Teranga, new Senegalese cuisine in Boston

On my birthday on May 30th we had an African pot-luck feast at our house, but a week later (just before I left for Jamaica) when I was in Cambridge, my great family surprised me by showering me with gifts, time and attention. One highlight was a trip to the newly opened Teranga, the first (or, as one reviewer said, the "first serious") Senegalese restaurant in Boston (1746 Washington St., at the corner of Mass Ave. and Washington St.) For details about the menu, more pictures, and warm endorsements of the restaurant, check out the July 29, 2009 reviews in The Boston Phoenix or The Boston Globe. Let me simply say we had a delightful evening, fun and tasty, and I learned about the Vietnamese links to Senegalese cuisine (e.g., spring rolls called nems).

I wish the vivacious, talented owner Marie-Claude Mendy all the best. One thing I appreciated about the restaurant was its contemporary feel and the tasteful emphasis on presentation and overall ambiance, all too often lacking in "chop bar" type restaurants. We were there just after it opened in May, and they were still gearing up (not all their equipment and serving dishes had arrived on time), but the atmosphere was cozy and friendly, and as the evening wore on the noise level rose accordingly. This was clearly the place to be the night we were there.

I have since learned that, just as a lot of Ethiopian restaurants have names like "Awash" or "Red Sea" or "Blue Nile," teranga, the Wolof word for hospitality, is a favorite for Senegalese restaurants. The reason is clear: Marie-Claude is not just serving up good food--she's also providing an inviting window into a culture that is little known in the U.S. Stop by if you have an urge for a flavorable glass of bissap (hibiscus drink) or bouyé juice (a creamy white baobab drink), or some other Senegalese standards, like mafe, thiebou djeun, or accra.

Recipes for Doro Wat, Gomen Wat, and Kik

Here are those recipes (courtesy of Laura Litwiller) for some of the dishes in our injera (Ethiopian flabread) videos (See last few blog postings).

Chicken (Doro) Wat

Remove skin from about 2 pounds of chicken pieces (We used Cornish game hens. Traditionally a whole chicken would be cut into 8 pieces).

Sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons (T) of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon (t) of salt. Let stand while preparing other ingredients.

Heat 4 T vegetable oil.

Add, cover and cook on low heat until onions are just browned: 2 cups (c) finely chopped onions, 1 T minced garlic, 1 t ginger root grated (or 1/2 t ground dried ginger).

Add: 1/4 t fenugreek, crushed, 1/2 t ground cardamom (Ethiopian, if available), 1/8 t ground nutmeg.

Stir well and add: 2 T berbere (for a mild wat) and 4 T paprika (for a hotter stew, use 4 T berbere and 2 T paprika),
2 T tomato paste, and 1 c water (or more, as needed).


Bring all ingredients to a boil and cook slowly, stirring often, for about 45 minutes. The sauce should be the consistency of heavy cream. Add a small amount of water if necessary.

Add the chicken pieces to the sauce, turning the pieces to coat. Add 2 T butter (Ethiopian spiced clarified butter, niter kibbeh, if available). Lower the heat and cook chicken for about an hour, turning the chicken often to prevent sticking and so it cooks evenly.

Prepare 1 hard-boiled egg for each person. Peel the eggs, and cut about 5 shallow slits in them to allow the wat to permeate the eggs. Add to the sauce the last 10 minutes of cooking time, gently stirring them into the stew to coat them.

Serve with injera.

Ethiopian Greens (Gomen Wat)

1 pound of green kale, chopped fine
1 medium onion finely minced
1/2 - 1 t chopped garlic
1/2 t ground ginger
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t salt (or to taste)
1/2 t black pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (or to taste)
1/4 c vegetable oil

Saute onion in oil till clear, add garlic and spices and cook 3 minutes, add chopped kale and 1/2 c water. Cover and cook kale until tender (about 30 minutes). Add jalapenos and cook 5 minutes on low heat. Add more salt to taste (serves 6).

Serve with injera.

(Note: We made this with kale on the video, but I made it this week with some Swiss chard and it was also delicious).

Kik Pea Alecha (chick peas/garbanzo beans stew)

1 1/2 c minced onions
1/4 c vegetale oil
2 c cooked chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t fresh chopped garlic (or 1/2 t garlic powder)
1/2 t chopped ginger (or 1/4 t ginger powder)

Cook onions in oil until onions are clear. Add chick peas, turmeric, and 1 1/2 - 2 c water.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Add garlic and ginger. Cook until soft. Mash (or use blender or food processor to process until smooth).

Serve hot with injera.

My first attempt after the video to make the injera on my own was a disaster. I bought an inexpensive electric skillet, but it was not heavy enough to provide an even heat, and also it had an inaccurate thermostat, so part of the injera was burned, and part was not cooked. Plus I made the batter too thick. I tried again on the weekend. The first time I used my favorite cast iron pan, which made a lovely injera, but it stuck to the pan when I tried to take it out. Secondly I tried using a small nonstick pan on the stovetop, and added a little extra water to the batter when I added the self-rising flour, and everything was perfect. The only problem was it took me forever to finish making the injera because my pan was so small. I guess I'll either buy an electric mitad (the official injera-making pan) or a larger nonstick skillet. By the way, I made sure the skillet was completely grease-free when I used it. I scrubbed it with salt before cooking the injera, and each time after making an injera, I wiped the pan with a paper towel to clean it.

Good luck. If you try this, let me know how it works for you. By the way, that's my daughter Masi (home from New York for the weekend) and Sam, my nephew/son and a junior at Penn State at the table with me.

Step-by-step Injera, Part 4 (plus doro and gomen wats)

Along with our injera, we prepared 2 stews to accompany it--a mild version of the classic doro wat (a famous Ethiopian spicy chicken stew with hardboiled eggs, berbere and an Ethiopian clarified spiced butter called niter kibbeh). We also made gomen wat, a vegetarian stew from kale. Below are some video clips taken during the process of cooking, cooling, and rolling the injera and preparing the stews. (Before we made our injera and stews I also whipped up some lamb sambossas, a tomato, onion, and green pepper salad, and a garbanzo bean [chickpea] dish called kik, plus bought some mead [honey wine] to round out the meal. We invited some friends over and feasted.)


Now, here in central Pennsylvania, I no longer have to wait for a trip to Washington DC or New York or Boston to get my injera fix!

Here's Laura Litwiller's Doro Wat recipe

1. Remove skin from about 2 pounds of chicken pieces (we used Cornish game hens) [each chicken is generally cut into 8 pieces]
2. Sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt
3. Let stand while preparing these ingredients:

4. Heat 4 Tablespoons vegetable oil in a heavy pot
5. Finely chop 2 cups of onions, mince 1 Tablespoon of fresh, peeled garlic, peel and grate 1 teaspoon ginger root (or use 1/2 teaspoon dried ground ginger)
6. Mix all ingredients together with the heated oil and stir well. Cover and cook on low heat until the onions are just brown.

7. When the onions are slightly browned, add
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek, crushed
1/2 teaspoon Ethiopian cardamom (if available, otherwise substitute regular cardamom)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

8. Stir well and add:
2 Tablespoons berbere (for a mild stew) and 4 Tablespoons paprika [for a hotter stew, add 4 Tablespoons berbere and 2 Tablespoons paprika] NOTE: If authentic berbere is not available, make your own "make-do" using: 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, @ Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons paprika, 1/4 ateaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon [again, for a hotter berbere, substitute more cayenne pepper for the paprika], 2 Tablespoons tomato paste, and 1 cup water (or more as needed).

9. Bring to a boil and cook slowly, stirring often, for 45 minutes. The sauce should be the consistency of heavy cream. Add a small amount of water if necessary.

10. Add the chicken pieces (or Cornish game hen pieces) to the sauce, turning pieces to coat. Add 2 Tablespoons of butter (preferably, authentic Ethiopian niter kibbeh or ghee, if you have it; a "make-do" niter kibbeh can be found at the link above). Lower the heat and cook the chicken for about an hour, turning the pieces often to prevent sticking and to so it cooks evenly.

11. Prepare 1 hard-boiled egg for each person. Peel the eggs and cut shallow slits (5-6 for each egg). Add the eggs to the sauce, stir, and simmer them in the sauce for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

Serve with plenty of injera.
Since we didn't have a proper round Ethiopian table (as we did at my son DK Osseo-Asare and his good friend Lionel Lynch's recent graduation celebration in Cambridge, Massachusetts at Addis Red Sea), and had to cook our injera in a square pan, we did not serve it the traditional way (on top of the injera, with more on the side), but simply let people do as they liked: either unroll it and spoon the stews on top, or eat it straight from their plates. Either way, clean hands were the only utensils we needed.

Step-by-step (American-style) Ethiopian Injera, Part 3

Here's the next installment of our injera series. 2 days after making the injera batter (leet), it has fermented enough to continue with the second part of the process. After adding self-rising flour and water to the batter, we allow it to sit for a couple of hours (during which time we were preparing some stews to serve with the injera later in the evening when our guests arrived).





The basic recipe we used for the batter (compliments of Laura Litwiller):

Day #1: Mix by hand with wire whisk:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup teff flour

In a separate bowl also mix by hand with a wire whisk:

1 cup injera batter (leet) starter from a previous recipe (or make your own--see June 25 posting)
3 cups tepid water

Leave the injera covered in a warm place without stirring for about 2 days.

Day #3 (or until batter bubbles up, then separates into clear liquid on top and thick batter below). Drain off liquid and discard. Mix 2 cups self-rising flour and 2 cups of water until smooth. Add to batter mixture and blend until smooth. Let rise 2 hours.

(Save 1 cup of batter in glass jar with a lid. Store in the refrigerator until you make injera again).

Bake injera on a preheated Teflon-coated electric skillet at about 375 degrees. The skillet should have NO oils on its surface. One recipe yields about 11-13 injeras. It takes about 1/2 hour to bake about a dozen 9" by 9" injeras.

Variations: More teff flour can be used in place of white flour. Barley flour can be used in place of some white flour.

Serve injera with Ethiopian watt.

Check back soon for Part 4, which will show the last part of our preparations, including the 2 stews (watts) we made, and the final product.

Step-by-step American-style Injera, Parts 1 and 2

Here are parts 1 and 2 of the video I promised of our injera cooking lesson. As I mention in the introduction, we used 4 cups of all-purpose wheat flour with 1 cup of teff flour (I can buy teff in the organic/health section of our local supermarkets, or you could likely find it in a health foods market or African market catering to East Africans). Laura Litwiller suggests, however, using 2 cups of teff and 3 cups of all-purpose flour.

Day 1 (Wed): Assuming you have some starter already, you prepare the injera batter. (Note: Laura provided us with some of her starter, but she explains you can make your own using approximately a tablespoon of yeast, a half cup of teff and a half cup of white all-purpose flour, and warm water. Mix it together and let it ferment for a day or two before using it the first time). Starter is just a cup or so of batter you save each time you make the injera and set aside in a covered jar in the refrigerator. We let our starter come to room temperature before using it.





1. Begin by mixing the all purpose wheat flour (about 3 cups) and the teff flour (about 2 cups) with a wire wisk. The flour should be at room temperature, and we did not sift before adding it to a non-corosive lidded container (we used an enameled pot). Laura repeatedly reminded us "it's not an exact science."

2. Drain and discard the water off the top of the stored batter (leet). Using a spoon or spatula, scrape the thick batter remaining into a large bowl (this will be much less than the cup or so you started with). Heat 5 cups of water slightly (barely tepid) and pour a little of the water into the jar that contained the starter, shaking it to remove all of the starter batter. Add that to the bowl with the along with the rest of the water, and blend with the wisk.






3. Add about a quarter or a third of the water to the pot containing the flours, stir with the wisk, and repeat until all the water is used, stirring well after each addition, and making sure to blend all the flour in the bottom corners of the pot.

4. Cover the pot, and set it in a warm place free of drafts for two days to ferment. We had cool weather in our kitchen last week, so I kept my pot on the stovetop with the overhead stove light on, and by the end of the first day the fermentation process had still hardly begun. I cooked pizza that night and the heat from my oven must have warmed the stovetop slightly because after that the dough began fermenting in ernest. However, according to Laura, the normal procedure is for the dough to rise up and then separate into water on top and thick batter below. That didn't really happen very much, and we had very little water to remove when we were ready to make the injera. Laura said that was fine, too. Resist lifting the lid too often to see how the process is progressing, and certainly never stir it.

On Day 3 (Friday), 2 days later, we made the injera, along with 2 Ethiopian stews. I'll post those videos and recipes next.

Incidentally, I haven't forgotten that I still have 3 questions on African cooking to answer: the next one is the one about why African restaurants do not seem to be as popular or prevalent as other restaurants, from Asian to Chinese or Italian. I'll get back to those (and to the recipes from the regional Ghanaian cookbook) as soon as I catch up a little.

Step-by-step Ethiopian Injera

My family and I are great fans of Ethiopian/Eritrean cooking. After my son graduated from Harvard's GSD a few weeks ago, he and his co-graduate friend selected an Ethiopian restaurant in Cambridge for the celebration meal for both our extended families. That's the one time I forgot my camera! Anyhow, this week I'm cooking Ethiopian.

On Wed., Sore Shields and I had a preliminary cooking class with Laura Litwiller, a skilled local maker of injera, the spongy sour dough crepe/pancake that's emblamatic of Ethiopian cooking. She lent us some of her starter (years in the making), and helped us prepare a batter using teff and wheat flour. For the last 2 days it's been fermenting. I videotaped much of the process, and will soon post the video here.

Today (Friday) she's returning in the afternoon, and we'll be making the actual injera, along with a few side dishes, doro watt (a spicy chicken stew), siga tibbs (a beef stew) and gomen watt (an Ethiopian version of cooked kale). I think she's also bringing some shiro (a spicy legume powder), as I asked to see it. Since I've invited several friends for dinner (always the optimist), I'm going to whip up some kik pea alecha watt (a mild stew with chick peas, aka garbanzo beans), and an Ethiopian tomato salad, along with a vegetarian sambossa as an appetizer. If our local liquor store carries it, I'll probably pick up some Ethiopian tej (honey wine). All of that means I won't have any more time today to follow up on blog postings about our trip to Jamaica, a new Senegalise restaurant in Cambridge, answering my next question on African cuisines (about restaurants in the U.S.), and also posting another recipe from the Ghanaian regional cookbook. Trust me, I haven't forgotten. There just don't seem to be enough hours in a day!

Historic African Cuisine Panel at the ASFS/AFHVS Conference

I'm back from 2 weeks of graduations, being with family and friends, tasting Jamaica, and generally being treated like a queen. There is much to catch up on, beginning with a few words about the panel on "Interdisciplinary Perspectives on African Cuisines" held on May 30th at Penn State and the small dinner party afterwards. The panel went well (despite being scheduled for 8 a.m.
Saturday morning): we started off with Cindy Bertelsen's overview of African flavor principles (see her Gherkins and Tomatoes website for more information: principles-out-of-africa/ (the basics); principles-out-of-africa-a-fish-tale/; principles-out-of-africa-its-the-beans/ (fermentation and oilseeds); http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/06/06/10572/ (pumpkins). Igor

Cusack followed up with a discussion of cookbooks and national identity in Africa. Through what seemed incredible indifference and inefficiency on the part of the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde, Forka Leypey Mathew Fomine was unable to receive a visa in time to attend the conference, so I (Fran Osseo-Asare)
summarized his original research on the evolving role of the African giant land snail in the diet in parts of Cameroon. Please contact me if you wish to obtain an electronic copy of his fascinating paper. I then made some observations of my own about the cassava "saga" in Africa, and the transformation of cassava from an orphan crop to a nurturing "mother," and an important emerging cash crop in West Africa. Culinary historian Michael Twitty rounded out the session with a look at ethnic culinary variation in West African links and contributions to American Southern cooking. There was some lively discussion, and the general consensus was that there is a huge need for more of these kinds of opportunities to focus on African cuisines. I would
personally love to see sessions on African cuisine in literature and art, or on African cuisines and culinary tourism. Our biggest frustration that Saturday morning was "so much to say, so little time!"

For more pictures, go to BETUMI on flickr (ASFS/AFHVS May 30, 2009).

Conference and Jamaica

It's been a challenge keeping last month's promise to post 2-3 recipes a week. I've managed so far, but now through June 15 are busy with conferences and travel, and I make no promises until I return in the middle of June. The exciting thing is that, barring the unforeseen, I plan to be in Jamaica the second week of June. This is somewhere I've never been before! I'll get to taste some Caribbean things I've only read about or eaten in U.S. restaurants. Since the last few weeks I've been immersing myself in cassava (e.g., manioc, tapioca, mandioca) history, I'm especially excited to taste bammy and cassareep. Also, I've always wanted to see how the dish callaloo compares to Ghana's nkontomire stew. The bottom line is, postings will be irregular at best, and likely will not include recipes. Consider me on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I will post as I am able.

Recipe #6: "Tom Brown" porridge

My recent "Ashanti fowl" recipe took me 3 days to post, so here's a quick and easy breakfast food for recipe #6.

A friend who just returned from Ghana stopped by recently with 2 bags of toasted cornflour. I've been wanting to make the porridge called "Tom Brown" the past few days, and was happy to have it.

She said she knows I like "aprapransa" (a palm soup/stew dish with the toasted corn flour I'll share another day). I corrected her that it was my husband who really loves it, but every time I make it he complains that it isn't as good as his grandmother's was. She assured me that no matter what I will do, it will NEVER be as good as he remembers hers, so I should "just let go of that burden." Thank you, Connie.

The "Tom Brown" porridge recipe is quite simple. The hardest part is getting the right corn flour. In Ghana they lightly toast the corn before grinding it. For years I tried unsuccessfully to duplicate the process. The corn in Ghana is not sweet corn, it is hard like Indian corn. One recipe said to use ground popcorn, toasted lightly in a dry frying pan. It's much simpler to check with an African market that specializes in West African ingredients and get it from them. This is a favorite student breakfast food I remember fondly from my days teaching at a boarding school in Nungua, along the coast of Ghana.

To make enough for 2 people, one simply brings 1/2 cup of water to a boil in a pan. While it is heating, add 1/2 cup of the flour to 1/2 cup of water in a bowl, and a little salt to taste and mix thoroughly (I use a whisk). When the water in the pan comes to a boil, reduce the heat and slowly stir in the flour/water mixture. It will cook in just a couple of minutes. I ate mine with some honey, evaporated milk (the way I learned to eat it in Ghana), and chopped peanuts on top. If you like a thinner porridge, just add more water.

Stuffing and roasting Ashanti fowl, Part 3

Once the chicken is deboned (see yesterday's post), it is time to stuff it. When we did it in Ghana we first seasoned the chicken with (sigh) a crushed chicken Maggi cube, plus some salt (about 1/2 teaspoon) and about 1 teaspoon dried ground red pepper, then closed up the chicken and let it marinate a few minutes while we prepared the stuffing . I skipped the Maggi cube, and wished I'd had some fresh ginger and pepper, but used salt and dried red pepper.

In Ghana we also prepared fresh spices to coat the outside of the chicken, as is often done in Ghana when roasting meat (some fresh ground ginger [1-1/4 teaspoon], about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, about 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper, and a medium onion, grated). If you wish to use these, prepare them and set them aside until you have finished stuffing and sewing up the chicken. Other recipes simply call for coating the outside with oil and salt. That's what I did this time, basting it with its juices as it cooked.

For the stuffing, in Ghana we simply peeled, boiled and mashed about 1 pound of African yam (and thought we should have used more, like 1 1/2 pounds) or one could substitute an equivalent amount of potatoes with 2 ounces of flour). The cook in Ghana added salt and a sliced onion (about 1/2 cup). I found this stuffing too bland, and followed the earlier precedents of making a sauce of chopped onion, crushed garlic, blended tomatoes, salt and red pepper, a few tablespoons of natural-style peanut butter (I had crunchy on hand) and mixed that in with the yam. When I went to peel it I found much of my yam had spoiled, so I had to supplement the yam with boiled potatoes, and still didn't have as much as I would have liked for the stuffing. After boiling the yam and potatoes, I mashed them (and threw in a little butter) and set them aside while I prepared a sauce.

Some recipes for Ashanti chicken call for frying or cooking an additional pound of chicken meat separately, but I do not think that is necessary, either (and we did not do that in Ghana when I made it there.) Actually, while I was deboning the chicken, I threw the bones with the bits of meat clinging to them, and the neck and giblets, into a pot with some onion, garlic, tomato and salt to make stock, and just removed the bits of cooked chicken from the stock bones to add into the stuffing mixture. I followed earlier recipes by throwing in a few tablespoons of natural style (crunchy) peanut butter as well. I didn't have exactly what I wanted, but used what I had handy. I think North Americans would like to add other ingredients, like maybe chopped mushrooms or parsley. My creative husband suggested experimenting with chopped okra and/or dicing but not mashing the yams.

At any rate, when I had my sauce ready I mixed everything together, then stuffed the chicken and sewed it up with some kitchen twine.
One needs to place some foil over the pseudo wings and drumsticks to keep them from browning too quickly, and I also found I needed a little foil on the top of the chicken, which I roasted uncovered in a regular roasting pan at 375 degrees Farenheit for about an hour and a quater to an hour and a half (when my thermometer pushed into the thickest part of the chicken reached 185 degrees Farenheit).

As I mentioned, I basted the chicken in the oven from time to time to keep it from drying out, and basted it with a little oil and salt. And there you have it. Serve it with some Ghanaian gravy, and a side vegetable.

Recipe #5: Step-by-step Ashanti fowl, Part 2

I did an online search to see just what people had to say about "Ashanti fowl," a boneless stuffed roasted chicken. The Congo Cookbook probably had the most comprehensive information, especially about its similarity to Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme's "turducken." The Congo Cookbook listed (and other people followed its lead in stating there were) only 2 written recipes: Alice Dede's and Barbara Baeta's. Not quite correct: Alice Dede's 1969 version is an adapted version from the earlier Gold Coast Nutrition and Cookery (GCNC) published in 1953. That recipe for "Ashanti Fowl" (p. 146) is identical to Dede's, except that Dede substituted 2 slices of yam for 2 slices of bread. The original recipe using bread seems to indicate some European influence (perhaps a Ghanaian chef experimenting for expatriates?) Please note that Dede is referring to African yam, NOT sweet potatoes or American yams. In Barbara Baeta's 1972 version (see photo on left, from her printed recipe cards), she calls for cooked mashed yams or potatoes. REPEAT: sweet potatoes are nowhere mentioned--this substitution in online recipes is likely due to the confusion over American "yams," which are not at all the same as African yams (I know, I know, I keep saying this over and over). A starchy potato, like a russet, would be a far better choice if African yams are not available. But if you can get them, puna yams from Ghana are best! Or, go back to bread stuffing. By the way, "a slice" of bread or yam is quite imprecise, as you'll see when we get to the stuffing mix part in another blog posting.

Interestingly, in GCNC the recipe immediately preceding the one for the roast fowl includes the "African method" of roasting fowl, which means stuffing it with ground red pepper (as in freshly ground chili peppers), onions, salt and tomatoes. This is consistent with Ghanaian spicy flavor principles. The GCNC book also includes a recipe for making gravy to serve with the roast fowl. This is a Ghanaian-type gravy made from heating a little oil, then browning a tablespoon of flour in it, adding chopped onions, chopped tomato, ground (fresh red) pepper and salt, then adding water, letting it boil for 5 minutes and stirring it well.

I think making gravy to accompany Ashanti fowl is a good idea.

Okay, fast forward to the 21st century. When I was spending time with Barbara Baeta in Ghana at Flair Catering a few years ago, I asked if we could make Ashanti Fowl since I'd always wondered how to do it. She arranged to have one of her young assistants, "Henry (Henrie?)," show me his version, which varied somewhat from Barbara's original recipe.

However, making Ashanti chicken is not for the faint-hearted nor the person in a rush. It's pretty complex, so I'll break it down into parts.

Today I'll talk about the first part, which for me was the biggest challenge, de-boning the chicken. Most recipes simply say "de-bone" or vaguely "remove the bones from the chicken" (I'm sure you could use another "fowl, " like guinea fowl, but in this case they always seem to mean chicken). I'm not trained as a professional chef, and maybe you learn de-boning chickens in chef's school, but for the rest of us, here's how I did it. Sharpen your knives before you begin!

Fortunately, I didn't have to kill and pluck the chicken and remove its insides. Here are the photos I took, messily, as I worked in the kitchen:

1. Wash and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. I used a roaster chicken, heavier than the 3 or so pound chicken usually recommended. A roasting chicken is "harder" than a fryer and thus easier to debone.

2. I should have started by cutting of the wings at the joint (that caused a problem at the end), but instead I began at the top (back) by the neck end and carefully cut alongside the breastbone, cutting down to around where the thigh is and turning it around and cutting back the other way. Notice, I didn't cut all the way to the end.
3. My notes said "cut the drumstick free and loosen both sides." I gather that meant cut it free at the joint, loosen the skin from the chicken, then flip the drumstick (without its skin) outside so that, holding the fat end of the drumstick, you can scrape to the bone to
release the meat.


4. Using a cleaver (or other heavy knife), break the bone so that about a half inch of the end of the drumstick is left. This is the only bone that will be left in the whole chicken at the end.

5. Push the drumstick end back into the chicken and repeat with the other drumstick.

6. Loosen the skin all down the back, starting from the neck end to the tail. I had trouble with this near the end because the skin wouldn't easily loosen from the bone and wanted to break.
7. The next part was cutting the backbone off and separating it from the breastbone. That was kind of messy. I was breaking bones and trying to figure out how to separate the two. It finally came out. It looks like I forgot to take pictures near the end (it was getting late, everyone was hungry, and I was trying to hurry).
The net result was, I eventually separated the breastbone and backbone, scraping as much meat as possible off the bones before I removed them.




8. After I did all that, I should have had all the bones out (except for the token end of the drumstick, which is part of the final presentation). However, since I had not taken care of the wings earlier (at the beginning, right after blotting the chicken), I had to cut them each off at the joint, and remove them.

9. By this point the chicken was deboned, and I just realized I didn't take any pictures of it flattened out before I stuffed it. The next one I took was when I had already stuffed it. Whoops. At least you get the idea. Check back soon to see what I included in my stuffing, and the rest of the adventure. My apologies to all of you who can neatly and efficiently do this deboning bit. Are there better online resources showing how?

Recipe #5: on its way: Step-by-step Ashanti chicken

I returned from Washington DC at 1 a.m. this morning, played catchup all day, and then at 7 p.m. started to make the recipe I had planned, the legendary "Ashanti fowl (chicken)." I'm rough at deboning chicken, so it took me a couple of hours to get the stuffed chicken into the oven, and now it won't be ready until 10:30 p.m or so, so I've changed our dinner menu, and also will have to post the recipe tomorrow. To whet your appetite, here are a couple of the pictures as I went through the process: patting the chicken dry and as I just put it into the oven to roast. Tomorrow look for the history behind this dish, and my experiences making it. Check back for "the rest of the story."