Why was Joe Louis so horrible?

roast chicken with lemon and rosemary roast potatoes
Serves 4


Roast chicken remains one of our favourite dishes at home. I recently discovered a way to make the chicken taste even better, by putting a lemon in with my potatoes when I was parboiling them. It smelt fantastic and flavoured the potatoes. Then when I was draining them I decided to stab the lemon, which hissed out juice and steam, and quickly jammed it inside the chicken! The benefits of the hot steaming lemon going into the chicken are very obvious as the meat tastes amazing, and the chicken cooks slightly quicker because of it.

Rub the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the chicken and leave in the fridge until you're ready to start cooking it for lunch or dinner. By doing this, you'll make the meat really tasty when cooked. Preheat your oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into golf-ball-sized pieces, put them into the water with the whole lemon and the garlic cloves, and cook for 12 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for 1 minute (this will give you crispier potatoes), then remove the lemon and garlic. Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot so their outsides get chuffed up and fluffy – this will make them lovely and crispy when they roast.

While the lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times. Take the chicken out of the fridge, pat it with kitchen paper and rub it all over with olive oil. Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon and the thyme into the cavity, then put the chicken into a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Some lovely fat should have cooked out of it into the roasting tray, so toss the potatoes into this with the rosemary leaves. Shake the tray around, then make a gap in the centre of the potatoes and put the chicken back in. If using the bacon, lay the rashers over the chicken breast and cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are nice and golden. (You can tell the chicken is cooked when the thigh meat pulls easily away from the bone and the juices run clear.)

I like to remove the bacon from the chicken and crumble it up over the potatoes. Then I remove the lemon and garlic from inside the chicken, squeeze all the garlic flesh out of the skin, mush it up and smear it all over the chicken, discard the lemon and rosemary and carve the chicken at the table. Heaven!

 

Funny.....


This is one of my favorites.

Chateaubriand with Portobello Mushrooms and Madeira Wine Jus

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SERVES 2

1lb to 1½ lb (500g to 750g) center-cut beef fillet
2 large portobello mushrooms, washed & unpeeled
2 cloves garlic (optional)
4 tablespoons olive

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Knob butter
1 tablespoon brandy
½ cup (4 fl oz) Madeira Wine (or red wine if you prefer)
salt and freshly milled black pepper

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For this chateaubriand recipe, you will need a large cast iron or steel frying pan or skillet - one without a wooden or plastic handle that can go inside the oven. If you don't have one, use a medium size, lightly oiled heavy based roasting tin for the oven cooking, and a frying pan for the stove top cooking.

• Preheat the oven to 445F, 230C, gas mark 8. If you are using a different pan for the oven cooking, put it in the oven to get really hot.
  
  
• Unwrap the chateaubriand and season with freshly milled black pepper.
  
  
• Put the pan that you are using on the stove over a medium/high heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Allow it to get very hot until it just starts to smoke.
  
  
• Keeping the heat on high, add the beef fillet to the pan and quickly sear on one side, and then the other. This should only take a minute or two at the most to achieve a crusty golden seal.
  
  
• Now put the pan straight into the oven (or transfer to the preheated oven pan) on the middle shelf and roast for 10 to 15 minutes depending on how rare you like it.

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• When the chateaubriand is ready, remove it from the oven and carefully transfer to a warmed plate and cover loosely with a piece of tin foil. Then leave it to rest for 15 minutes.
  
  
• Reheat the stove top pan or skillet with about 2 tablespoons of the fat and juices from the beef pan. When it's hot, add a knob of butter.
  
  
• Add the garlic to the pan and quickly stir through the hot fat to color slightly. Then add the sliced mushrooms and a seasoning of salt and freshly milled black pepper.
  
  
• Now sauté the mushrooms for about 2 minutes turning frequently adding a little more oil if the pan becomes too dry.
  
  
• Turn the heat up to maximum and deglaze the pan by adding the brandy. If you are feeling like a professional chef by now (!), and you are heating by gas, tilt the pan towards the open flame to let it flambé.
  
  
• Once the brandy has all but evaporated, turn the heat down to low and add the Madeira wine. Allow it to simmer gently and reduce for about a minute. Check the seasoning.

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Carve the beef fillet in thick slice and arrange on a warm serving plate. Pile the mushrooms on top and drizzle the Madeira jus over.

.......the chateaubriand recipe is complete!

For tips and advice on matching the wine to go with this superb dish, check out my page on Food & Wine Pairing.


Bon apetit, and let the romance begin......!

 

Understatement of the century. At least he didnt technically critisize Walcott this time

 

And Joe Louis too going into 1947

 

As this forum's who-the-f**k-are-you, self-described expert, why don't you give us your real name and resume so we can compare it to that of Joe Louis.

:bbb

I once heard Eddie Futch talk about Joe Louis -- fastest hands ever on a heavyweight. Faster than Ali. Faster than Tyson. And a murderous puncher.

Who did Joe Louis NOT fight in his era?

 

Totally agree, Louis was **** thats why he had such a short reign.
NOW F**K OFF!The General Forum awaits you.

 

I dont go much on the win-loss statistics but I agree with most of the points you make.

Walcott was very good, as was Mike Weaver, but I dont know about truly great.

 

Very poor compared to who?

Joe Louis was undefeated for more than seven years Woddy, and he beat everyone that was put in front of him. Your discrediting his entire career, what he accomplished, and the fact that he was the puppet many times for the U.S. war effort.

Sure, Billy Conn was out-boxing him for many rounds, but Louis finished him. He came back to fight Marciano and lasted 7 rounds when he had absolutely no business fighting.

One of the most typical three punch boxing combinations, straight left-straight right-left is almost chiefly identified with Louis' greatness.

I sincerely encourage you to review his career and what he accomplished in the ring before you start saying stuff about his record being very poor.

You might not have agreed with the "bum of the month" club, but nobody can deny the fact that Louis was a fighting champion.

 

Have we seen the return of the Red Revolving Pepperman? :admin

 

You are actually comparing mike weaver to Jersey Joe Walcott? If you won't take my word that Walcott was great...then take someone elses


"Jersey Joe Walcott was one of the finest ring technicians in history of boxing"- Eddie Futch

 

Mike Weaver was a good fighter. If Eddie Futch was still alive maybe he'd be saying very nice things about Weaver too.

 

Whether Walcott was an all time great or a bum he was undoubtedly one of the best pure technicians in filmed history.

If you ask the best pure technical boxers today (e.g. Hopkins Toney)which fighters they copy, the three names that come up will be Charles, Moore and Walcott.

 

I'm not sure if Walcott was an all-time great but he was certainly an incredibly skilled boxer. In my opinion his record does not reflect so much on his lack of skills or talent as much it does on the era of boxing that he fought in.

Imagine a Floyd Mayweather, as skilled as he is, fighting under the same conditions with his bad hands and fragile body. He would most likely not be undefeated.

Nevertheless Walcott was able to pile up a very good record with wins over many great fighters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Pw2elzBik