Djedj Mechoui, Algerian Roast Chicken, Poulet Roti

(Close up of the breast to show how moist it is)

On the Zadi family farm in Setif we ate chicken a couple of times a week and lamb the rest. The chickens on the farm are of course totally free range feeding on wheat, corn, worms and insects giving them a special flavor rivaling or exceeding the artisanal produce of more developed agricultural countries.

The chicken is eaten the day it is slaughtered. The flavor is intensly meaty and might even be shocking to those used to common supermarket birds.

The most fundemental method of cooking chicken in Algeria is on a spit over an open fire. The chicken is simply seasoned with salt and generously basted with extra virgin olive oil, butter, samna or smen, creating an incredible crackling like skin. I do not have the means to cook like this in my home in Los Angeles. So I devised an oven method for reproducing djedj mechoui in an oven.

If you don't like spices and herbs just omit them. As I've already stated the spicing doesn't make it more or less authentic. The cooking method is all about the crispy, crunchy skin. When properly made you can actually here the skin breaking like a cracker.

I took more photos of the prep, but I can't find them.

Ingredients:

Whole chicken (if you are using common supermarket chicken salting it over night will improve it's flavor)
1 poulet

2 lemons
2 citrons

2 cloves of garlic
2 gousses d'ail emincees

3 tablespoons of butter
60 gr de beurre

1 teaspoon of sumac
1 cuillere a cafe de sumac

1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds
1/2 cuillere a cafe de sesame

1 teaspoon of spice mix (I used a blend of cumin, coriander and fennel)
1 cuillere a cafe d'epices

Freshly ground black pepper
Poivre

Salt
Sel

A couple of sprigs of thyme (I used savory because the local market was out of thyme)
Thyme

Method:

Preheat oven to 450 F (about 230 C)

1) Place the chicken in a roasting pan with a rack. Slide your fingers under the breasts to separate the skin from the meat, turn the chicken over and do the same with the thighs.

2) Mash the garlic with 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt (salt quantity is based on the assumption that you did not salt the chicken over night). In a mortar and pestle or finely chop the garlic and incorporate the salt into it with the side of your knife or back of a spoon. Mix the garlic with the butter, finely chopped herbs and spices. Tuck pieces of the butter into the "pockets" under the skin. Squeeze the juice of one lemon allover the chicken, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle salt and freshly ground black pepper. Season the cavity with salt and pepper, tuck in the lemon halves and more herbs into the cavity if desired.

3) Place the chicken in the oven. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350F (about 175C)

4) Baste the chicken every 15 minutes alternating with olive oil and water. The butter and spices under the skin can cause rapid browning, if the skin on the breast is browning too quickly compared to the rest of the chicken cover the breast portion only with a little foil, don't forget to remove the foil about 20 minutes before the end of cooking.

5) Midway through cooking turn the chicken 90 degrees. Continue frequent basting. The cooking time for a 5 Pound (2.25 kg) bird is about 2 hours.

6) Physical signs that the chicken is done are a sudden swelling of the breasts, the skin where the thigh meets the carcass will be clear, almost glass like and the socket will be loose "give it a handshake" as they say.

7) Let rest about 30 minutes before carving. Squeeze fresh lemon juice into the roasting juices. It's delicious dipped with bread.

Serve with flat khobz, salads such as orange and onion salad with a pomegranate vinaigrette or grated carrot salad with cumin, lemon juice and olive oil. In Setif we would have salads of wild greens and herbs dressed with lots of lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.

(Close up of where the thigh joins the carcass, you can see what I mean by the chicken being done when the juices run clear)

The skin will have darker spots if you use spices.

Note: Executing this dish well is a lesson in controlling your heat. I've cooked like my ancestors did in Algeria over natural fires without knobs that indicate temperature, in top tier restaurants using state of the art equipment and using poorly calibrated, uneven home ovens.

Algeria Algerian Cuisine Algerian Recipes Algerian Food Algerian dishes Cuisine Algerienne Recettes  Algerienne North African cuisine Maghreb Cuisine

Comments

[Rebecca]

I absolutely LOVE this recipe. I have made it many times with wonderful success. It takes a little bit of time, but it's worth it in every bite.

Thank you for posting this recipe!

[joey]

Oh boy. That sounds too good! Such delicious bounty from the Zadi family farm...