Truly genius recipes

New Food52 cookbook praises skillet method for slow cooking chicken

We all love kitchen secrets and the newest cookbook from the Food52 crew has a mandate to reveal them.

Why should you add a touch of butter to devilled eggs? What’s the time and temperature trick to perfect roast chicken? Why is fried asparagus sublime? Why is the no-knead bread still circulating nine years after it first went viral? Why do you need baking soda when making hummus?

This cookbook sets a new bar for “best of” cookbooks. The book: Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook draws on the recipes from cookbook authors, chefs and bloggers that “rethink cooking tropes, solve problems, get us talking and make cooking more fun.” It’s based on a weekly column on Food52.com, but almost half the recipes are being published for the first time. The author: Kristen Miglore is the New York City-based executive editor of Food52.com. The recipe: The chef Paul Bertolli-inspired technique is interesting — a way to cook chicken that doesn’t involve searing, roasting or grilling. Instead you cook skin-on pieces slowly in a medium-hot skillet until the skin is impossibly crisp. The recipe, with its lemony pan drippings, comes via Canal House co-founders Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer.

Chicken thighs with preserved lemon

Star Tested Find jars of preserved lemons in some major supermarkets and gourmet food stores, as well as Middle Eastern grocery stores including Adonis and Arz Fine Foods. 1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil 8 bone- in, skin-on chicken thighs Kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper Rind from 1/2 preserved lemon, minced Lemon wedges for serving Heat large, cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium 10 minutes. Add oil.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add to skillet, skin side down.

Cook, without moving, until fat has rendered out and skin is deep golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes, reducing heat to medium-low if skin begins to burn.

Turn thighs over. Stir preserved lemon rind into fat in skillet. Cook until meat closest to bone is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Serve chicken with lemony pan drippings and lemon wedges.

Makes 8. jbain@thestar.ca

VINCE TALOTTA PHOTOS/TORONTO STAR You just need a few ingredients — including fresh and preserved lemons — to make a memorable chicken dish from Food52 Genius Recipes.

These skillet chicken thighs have simple but intense lemony pan drippings.

Kristen Miglore is the executive editor at Food52.com. She writes the Genius Recipes column.