Julia Child, take 8 - Poulet Rôti

Yea! French-style roast chicken! This recipe is much like the Cook's Illustrated recipe, there's a lot of bird flipping involved. Seriously, it's like bird aerobics over here. Flip on the right side, flip to the left. Now breasts in the air! (Visions of an awkwardly tall woman with Farrah Fawcett hair and abnormally long arms wearing shiny purple tights and a leotard come to mind. If you're one of a small few who attended this one aerobics class with me during high school, you know who I'm talking about. That lady was CRAZY!) Anyway, along with the flipping is the basting. The house smells wonderful. We are, of course, serving this with mashed potatoes and green beans. Mmmmm...

Turns out I undercooked the bird because I went with Child's suggested cook time, and took it out of the oven even though I thought it hadn't browned enough. Darr rescued dinner by cutting up the bird and putting it back in the oven for some much-needed heat. The gravy was flourless/cornstarch-less so it was more like tasty pan drippings but that element of the meal turned out perfect. What great flavor!

The French are cool, though, because the stuff you make sounds so awesome. For example,

Hypothetical Person I'm Having A Conversation With: So, what're you making for dinner tonight?

Me: Poulet rôti avec purée de pommes de terre et haricots verts à l'Anglaise.

HPIHACW: Wow. That sounds wonderful. What is it?

Me: Roast chicken with mashed potatoes and buttered green beans.

<Pause>

HPIHACW, slightly disappointed: Oh.