Why Spinning Chicken Is This Winter’s Hottest Food Order
"Rotisserie chicken is the ultimate comfort food,” says Will Murray, chef-owner of the poultry-centric restaurant Fowl, in London’s well-heeled St James’s, which recently installed a rotisserie oven. “It’s hearty, wholesome and familiar.”
It’s also among the biggest foodie trends of the moment: an apparently humble dish, more
commonly associated with rural French markets, that is suddenly in hot demand.
At Story Cellar, chef Tom Sellers’ new venture in Covent Garden, the kitchen is currently getting through around 20 rotisserie chickens a day (pictures above). It expects to do more as the weather turns colder. “The idea was to recreate the rotisserie joints I loved in Paris,” says Sellers.
It is not as simple as skewering a bird and letting it roll. The imported French chickens are brined for four hours, before being cooked in a steam oven for 90 minutes and finished on an open rotisserie. This keeps the flesh tender and toothsome, while allowing the skin to crisp up to a requisite spun-sugar finish.
“We make a chicken butter by using all the juices from the bird during this process and baste them with it as they roast,” explains Sellers. “For the house sauce, we use a Madeira to bring a touch of sweetness.” (Said sauce is indeed lick-the-plate good, Esquire can happily confirm.)
Fowl brines its Sutton Hoo birds, which are reared in Suffolk, for six hours before roasting them on the rotisserie and basting with herb fat throughout. “Currently, we finish the chicken with a peri-peri glaze and serve it alongside smoked potatoes and pickles,” says Murray.
In Borough Market, the team behind bougie Mayfair brasserie Maison François has just opened Café François, a multi-floor space equipped with an all-day café, bakery, deli counter and, you’ve guessed it, rotisserie. You can stop in for a glass of wine and a quarter-chicken and chips (with a welcome side of merguez sausage), and have change from £25. Restaurateur François O’Neill explains that Café François hopes to emulate the “visual and aromatic impact” of classic Parisian boucheries. “You are immediately drawn to the rotating roasting chickens with their golden, crisp skin, waiting to be served at the family table.”
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