spoon of coarse salt and mix it through the vegetables with your fingers.

Now I am assuming you have (Koshered) soaked salt and scalded your poultry so the raw poultry has a little flavor. Your chicken is whole but ask your butcher to cut it open and leave it in one piece. My butcher calls it "butterfly". I purposely made a trip to "Broadway Market" to ask him. Of course while I was there I bought a lot of salt so I could give you these fowl recipes fresh from my head. The chicken is whole but open so you can clean the inside out real good. Now wash the chicken, shake off the excess water and rub the vegetables into the outside and inside of the chicken.

Place the fryers in the pan so half of each is exposed to roast and brown. Please use the small size because they roast up so tender and delicious you will chew all of the bones. Also, put the neck and the gizzard in. Leave a little of the vegetables in the cavity of l the chicken to flavor it.
"DO NOT ADD ANY WATER"
Getting back to the roast springer, . (I always call fryers springers; a hark back to my day and age. As soon as you are able to handle the pan and fryers, remove them to a platter. Baste them one more time so some of the gravy clings to the skin. Put a piece of waxed paper lightly over the top. Now, if it falls apart, don't worry. We're after taste, not a picture for a magazine.
Time out for few side remarks.
My cooking may not wind up as a colored picture in some magazine but it's going to taste delicious. My sister and I went to Florida in 1966 as guests of the republican party for the convention, but she didn't like our motel room, and I said, "Hey, we aren't buying the motel" and we stayed. If I go to a restaurant and i don't like the meal I always tell my friends, "this is the last supper," and we don't go back to that restaurant any more.

I tell my son that we don't want to have any restaurant in DigiDirect unless we eat there first and like the food and service. Now isn't it better to live by these philosophies. You'll be happier and won't get yourself into a stew for no reason.

I read in a medical journal that 2,000 years ago a doctor had kept some records he recorded that he did not have one patient with a heart condition who was a happy person. Think about it.

It is now Friday at 2 in the afternoon and my deadline for Roast Chicken was Thursday night. This is all coming off the top of my head and I hope and pray it don't need any rewriting cause if it does I'm not going to do it!

Back to the chickens. Don't refrigerate the birds. As soon as you can handle the pan add about 1/2 or one cup cold water and swish around the vegetables that are left in the pan and scrape away all the drippings that are on the side of the pan. Keep scraping real good because this will form the liquid to roast your potatoes in!

Now, if you did not let the gravy burn away you should have some light brown colored liquid in the roasting pan. Strain this into a bowl and if your roasting pan is not burnt you can use it again (or wash it first).

Slice some potatoes (allow one medium potato per person and one for the pot) into the roasting pan. Pour the strained gravy over it, add a little salt, you will need it and taste it: it must have a slight salt flavor.

Remember, use coarse salt. The potatoes should be covered with the liquid even if you have to add more water. If you love potatoes throw in a couple of extra ones. Bake one hour in a 350' oven and look at them once. Most of the liquid will have cooked away at the end of an hour. If not keep them in the oven 15 or 20 minutes longer. Remember, as the liquid cooks away it goes into the potato and this is what makes them delicious tasting.

P.S. If I am being over explicit in my instructions; let me tell you a true story and I hope it is short. This happened over 50 years ago to my girlfriend Gittel, who was from New York City. She was cooking her husband his first home cooked meal and her mother had never allowed her in the kitchen. (An only child and a gorgeous girl at that - spoiled rotten). She was my best friend and I loved her dearly.

For $25 per month and all utilities included the year was the late 30's and she had a darling apartment on the corner of Hertel and Colvin. Where George used to have his drug store. At one time there was a great Loves Candy store there and Gittel's apartment was around the corner on Colvin.

She was going to boil potatoes for dinner so she put them on the stove to boil and being from N.Y.C., she sat down to read the New York paper...Gladys Glad for her beauty routine and Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons for the latest gossip. In less than one hour every fire truck in this area was at that busy corner. Her entire kitchen was solid black smoke and it was pouring out of every window. Whoever gave her instructions on how to boil potatoes forgot to tell her to put water in the pot. She put potatoes in a pot, no water and a high flame.

So my friends, these things can and do happen (How did you like that: $25.00 a month for a darling four room apartment including all utilities.That's a plus for the good ole days) Those were the days. And let me tell you! I liked those days and I like these days

P.P.S. I haven't got the heart to reread all I have written. I just hope I told you everything you have to know about roasting a chicken. If I don't get away from these chicken recipes - this is number three already though I am not sure whether I posted the others yet, they'll be calling me "Chicken George's sister Mary the old. Lots of love from me to you.

Maybe next time I will post my WINGS recipe and that's it! My tushy is getting sore sitting here. I need a nap!

THIS I must tell you! Do not cook any of this and reheat it. NEVER

Plan your dinner so the potatoes go from the oven to the table, O.K.? So lots of love again and bye.

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