Hen Marylands: such an underneath-utilized reduce of chook! cheap, juicy, flavourful, and difficult to stuff up. It’s like a roast bird, without the mess of carving. Slather in herb & garlic butter, bake till golden, then serve with potato gratin or creamy mash with garlic sautéed green beans for the proper meal!
Chicken marylands (aka chicken leg quarters)
bird Maryland is a vastly underrated cost-effective reduction of chicken. I inform humans it’s like roasting up an entire chicken – without managing the mess of bones and juices from carving up an entire chicken! A sizeable piece of meat with masses of golden skin, juicier* than drumsticks and thighs, and superbly flavourful.
It’s almost impossible to mess up because you don’t need to worry about approximately specific roasting time to prevent dry, bland breasts. due to the fact this cut doesn’t include fowl breast! Why aren’t we cooking bird marylands all the time??!!
- Why it’s juicier – as it’s a bigger single piece of bone-in meat. which means fewer juice-escaping-crevices by way of meat weight = juicier meat.
What is a chicken maryland – to you?
As it turns out, hen Marylands mean various things in one-of-a-kind countries. here in Australia, it refers to a cut which is a hen leg with the thigh attached, pictured beneath. It’s known as whole chicken leg quarters inside the States and just hen legs within the UK. I am aware of it’s puzzling, however at least the cut is effortlessly identifiable!
inside the States, “bird Maryland” or “Maryland bird” refers to a dish originating from the kingdom of Maryland constituted of fried fowl with creamy gravy. This straight away got added to my ever-growing listing of factors To Make.
in the UK, “hen Maryland” refers to a retro Chinese language fried chook dish served with a banana fritter, corn fritter, and 1st Baron Verulam.
This no longer gets delivered to my listing of things To Make!
PlayStation I positioned this little desk together simply to resolve the confusion in my head. even though it is probably beneficial to you too.
Ingredients you need
Today, we’re roasting this fowl slathered in herb and garlic butter. here’s what you need for the butter – see above for the photograph and communicate about the chook marylands!
HERB & GARLIC BUTTER
- Thyme and rosemary – clean is high-quality, for maximum flavor impact. but, dried will work instead.
- Garlic – fresh and only clean! Jarred stuff simply doesn’t evaluate – it’s bitter and doesn’t have real garlic flavor.
- Unsalted butter – I choose the usage of unsalted so I will manipulate the quantity of salt. however, if you best have salted it’s going to paint too, just halve the salt.
- White wine – Serves a triple cause: maintains the bottom of the hen moist as it roasts, infuses flavor into the flesh, and makes the juices within the roasting pan so tasty it’s like liquid gold. All that flavor from the herb & garlic butter mingling with the fowl juices plus the white wine = sauce perfection!
- alternative with chicken stock/broth, low sodium, or just a splash of water (you’ll emerge with much less sauce but don’t worry, there are masses of flavor in the bird itself!).
How to make Herb & Garlic Butter Chicken Marylands
This recipe calls for the herb & garlic butter to be slathered beneath the pores and skin. Don’t fear, it’s now not difficult – getting an entry is simple with this cut of chicken! also, even as I’ve used marylands here, this recipe could be remarkably made with bone-in thighs (use 8).
- blend softened butter with garlic, herbs, and salt. Use a garlic press or microplane to finely grate the garlic and make it “juicy” so it mixes thru the butter, for a higher garlic flavor. (in case you don’t have one, very finely chop it).
- Loosen the pores and skin with the usage of a tablespoon. The spoon hugs the curves of the chook flesh so it received’t pierces the pores and skin. get right of entry to the skin from the instantly fringe of the thigh, as pictured above, and flow the spoon around to create a butter wallet (together with the drumstick).
- Slather butter below the pores and skin. It’s smooth, I promise – raise the skin, stuff butter underneath then spread with the aid of urgent/pushing on the pores and skin. No need to be exact right here, the butter melts and runs everywhere anyway. Even if you spread a wad in the middle that’ll do the trick.
- How much butter wherein – put approximately 75% of the butter below the pores and skin. Then only a small quantity (~five% ) at the flesh (underside), then the rest at the pores and skin. Why? due to the fact the flesh aspect is going to get lots of flavor from roasting inside the wine and the butter/bird juices run off. It doesn’t need extra butter help!
- Roast for 50 mins – placed the chook in a baking dish skin aspect up. Pour the wine round then roast for fifty mins.
- start high at 220°C/425°F (2 hundred°C fan) for 10 minutes to get the pores and skin browning, then on a barely decrease two hundred°C /400°F (180°C fan) for 40 minutes or till the pores and skin are golden and the chicken is cooked.
- Baste two times on the 30-minute and 40-minute mark (ie spoon pan juices over the fowl pores and skin).
rest for 5 mins before serving, and use of the juices inside the roasting pan as the sauce. That stuff is pure gold!!
close up of stated golden roasting juices:
What to serve on the side
I served this with roasted greens and a rocket/arugula tossed with my ordinary Dressing. If I was making for a corporation, I’d opt for a potato gratin (make it in advance then reheat it even as the hen is roasting – allow an additional 10 mins for the fowl roasting time) or Lemon Potato Salad (served warm) for something a little more energizing.
I also can see a pile of Sautéed Green Beans with Garlic with Creamy Buttery Mashed Potato on the side. Or for a simple alternative, simply steam greens of preference (peas, carrots, broccoli) then toss with vinaigrette and serve with a hunk of bread on the side (for plate mopping).
like to realize what you’d serve this with for an employer. I’m having a night meal this weekend – I was going to do a Mexican Fiesta but I’m anticipating some no longer-so-subtle requests for today’s dish as an alternative!
