A 'Broasted' Chicken for Garlic Lovers
Mar 22, 2024
The Art of Roasting
Why do diets high in red meat elevate cancer risk? Cooking methods and other roots
Do genes predict why some are more susceptible to red meat-linked cancers than others?
Home Cooking: How to “Broast” a Chicken
Roasted Chicken with Onions, Whole Garlic, and Carrots
The Art of a Good Roasted Hen
I recently posted a simple roasted chicken which was met with an outpouring of cooing. “How did I get the skin so well-bronzed?” “Look at that mahogany bird!” There’s always a balance between keeping white meat flesh moist while browning the skin. After many experiments, we’ve settled on unique method of “broasting,” a hybrid technique, but more on that a little later.
In truth, it was my husband who took up the challenge to roast a good hen and devised this dependable recipe. Having spent his high school years cleaning butcher block and delivering the shop’s prime cuts, he’s developed a deft hand when comes to all matter of steaks and broilers. In this house, we lean flexitarian but there are several meat-lovers who crave a “substantial” meal. So, our plant-leaning diet makes room for poultry twice weekly and burgers or ribeyes once or twice a month.
A good cook knows that there’s no need for heavy-handed seasoning or rich butter-based sauces when turning out beef, lamb, and whole chickens. With good technique, they stand on their own. The flavor is right there to be coaxed out when meat meets heat. Think of that toasty aroma that rises from the pan when working magic over a stove. It greets your nostrils, warms the back of your throat, and travels gutward to arouse hunger that now craves to be nourished. It has a flirtatious hedonism, but also heaviness and grease. It triggers memories of garlic and onions wafting through our childhood kitchens. We long for those days of holiday roasts and family dinners. That aroma is so intoxicating that pyrazines, the heat-liberated sensory compounds responsible for what we recognize as ‘roasted,’ were added by tobacco manufacturers to cigarettes to increase their mood-boosting and addictive effects.
When cooking a good cut of poultry or meat, more than anything, one needs patience. Let the cut of meat rest in the pan or on the grill, undisturbed, allowing the sear to develop. The protein will initially adhere to the pan. Be patient. It will release on its own once the a proper brown crust forms. When relaxation happens, that’s the moment to flip to the raw side and continue until each exposed face of flesh has good color. Lower the heat to finish the interior until the central juices run clear.
Browning serves to bring out and concentrate flavor. When starting a beef stew or braised chicken in a Dutch oven, add chicken parts or beef chunks well-spaced in batches. This spacing allows breathing room to avoid steaming from any moisture released. Once seared with a nice crust, flip to a raw face. Keep repeating until each cut side of meat has a sear, and remove done pieces to a clean dish. Make good use of every last bit. By deglazing the pan, the fats and browned bits released can be used to enhance vegetables and the stock in the dish. If fattier cuts rendered a good deal of fat, allow the pan to cool and use a paper towel to sop up the excess. Leave enough to cover the base of the pan. Next, sauté onions, celery, and carrots in the residual fat. Then add a small amount of liquid (water, wine, or stock) to the pan and scrape up any browned bits into the liquid. Add back the meat to the pan, cover with broth or water halfway if braising, or fully for stew. Then, into the oven, to cook slowly for a juicy and tender interior.
The sear imparts flavor that occurs only at high temperature. Read on to learn about the science of browning and how cooking affects health.
Browning and Caramelizing
Now, it’s worth knowing that the browning occurs through the Maillard reaction. As heat meets muscle and starch, amino acids break down, rearrange, and sugars reduce releasing roasted flavor and ‘meaty’ aroma. The effect begins when heat reaches about 230 degrees F and continues til 350 F before one contends with more bitter charring or ‘burnt’ aromas. Adding a dry rub of spices to meat or egg wash to baked goods boosts the Maillard reaction by adding proteins with amino acids and sugars to the surface.
When Maillard browning begins, amino acids and naturally occurring sugars react followed by dehydration while food takes on a yellowish or golden hue. Next, condensation leads the way to formation of nitrogenous compounds, called amines, and pigmented substances, melanoidins, resulting in those deep brown hues. The “roasted” cocoa and caramel-like aromas and flavor in meat are due to hundreds of heterocyclic amines formed, ‘savory’ pyrazines, ‘floral’ oxazoles, and ‘nutty, sulfurous’ thiazoles. In other foods, Maillard browning releases woody, hazelnut, or popcorn-like appeal from furans and other amines which give off “greener” or more herbaceous tones.
The French technique of using mirepoix to start a stew intended to cook the trinity of celery, carrots, and onions over low heat in order to to avoid browning. This was to coax sweetness out of them as they slowly release moisture to flavor your stock. In contrast, browning onions or vegetables at high heat involves the Maillard reaction adding more savory flavor. At even higher temperatures 320 to 360 degrees F, a different process, caramelization, occurs. Here sugars break down or combine into larger sugar polymers, releasing a number of volatile compounds including deep brown-hued carameleans and malty aromas.
Why diets high in red meat elevate cancer risk
Cooking methods and other roots
Diets that are high in red meat, especially high salt processed meats, are associated with higher rates of gastrointestinal cancers. Our understanding of the reasons for this linkage is evolving. One reason is that meat-rich diets may be more likely to become fiber-poor, and fiber intake is a strong predictor of diet-related disease. By crowding out vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and beans, high protein diets may unintentionally forfeit the fiber and anti-inflammatory benefits these foods offer.
Another theory poses that N-nitroso compounds are formed in the intestine after consuming red meat which promote cancers. These affect the gut similarly to the nitrates and nitrites added to deli meats to increase their ‘pinkness’ which are strongly linked to gastrointestinal cancer risk. The health ministry of France, recognizing these preservatives as genotoxic and carcinogenic, has begun to regulate them. In March of 2023, ANSES, France's national food safety agency, issued warnings to French citizens to curtail their beloved charcuterie intake and has asked manufacturers to remove them from foods or reduce use whenever possible.
Iron metabolism is another pathway scientists are sleuthing. Heme iron provides the majority of iron absorbed from diet. It’s primarily sourced from meat, poultry, and fish as an essential nutrient while plants provide non-heme iron. Red meat like beef and lamb have ten-fold the content of heme iron as white meat poultry. Epidemiological studies show that high heme iron diets increase the risk of gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancers. It’s theorized that high levels of heme iron in red meat can lead to iron metabolism dysregulation and promote oxidative damage.
Compounds formed during high heat cooking can act further promote colorectal cancer risk in humans. Heterocyclic amines formed through the Maillard reaction when foods are exposed to high heat as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that arise, particularly during barbecuing,when fat breaks down over open flames, have mutagenic or DNA damaging effects. The higher the temperature used, the longer and more well-done food is cooked, the more these compounds accumulate and contribute to risk. Smoking meats, poultry, or fish over wood is also linked to higher concentrations of these aromatic compounds.
Researchers understand the process of cancer formation to be multifactorial. In other words, a series of aberrant processes likely lead to precancerous and cancerous lesions in the body as opposed to a single wayward event. Diets rich in fiber and produce may help insulate against cancer through antioxidant effects reducing excess exposure to the effects of promoters like heme iron and nitroso-compounds.
With this understanding, it is generally wise to eat red meat in moderation and to avoid habitual consumption of processed meats. When preparing, avoid charring of meat and poultry. Frequently flipping meat to the other side while pan-frying or grilling can help reduce the heterocyclic amines that concentrate in food. Cut off very charred areas once removing meat from the grill. Avoid reusing frying oil as fast food restaurants do. The oil can concentrate the offending substances as well as impurities that result from high-heat exposure of the oil itself.
Genetics explain why some are more at risk eating meat-rich diets than others
A definitive link between cancer and the compounds formed during cooking has not been established in humans. There do seem to be individual to individual differences in the susceptibility to the tumor-promoting effects from these byproducts of cooking. Heterocyclic amines and aromatic compounds become potential DNA-damagers only after they are ingested. They must be bio-activated or metabolized in the body, and the activity of these enzymes differ from person to person, ultimately insulating some from the effects while disadvantaging others.
A very large analysis published in Cancer Epidemiology (March 2024) pooled dietary data from 29,842 colorectal carcinoma patients and 39,635 healthy individuals in order to assess the risk associated with eating processed and unprocessed red meat. Processing refers to cured and deli meats like salamis and sausages which have added nitrates and nitrites. They found that colorectal patients were more likely to be red meat consumers, and there was variation in risk associated with certain gene variants.
Colorectal carcinoma risk is partially heritable. That means that increased risk can be passed from fathers and mothers to children explaining about 20% of risk. In this study, researchers wondered about the interplay between diet and genetic makeup. They scanned genome-wide DNA identifying two sequence variations, SNP’s or single nucleotide polymorphisms, found on the specific genes, rs35352860 and rs4871179. A 30% increased risk of colon cancer was seen in meat eaters; however the risk was was modified based on the presence of the SNP’s and further by the number of copies. The authors theorize that the SMAD7 linked polymorphism relates to dysregulation of iron metabolism and that high consumption of red meat containing heme iron can exacerbate cancer susceptibility by resulting in iron overload.
Home Cooking: How to “Broast” a Chicken
Back to that beautiful roasted bird…this method of “broasting” combines braising and roasting to cook a dry-rubbed chicken to juicy tenderness. We tend to use fresh garlic in most recipes, but garlic powder is ideal for the herbed dry rub that flavors the roast here. Rubbing halved fresh cloves of garlic over the poultry skin is an alternative, but results in more delicate in flavor. The key in this recipe is tightly wrapping the hen to allow broasting, braising while roasting, and then browning uncovered while frequently basting with the juices liberated from the garlic and vegetables.
Roasted Chicken with Onions, Whole Garlic, and Carrots
1 4-5 pound chicken, gizzards removed
12-15 carrots, peeled, cut into 2-1/2 inch logs
2 whole unpeeled heads of garlic
2 Vidalia or yellow onions, cut in four
1 lemon, halved
2 Tablespoons garlic powder,
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F
Pat the chicken dry and remove any gizzards stuffed in the cavity.
Rinse and dry a lemon, cut in in half, and remove visible seeds. Place a lemon half in the cavity.
Peel the carrots and cut into 2-1/2-3 inch logs. Remove any outer loose, papery skin from the heads of garlic leaving the cloves in their skin and root in tact.
In a small bowl, make a spice rub with 2 Tablespoons garlic powder,
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence, and 2 teaspoons Kosher salt. Rub the poultry skin with olive oil over the breast and thighs and backbone.
Place the carrots in the base of an oven-proof roasting pan. Add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and toss to coat. Lay the hen, breast-side down, in the pan. Rub with half of the spice rub. Flip the bird over, breast-side up, and rub liberally with the remainder of the herbs, salt, and garlic powder rub.
Distribute the onion quarters and whole garlic around the base of the hen. Add enough water to cover 1 inch up the side of the roasting dish. Cover very tightly with aluminum foil, crimping the edges to seal well.
Roast on a mid-shelf in the oven at 425 F for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, depending on the size of your bird and the oven conduction. When the interior is cooked and the juices run clear when a fork is inserted near the leg joint, remove the foil. The skin will be pale. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and replace the bird in the oven.
Baste the chicken and the vegetables, spooning liquid from the base over the carrots, onions, garlic, breast, and drumsticks every 10-15 minutes until the poultry skin is deeply browned and vegetables begin to caramelize, approximately 30 minutes.
A meat thermometer inserted into the mid breast and thigh should read at least 165 degrees F.
Allow the chicken to rest 15 minutes before carving. Squeeze out the garlic puree from the cloves to eat with the chicken or with crusty bread.
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Such a good deep dive into the best practices for searing meat. And I will always opt for a good chicken dish like this one - yummy!
‘Flirtatious hedonism’ I am going to use this somewhere somehow - what a delightful little ‘noun phrase’ /imagery clever wordsmithing.
Lovely piece and delicious looking recipe.