Honey and Soysauce glazed stuffed Chicken with Cous Cous

Is there something i don't know as far as using the Blogger is concerned? I posted this on my regular live journal and then imported the entry to blogger, now the format is all messed up. what gives?!!

Thoughts on the recipe: the soy/honey glaze recipe was stolen from Tyler Florence's honey/soysauce squab recipe, and i got the chicken knowhow from some internet recipe. I was going to stuff the chicken with cous cous but since I was working on 3 other recipes at the same time, i didn't have time too. Also I put way too much water into the cous cous and had to spend a lot of time trying to boil the water off. fun times. IN the end tho, the cous cous piled into the pan and mixed/baked with the pan dripping from the chicken was probably the best thing that could have happened to the whole dish -- the flavor was amazing. I don't want to tout my own horn too much, but honestly, it's been 2 days since, and I'm STILL craving the chicken. Brining the meat makes a HUGE difference between dry chicken and yummy chicken. and Searing the skin of the chicken means the difference between creepy fatty skin and taut chewy and flavorful skin.

1. Brine a whole chicken in water, salt, sugar, and five spice over night.


2. rinse chicken inside and out, pat dry. rub garlic salt, pepper italian spice mix all over the chicken


3. get a pan as hot as you can, pan sear the chicken all over.

[i forgot to take pictures, since this step created a semi "situation" in my small apartment kitchen]

4. stuff chicken with rosemary skewer, apples, lemon, (garlic, which i forgot this time)



5. take 1/2 cup honey, mix with soysauce and w.sauce, rub it all over the chicken


6. bake at 475F.

7. meanwhile, boil some water, throw in cous cous flavor packet and a whole stick of butter.



8. additional meanwhile, get another smaller pan, throw in half a stick of butter and put the heat on low.
[I misplaced my camera in the kitchen at this point, so no pictures.]

9. while those two things (boiling water, melting butter) are happening, chop the shallots finely.




10. turn the heat up a tiny on the melting butter, throw in the shallots.
[I was busy crying over the shallots to take pictures]
11. water should be done by now, put in the cous cous and raisins, stir.

12. when shallots are done, dump it into the cous cous. this is going to smell amazing at this time -- you throw a stick and a half of butter into a pot of bricks, it's gonna smell amazing.
[at this point, i remembered that i should probably baste the chicken every now and then....but with what????....right. ]
13. melt the remaining half a stick of butter, with 1/2 cup honey,and some more soysauce in the microwave for 50 seconds.
14. baste chicken.
[what's this black sticky stuff bubbling on the bottom of the pan? omg, the honey glaze is being carmelized....oh noez!]
15. When basting, you'll realize the sugar is beginning to burn, (in fact it is just carmelizing at that point) start dumping in the cous cous. It'll soak up all that chicken flavor as it's baking. and the sugar will coat the otherwise salty/bland cous cous, creating a wonderfully complex flavor...yeah that's it.]

16. repeat steps 14 and 15 until the top of chicken turns a nice shade of done-ness, total about 70 minutes.
17. let rest half an hour before carving.

[oh yeah, that is in fact a layer of fat.....this is a good time to bring it to a potluck where many people can carry that fat burden for you.] This serves at least 7 or 8 people.