Concept.
More important than a formula; or a recipe.
Owning the concept is the license to intelligently experiment.
To stay in control.

We keep control when we determine the when and what, which controls our time and energy.

I posted the concept of roasting today.
It’s just a fraction of the recipe and will encourage the reader to go forward.

One by one I will add this distillation to each of the posted roasting recipes so that readers will first get the sense of the recipe, the ease of it, and then get into the specifics.
While I’m at it, I’ll add images to any of the recipes that I posted before I knew how to include images.

Thanks to all of you who have suffered through the learning process with me.

It’s important that I add this: I just ate the most brilliantly colored and juiciest and flavored roast ducks ever.
The recipe and the concept works in real life.

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Today is Tuesday, August 7
This is my 119th consecutive daily posting.
Time is 12.10am and the weather is the same as Monday, Hot! Hot! Hot!
Today’s dinner is…to a restaurant with a friend who enjoys Restaurant Week.

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Today’s not so Trivia Question

What is the difference between baking and roasting?

Find the answer just before today’s Post below.
Partial answers for partial credits.

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Today’s Definition:

Haute cuisine

Give yourself a point if you really understood the word without reference to the definition herein given:

Haute cuisine (French: literally "high cooking",) refers to the cuisine of "high-level" establishments, gourmet restaurants and luxury hotels.
Haute cuisine is characterized by meticulous preparation and careful presentation of food, at a high price level.

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Thumbnail Biography:
Fernand Point (25 February 1897 – 4 March 1955) was a French chef and restaurateur and is considered to be the father of modern French cuisine.
He founded the restaurant La Pyramide in Vienne near Lyon.

He was born in Louhans, Saône-et-Loire, France.
Both his parents were accomplished cordon bleu chefs and ran a buffet.
He started cooking when he was ten and worked at some of the best restaurants of the time.

He had received his training with Foyot in Paris, the Bristol Hotel, Paris, the Majestic in Cannes, and the Royal Hotel in Évian-les-Bains.
In 1922, he and his family moved to Vienne, a city in southeast France near Lyon, and opened a restaurant.

Two years later his father left the restaurant to Fernand, who renamed it La Pyramide.
The restaurant was awarded three Michelin stars.
After his passing, the culinary world waited for the Guide Michelin review of the restaurant, now under the direction of Madame Point.
To everyone’s surprise, Madame’s version retained the three-star ranking.

His book, “Ma Gastronomie,” was first published in French in 1969.
The book includes 200 recipes based on Point's notes.
The chef Charlie Trotter described Point's Ma Gastronomie as the most important cookbook.


Thank you, Wikipedia

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Movie Details
“No Reservations” is a 2007 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Scott Hicks.
Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart and Abigail Breslin, the screenplay by Carol Fuchs is an adaptation of an original script by Sandra Nettelbeck, which served as the basis for the 2001 German film Mostly Martha, and revolves around a hard-edged chef whose life is turned upside down when she decides to take in her young niece following a tragic accident that killed her sister.
Patricia Clarkson, Bob Balaban and Jenny Wade co-star, with Brían F. O'Byrne, Lily Rabe, and Zoë Kravitz—appearing in her first feature film—playing supporting roles.

The film received a mixed reception by critics, who found it "predictable and too melancholy for the genre", resulting in a 41% overall approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
Upon its opening release on July 27, 2007, in the United States and Canada, “No Reservations” became a moderate commercial success:
The film grossed $12 million in its opening weekend, eventually grossing over $43 million at the domestic box-office and over $92 million worldwide.
Breslin was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance.

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Answer to the not so Trivia Question:

We roast solid foods that stay the same shape throughout: meats; vegetables.
We bake a batter which takes on a solid shape as it cooks: cakes and breakfast rolls.

We often roast at higher temperatures, 400* and above.
We bake at 375* max.

We add fat to the exterior of our roasts – we baste them.
We add fat to the batters of baked goods.
 

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TODAY’S POST

Recently I’ve been on a roast chicken kick.
Today I’m roasting a duck.
Same thing.
In our vernacular.
Roast goose.
Roast ostrich.

The posted recipe for Chicken, Roast is posted, but the looking at it from a distance one might get the feeling we’re dealing with something complex.
And that would be too bad.
Because nothing is further than the truth.

Let me point out the very easy steps involved.
And they are easy.

The night before the dinner, take the bird out of the wrapper and brush it with baking powder. This dries the skin making it susceptible to browning and crisping.
Takes two minutes.

When you wake up, set the bird into the 200* oven for a time (see the recipe.)
Takes two minutes.

The timer will alert you to take the bird out of the oven,
Takes a half minute.
Brush it with a single TB of Asian Oil (see the recipe) or sesame oil.
Takes two minutes.

When you're forty-five minutes from dinner, it's time to start the end game.
The end game requires your attention for a bit.

Broiler on, brown [do not burn] the bird on all sides, five minutes or so for the backside, four minutes for the breast, and two minutes each for the wing sides. Or longer if needed for good color.

Take the roasting pan out of the oven and brush the bird with 3 TB Asian oil mixed with 2 TB  of a composite seven-spice powder. See recipe.
Return the bird to an intense oven, 475* for ten minutes.

Take the bird out and let it settle for 15 minutes.
Eat the best bird ever.