fresh meat

40 cloves of garlic. the plan was to make garlic soup and eat it with a crusty baguette. but, when i found ina garten’s recipe for chicken with forty cloves of garlic and had every single ingredient in-house...i was sold. i purchased a fresh (not frozen) fryer chicken processed (nicer way of saying murdered) the day before. talk about fresh meat, i wondered if i have ever in my life eaten meat so close to his/her date of expiration. below is ina’s recipe, ripped straight from foodnetwork or as wee calls it the food porn channel. first, thank the bird for giving his/her life. next, cut the backbone out of chicken and put in freezer to make stock later. ina used 2 birds, i only used one. & if you want the garlic to remain whole, don’t whisk the sauce in the pan, the garlic is so tender after it's cooked, it is easy to incorporate it into the sauce which will result in a thick and lumpy looking gravy (see my food photo) instead of a pan sauce with garlic cloves, like ina’s photo. either way, it’s plate lick worthy.

Ingredients:
3 whole heads garlic, about 40 cloves
2 (3 1/2-pound) chickens, cut into eighths
Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
3 tablespoons Cognac, divided (1T to finish the sauce)
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
Separate the cloves of garlic and drop them into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Drain the garlic and peel. Set aside. Dry the chicken with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the butter and oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. In batches, saute the chicken in the fat, skin side down first, until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn with tongs or a spatula; you don't want to pierce the skin with a fork. If the fat is burning, turn the heat down to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to saute all the chicken in batches. Remove the last chicken to the plate and add all of the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of the Cognac and the wine, return to a boil, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for about 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done. Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil (i used a lid) to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and the flour and then whisk it back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of Cognac and the cream, and boil for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste; it should be very flavorful because chicken tends to be bland. Pour the sauce and the garlic over the chicken and serve hot.