1 5-lb chicken
6 cloves garlic
2 small shallots
1⁄3 cup finely grated pecorino romano
5 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 c white vinegar
water for stock
1. Skin and split chicken into 2 halves.
2. Remove wings, breastbone/ribs and back plus hearts and neck to a soup pot. Cover with water and set to a boil. Skim off scum and continue to boil.
3. Place 2 T olive oil with skin into a well salted, cold 12" cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Render skin until liquid volume has doubled. Then remove the skin to the soup pot, and set the two halves of the chicken into the skillet. Turn chicken pieces over with tongs and brown both sides - about 8 minutes for each side.
4. Mince together garlic and shallot, add some of the remaining oil, and liquify to a paste by leaning on the back of the chef's knife. Add pecorino romano, the remaining olive oil, and the oregano and thyme. Mix thoroughly into a paste and leave the paste on the cutting board.
5. Heat oven to 375˚.
6. When the chicken is golden brown, turn off the heat on the skillet and remove the chicken to the cutting board. Drain with paper towels, and coat evenly with the paste. Drain the skillet and arrange the chicken halves in it. Remove the skillet and place it into the oven. Bake for about a half an hour.
7. Remove skillet from oven. Remove chicken to serving dish. Pour out fat from skillet and reserve for later use.
8. Place skillet on high heat and add both balsamic and white vinegar. Add 1/3 C fresh stock from the stock pot. As the liquid begins to reduce, constantly correct seasoning using more or less equal amounts of balsamic vinegar, white vinegar and stock.
9. When stock has been reduced to half, add the chicken back in, turning over and over to coat while the reduction finishes. When sauce reaches a slow drip off the spoon, remove the chicken to serving platters, and spoon remaining sauce over chicken.
10. Serve.
SERVES 2
My Notes:
This is as close as I can get to the Belmont Tavern in NJ, blocks from a place I once lived. After not having eaten there in over 30 years, I can still tell you that even the best internet recipes have it wrong - the best one I found is now posted on this site under retired recipes ("if I told you I would have to kill you before you waked out the door..."). That is a base, and adds some color to the recipe and the stories, as well as my ideas on how to correct it. I have implemented my corrections here:
1. This is savory chicken in a vinegar sauce. Get good vinegar, and treat it accordingly with stock and flavors.
2. This course, I am convinced, is meant to be Secondi. In Italy, that is meant to mean a meat course served after antipasto and pasta, but before vegetables and dessert, so it needs no accompaniment. Serve this as the centerpiece of a larger meal.
3. The cast iron skillet is not just for baking in the oven, it is essential to properly reducing the sauce when it comes out.
Author's Note: This may be best done as a restaurant dish; prep is all done ahead, including butchering, rendering, paste (food processor), and sauce stock. This means that a stripped chicken side can be browned in one pan, baked separately, and made ready for saucing, all ahead of time. Sauce stock (about one half of the liquid made from thirds) can be added to a pan and reduced on high heat with one-half a chicken per serving each time it is ordered.
This is really good. If you want to know how good, go to the Belmont Tavern:
Belmont Tavern
(973) 759-9609
12 Bloomfield Ave, Belleville, NJ 07109
I know I will.