Salt-Baked Chicken
Recipe from Danks Street Depot, written by Jared Ingersoll, published by Murdoch Books with photography by Alan Benson
For four to six to share
| Cooking in a salt crust is fun. After you have done it a couple of times and got the hang of it, you'll find yourself salt-baking almost anything. I have found that you get the best result by making a salt dough instead of simply using a layer of salt, plus cooked salt dough looks very impressive. Salt dough also has one other advantage over a salt crust, which is that you effectively create a small portable oven around your food. This means that you can start the process at home, then the heat inside the dough will finish the cooking while you're on the way to a picnic or friend's house. Both easy and impressive. Use course flossy or kosher salt rather than table salt; table salt dissolves too quickly and make your meat taste salty. Fancy sea salts are better used elsewhere as for this process it is a waste. Baking in salt dough works best for whole cuts of meat. I wouldn't cook anything under 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) in a salt dough as you want the crust to have time to cook but you don't want to overcook the meat. Also, you'll find that if you cook a small portion of meat in a salt dough it will become so salty as to be inedible. Preheat your oven to somewhere around 190-220 degrees C (375-425 degrees F/ Gas 5-7). Make sure to cover the meat completely and check that the crust is intact - patch any little holes that may appear. When you cook, the crust should go nice and brown and bake as hard as clay. Do not eat the salt crust - you may have to try it at least once because it does look lovely but you will want a spittoon on hand and plenty of drinking water. When you are ready you will need to open your crust. Do this by using the heel of a large heavy chopping knife and hack into the dough near the base, working all the way around; you will then be creating a 'dish with a lid'. Take this to the table and remove the lid. | |
For the salt dough | |
| 1 kg (2 ib 4oz) plain (all-purpose) flour | |
1 kg (2 ib 4 oz) flossy salt | |
| about 550 ml (19 fl oz) water (enough to make the dough malleable) | |
| In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the middle and add most of the water. Don't add all the water - it is easier to add more water to a dry dough than to add more flour to a wet dough. What you are looking for is a firm yet malleable dough. Start to form a dough by kneading with your hands - this will take a bit of work. Once your dough is made, place it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; it will need to rest for an hour. If you refrigerate your dough, remove it from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature as this will be easier to roll. Roll out your dough on a well-floured bench until about 5mm (1/4 inch) thick; you may want to do this in two pieces for ease. Place the dough on a baking tray. | |
| For the Salt-Baked Chicken |
1.8-2kg (4-4 ib 8oz) whole organic chicken |
| 1 quantity of the salt dough |
| Twist the wings of the chicken and to sit under the bird and gently pull the legs away from the body slightly; now pat dry the inside and out. If you want to stuff the cavity, use the squeezed blood orange and lemon peels from the dressing (see below) and a small head of fennel with the fronds attached (it's fine if the fronds stick out a bit). Put the chicken, breast side down, onto the middle of your dough and wrap it completely, make sure that it is totally covered. Roll the chicken over so it sits breast side up. Cook at 190-200 degrees C (375-400 degrees F/ Gas 5-6) for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Rest for 30-40 minutes before eating. Serve with the dressing below. |
| For the dressing |
2 tablespoons fennel seeds, toasted |
| Grind the fennel seeds with a mortar and pestle, then add the garlic, sugar and salt and crush into a paste. Add the juice from the orange and lemons and the oil. Taste for seasoning - you want a good balance of salty/sweet/sour. |
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