depends on the wattage really, my shitty office toaster over takes 30 minutes to cook a fucking frozen pizza. and even then the dough is half cooked and the cheese is browning.You might be in for a big disappointment.
Benjamin Brown
>wattage It has a temperature control, I can do bread in it ok. Chicken is at 180c, right? That's the same as bread albeit for longer.
Cameron Turner
OP here. It turned out ok but the skin was a bit chewy. The meat was cooked through, just the skin was a little rubbery. I forgot to baste it so that's probably the reason.
William Harris
Did you pat it dry? Also you can get the skin crispier if you separate it from the flesh. Kinda like what they do with peking duck. I've never basted a chicken.
Zachary Bennett
>Did you pat it dry? Yes, sort of. Between a pat dry and hanging for an hour, it was quite dry. I've made peking duck several times so I know about hanging them to dry them out after washing.
I washed it then pat dried it with paper towels a few hours before roasting it. Then I rubbed it in salt and a dash of baking soda (supposedly helps crisp it). Then I hung it up for about 1.5 hours. Just before putting it in the oven, I rubbed some spices over it (paprika, sumac, pepper). It was roasted on a bed of vegetables. I turned it once.
I know the peking duck technique, there's basically two ways you separate the skin, one is to scald it in a boiling soup/glaze, the scalding helps lift it. The other is to blow air into it and inflate the duck a bit (seriously, a bicycle pump is used). I've tried the pump though generally I just scald it and that's good enough. I didn't do that for this though, or even rub it in oil for that matter, that's could also be a problem.
I'm in China so a roast chicken dinner isn't well known here (also why I'm using a toaster oven). My wife's friends were blown away, even while I was thinking that the skin was chewy and there was something wrong with it.
Brayden Johnson
Yeah rubbing the skin with oil would have probably helped.
Levi Baker
>Yeah rubbing the skin with oil would have probably helped. I was afraid that since the chicken was about an inch from the elements that it would burn too easily but in retrospect, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
David Campbell
>roast chicken dinner isn't well known here They never roast a chicken? How do they usually prepare it? Stereotypical stir fry?
Camden Morgan
I've done up to six thighs in that exact model or at least an identical one from Oster.
Things I keep in mind:
1. That thing heats up quite well but not very quickly for convection and a lot can be lost through the door, it's transparent for a reason, don't open it, use a flashlight if you have to.
2. Depending on the height of the chicken laying down, it'll be really close to the heating element. Cover that breast in foil or just the whole thing.
3. Often I find if I'm basting something inside, it's necessary to have a higher temp because of the constant loss with the door being opened.
4. Make sure it's on bake.
Dominic Young
Here have a 7 michelin starred chef teach you how to make a roasted chicken, all narrated by the soothing sounds of Tony Bourdain
>They never roast a chicken? How do they usually prepare it? Stereotypical stir fry? Restaurants roast chickens and ducks but it's not done at home.
People buy pieces of chicken and stirfry/stew/all sorts of things but a big roast chicken dinner carved at the table is unknown.
>that exact model I don't have that exact model, just something similar. It has top and bottom elements but no convection.
>it'll be really close to the heating element. Cover that breast in foil or just the whole thing. That's good advice, I'll go for foil next time, should stop it burning from the oil which I will definitely use.
I agree with the door thing and yeah, a flashlight is better than opening it.
Owen Ramirez
If you use foil you will probably need to remove it towards the end to brown the skin.
Wyatt Jenkins
This is true.
And I put it on toast for this step and raise the temp for like five minutes.
Jacob Barnes
Fine minute scorch. Yeah, a lot of people do something like that. I think I was probably supposed to do that with the vegies too.
Man, I fucked up a lot of little things in this meal just because it's been a few years since I've had an oven to roast stuff in.
Parker Long
I've never not had an oven. Is it common in China not to have one?
Bentley Sullivan
>I've never not had an oven. Is it common in China not to have one? Very.
Most kitchens in China have a small range with two burners, that's it. There's usually a microwave, rice cooker and in the north, maybe a kind of electric crepe pan.
That's usually about it. Bread makers are more common in the north than I expected, some people here have yoghurt makers too. The other thing that is pretty common is an electric hotpot, they're very popular for big family meals.
Quite a lot of people will have some form of little bbq for doing skewers or something, often on the balcony or outside their shop. These aren't the big western grill, they're just a little box that you put coals in and lay the skewers over the top of.
Lucas Ramirez
Different user, but I'm in Hong Kong so not exactly the same but nobody has an oven built into their kitchen unless they're absolutely loaded. A lot of toaster ovens and air fryers here. It sounds similar to except I've never seen a yogurt maker. And the little bbqs are generally electric.
Grayson Foster
So it's mostly a monetary thing and not space issue like in Japan? I really want to visit China one day but I don't think I could live there. Too much fucked up shit going on. How did you guys end up there?
Jeremiah Taylor
Hong Kong is a size thing like Japan, Hong Kong's per capita GDP is way higher than the mainland so it's not really a fair comparison.
I live here because I was kinda just drifting in the States and decided I needed a change. I teach in a Kindergarten and while my income isn't high in American terms (~40k a year) it's pretty good here where the cost of living is so low. Besides rent and alcohol being expensive as fuck it's such a cheap place to live. Also eating out is almost cheaper than cooking. It's piss easy getting a teaching job over here for a year, and I always recommend people try it. I thought I would move back after my first contract was up and that was 4 years ago now.
Samuel Lewis
I think a lot of it is simply tradition. Ask yourself: how many traditional Chinese or Japanese foods are oven-baked? Very very few of them. It's nearly all stir-fried, steamed, deep-fried, or grilled.
Thomas Long
>monetary thing and not space issue I'm China-user. It's habit and cuisine. Chinese cuisine isn't big on baking. Space and money are factors but it's rare to actually WANT an oven. Hong Kong is a little different because they have a tradition of western cuisine, especially the middle/upper classes. On HK TV, when some rich couple on a soap opera are out to dinner, they're eating French cuisine, or if he's cooking her a meal at home, then they're eating steak and pasta on his balcony overlooking the harbour and washing it down with French wine.
Western food is aspirational in HK and they like to get it right, generally. On the mainland, it's an occasional thing but they have their own versions of it that are about as western as LA Chinese food is Chinese.
>I'm in Hong Kong >I've never seen a yogurt maker Dairy is huge in my part of China, they're very proud of their cattle out on the grasslands.
>rent and alcohol being expensive as fuck it's such a cheap place to live That's Hong Kong in a nutshell. Everything imported is approximately normal western prices, everything to do with real-estate is expensive as fuck and the rest is generally pretty cheap. I think that alcohol is mostly only expensive out in bars, it's normal prices if you're buying from supermarkets etc. Cocktails in a bar in LKF can be steep though.
>I thought I would move back after my first contract was up and that was 4 years ago now I love Hong Kong too, I hit it up every few months and load up on groceries that I can't get on the mainland. A lot of my spices came from there, along with a few weird things like semolina or water crackers.
>I really want to visit China one day but I don't think I could live there. Too much fucked up shit going on. It's fine, fucked up shit is going on but it doesn't happen to foreigners. If you're just taking a gap year or want a change then you'll be fine. >How did you guys end up there? There was a girl...
Joseph Phillips
Alcohol is more expensive here because it's literally one of the few things they have import duties on. Even supermarket beer is like x2 what it costs in the States.
Robert Hernandez
>Not buying pearl river beer from wellcome >Not partying in club 7-11
Anthony Martin
>pearl river beer from wellcome >partying in club 7-11 I'll take the bottles of Jack and coke from the 7-11 but yeah, that's the general idea.
>Alcohol is more expensive here because it's literally one of the few things they have import duties on Lots of countries have import duties though, it works out about the same as imported booze in most western countries.
Chase Anderson
>it works out about the same as imported booze in most western countries.
But most places have a locally-made option that's much cheaper because it lacks those taxes. There isn't any cheap booze made in HK, is there?
Christopher Hill
>a locally-made option that's much cheaper because it lacks those taxes If you like specific brands of Scotch, Bourbon, Vodka...you don't buy some local variety, you want the brand you like. If you want a liqueur like Kahlua or Galliano, there probably isn't a local version and if there was, it might not taste the same.
Stuff like Triple Sec usually has loca varieties because it's just flavoured ethanol but Grand Marnier, Frangelico etc ... you're out of luck. Those kinds of alcohols aren't more expensive in HK than anywhere else that it's imported (well, unless you live somewhere without import duties I guess).
>There isn't any cheap booze made in HK, is there? Unlikely. Are there duties on mainland imports? You could always drink baijiu if you're crazy enough. Even if it had import duties, it's so cheap that a 300% markup would still mean it was about the price of bottled water.
Ryan Green
>there probably isn't a local version and if there was, it might not taste the same.
I get that. My point was basically this: if someone's goal is simply to drink alcohol (regardless of brand preferance), HK will always be expensive, whereas elsewhere in the world there will be a local alternative.
For example, I often like a beer or two with my dinner. I'm not picky about the brand--If I'm out traveling I usually buy the local stuff because it won't have an import markup. I'm guessing I'd have no choice but to buy expensive imported beer in HK? Whereas pretty much anywhere else in the world there will be a less-taxed local alternative?
In other words, most places have a variety of options. There's cheap local stuff and there's expensive imports. But in HK it seems like there is no former option and only the latter?
Cameron Taylor
>no choice but to buy expensive imported beer in HK? Well, imported beer anyway. There are reasonably priced imports though because they sometimes start out pretty cheap.
I'd think that Tsingtao/Qingdao would still be reasonably cheap. There are better Chinese beers but most people I know are ok with that. Snow Deer (Xuelu?) is popular with some of my friends, I think some like Harbin Ice beer too but that might be advertising making me remember it. Pearl River and Yanjing are both ok apparently, one of my buddies quite likes Yanjing.
Christopher Parker
Yeah exactly. The "local" beer in HK is all Chinese or European beer. The actually local beer in HK are from modern-style micro/craft breweries with the prices that those entail. My favorite macro beer in the States is Boston Lager and I'm not going to be getting that for anything less than $15 a bottle (almost 2USD).
John Bell
>The "local" beer in HK is all Chinese or European beer Doesn't sound so bad. You can still get Heinekans/Blondes etc if you want.
>The actually local beer in HK are from modern-style micro/craft breweries with the prices that those entail Well that sounds typical of HK. I hadn't considered microbreeries and craft beer but of course HK would have them. Overpriced and pretentious? Just the thing to succeed in HK.
You can drink Chinese beer fine, it won't be expensive. Protip, a lot of is European beer just made in China.
Qingdao is actually a German beer, a subsidiary of Heineken I think, that was nationalised around the revolution/WWII. Heineken never got their company back and when they later went into China gain, they had to open a new brewery competing against their own product from before. Both breweries produce basically the same beer with different owners.
Some of the other beers are produced by US/Euro companies under Chinese names too. I know that Harbin is foreign owned.
Colton Taylor
I make a spatchcock chicken in a 6 slice Breville toaster oven that freaks people out at how juicy and flavourful it is.
I substitute the cast iron pan cook for a breville baking sheet on medium low placed directly on an electric element. Then into the oven.
Also.. a Portuguese Piri Piri chicken is amazing with this recipe.
Piri piri Chicken
2 tbsp McCormicks piri piri blend 3 tbsp Olive oil 1 tsp Herbes de Provence (thyme or Italian blend may work) 2 tbsp White wine vinegar 1 tsp Salt 4 Garlic Cloves minced/finely chopped
optional:
Liquid piri piri hot sauce to taste (approx. 2tsp)
mix well
Use Jacques Pepin recipe for application instructions and cooking.
Henry Brooks
The key is a digital thermometer at the deepest part of the bird, make sure it registers 165F. Juicy but well cooked.
Matthew Rivera
No I prefer craft beer, it's just more expensive here than it would be back in the States.
Cameron White
>Jacque Pepin recipe That looks pretty good. I'm not sure I have the surface area in the toaster oven to do a spatchcock though. Maybe if I put it depth-wise, it might fit. I'll give it a try sometime.
