Halloween has always been one of my favorite days here in town. I live on North Columbia Street, so I get a preview of the parade going on down on Franklin Street as the revelers walk past my house to get there. I don’t blame the city mothers and fathers a bit for trying to tone it down in recent years, but I do miss the days back in the seventies when every crazy person in North Carolina showed up and the crowds approached eighty thousand.
Hopefully both Halloween and our restaurants will continue our return to normal. Over the last month, places have continued to fine-tune their ways of dealing with the times we are living in. Places are crowded again, especially when there bare outdoor seating options. Virtually every place requires a mask until you are seated and eating. Many places are asking for vax cards for indoor seating.
I try to visit a few new places each month. At Thai Station in Carrboro, I had Thai Street Basil Sauce with Jasmine Rice. There is a pretty little porch tucked in the back, but they are seating inside again as well. Franklin Motors has opened in the old used car lot diagonal from Al’s Burgers in Chapel Hill. The have invited Texas Chef John Smith to open a permanent food truck there. They have rooftop seating that is a perfect perch at twilight. Their hand pie crust is flawless.
Lantern has reopened their indoor dining room but will keep their sidewalk tables as well when the weather permits. In fact, it looks like a lot of places are putting up permanent awnings and little fences along the sidewalks. Both the dining and street scenes around here may have been altered considerably by all of this.
My dissatisfaction with my own home cooking continues. How many meals of shishito peppers scorched in the toaster oven can one eat? One thing that I haven’t yet tired of is Green Tabasco Chicken. It was always a favorite with our guests at Crook’s Corner.
Green Tabasco Chicken
Serves three or four
Preheat oven to 450°F
- 1 small whole chicken (around 3 pounds). Save all the giblets
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 lemon
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3 tablespoons Green Tabasco, plus a little more
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 Tablespoon of whole butter
- Chicken stock strained from the boiled giblets
Place all of the giblets, except the liver, in a saucepan and cover with cool water. Bring to a boil, then turn back to a simmer. Allow to cook while you proceed. This broth will be part of your sauce. Add a little water from time to time if you fear it may be boiling away.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Snip off the Pope’s nose and the last joint of both wings. Add these to the simmering giblets. Use half of the salt and pepper to season the cavity of the chicken. Place the lemon, the garlic and the jalapeno in the cavity as well. (If it’s the season for them, a few sprigs of fresh herbs may be added too.) Truss the chicken with kitchen twine and place on a rack on a roasting pan. Cover the top of the chicken with Green Tabasco, then broadcast the rest of the salt and pepper over it. Place the chicken in the hot oven and cook for twenty minutes. You will probably hear sizzling. Baste the chicken with the melted butter and turn the heat down to 350. Cook for about a half an hour more or until done. The skin should be brown and the legs should wiggle easily. I prefer chicken to be well done, especially if there is the possibility of finding some cold, left over in the fridge the next day.
When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest for ten minutes or so. You can then cut into serving pieces. Keep it warm in the oven. Take the roasting pan and try to pour away as much grease as possible while still reserving any juice that is also there. Put the pan on top of the stove over high heat. Pour on the wine. It may spit and flare, so use caution. While it boils, use a whisk or spatula to dislodge all of the baked on brown bits and to dissolve them into the sauce. Add the stock in bit by bit, allowing it to boil too. Stir constantly until the sauce has thickened to your liking. You may not need all of the stock. Finish it by whisking in the butter until it is completely absorbed. Arrange the chicken on a serving platter and pour some of the sauce over it and put the rest in a gravy boat. We serve this with mashed potatoes and a mixture of julienned leeks and cabbage that have been quick sautéed in butter. As for the liver, I fry it up and smash it onto a piece of toast to eat while I’m cooking the chicken.
“Just The Bill, Please” is a regular column on Chapelboro.com penned by local culinary legend Bill Smith. Born and raised in New Bern, Bill Smith spent 25 years heading up the kitchen in Crook’s Corner — and over the years, he accumulated the accolades to match his incomparable takes on classic Southern food.
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