Simon
Make an incision in the centre of the pugliese loaf, using a knife
that's been in the family for over sixty years. (If you're 'new money',
buy one and wait.) Blade-run a forty-five degree wedge. Admire its
perfect triangularity. Then understand this: 'perfect' is wrong.
Leftovers aren't about 'perfect'. They're about exquisitely created
mess. So humiliate the wedge's edges, roughing them up in a casual
way, like a tired Kray Brother.
Now
for the chicken. Brando one-third of the butter in the chicken's
world of interior. Then mollify its complexion with the remaining
two-thirds. Massage rhythmically and gently. Your aim is to make
the dead bird happy. If a chicken feels bitter, it tastes bitter.
Aga-sweat
at 200, for about 58 minutes, butter-basting often. When your chicken
is noblesse oblige, embarrass a leg and some decolletage and twirl
some flaked flesh in the pan-sweat.
Leave
by a south-facing window for an hour, giving the chicken ample time
to de-traumatise and un-heat.
Simon
