Cooking with beer.

Thought that beer would get some attention.  Yes today I have gotten my 2 Cornish hens ready for tomorrow and I have them in a brine.  My brine consists of 2 IPA beers (Single Wide IPA), they are from the Boulevard Brewing Company out of Kansas City Missouri.  They make Boulevard Wheat, one of my favorites if you are from the Midwest and want to try something good.  I also have about a half cup of brown sugar and about a an eight of a cup of salt in there as well.  You will want to stir it all up to try to dissolve the salt and brown sugar.  Lastly, there are about 6 garlic cloves, halved, floating around.  I will let these swim over night.

Now to really help the flavor get into the birds I used my fingers to gently pull away as much skin from the meat as possible with out tearing the skin.  I also placed the birds in breast side down.  That meat is the thickest so we want that part submerged.  Tomorrow when I take them out I will "tress" them or tie them up.  I have never tressed a bird before but it was demonstrated yesterday in class and since I so happen to have a couple ready for the roasting I will try it out.  For an average sized chicken you will need about 3 feet of twine to work with.  I went hunting for it today at my local grocery but couldn't find any to buy so I went back to the butcher, batted my eyes and flashed a big smile, then asked if they could help me find some.  They were kind enough give me some.  Lesson for the day, smiles and kindness .

I will take pictures of my tressing so you can get an idea of what to do.  Before I tie it up I will be filling the cavity with salt, pepper, savory.  The bottom of the roaster will have my mirepoix.  Now the mirepoix is something most of us have used for years but didn't know it had a name, it is the French term used for a mixture of celery, onions and carrots, the base to many soups and roast dishes.  They are used as an aromatic for foods.  The drippings from this will be wonderful for making a gravy.  The mixture amount should be half onion, a quarter celery and a quarter carrots.  Adding salt to these vegetables will also help draw out their flavor.  Try it next time on a soup and cook them on low to sweat them instead of saute and see how it tastes to you!