Roby Goco of Cyma promised roasted lamb for a get-together, and those he invited eagerly awaited the outcome at the restaurant’s Greenbelt branch Thursday last week.
Roasting in an open pit was done elsewhere, each of the two 18-kg lambs taking eight hours to finish. Preparing the lamb was as important. Inside, the cavity and the outside surface had to be rubbed with sea salt, pepper and oregano, Goco revealed. Then the lambs were mopped over by a Greek dressing (unsurprising, because he does have a Greek restaurant), something called ladolemono that consists of “extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, fresh thyme, sea salt and pepper.”
The lamb was crusty on the outside and flavorful all over. And the best part for some of us was the rib area—gnawing through those long bones, eating with our hands the way it should be. Washed down with wine, augmented by Greek dishes of salads and moussaka, such simple but well-cooked food, plus the company, made for a great roast lamb outing.
Deceptively simple
Not as exotic but more down my alley is roast chicken. I used to think that roasting is deceptively simple. But when Thomas Keller shows you how to do basic roast chicken (on YouTube at that), you realize that it really is so easy to do.
In case you haven’t heard of him, Keller is the great American chef who owns and cooks at The French Laundry, Bouchon; Ad Hoc and Addendum in Napa Valley; and Per Se in New York.
Quite simple but important were Keller’s instructions. The chicken should always be at room temperature so that when putting it in the oven, the temperature doesn’t decrease. Truss the legs and wings, the better to make the cooking even. Season with salt and pepper inside the cavity and on the surface, and maybe some chopped thyme leaves outside. Salting should be from high up so that the salt grains spreads evenly. The oven temperature should be high, 400-450°F.
And so we followed everything he said and had the most delicious roast chicken for Sunday lunch.
Complicated but delicious
More complicated but as delicious was what we had at the Libona, Bukidnon farm of Henrik and Joanna Yu, proprietors of Bigby’s with its many branches in key cities in the country, and at their frozen yogurt place, Missy Bon Bon in Cagayan de Oro.
Two metal rods were brought in that served as big skewers for several chickens that were roasted on an open pit. They were to be just one kind of the roasted delights that evening, which also included pork, shrimps and squid.
I saw the chicken being roasted outside, the charcoal embers not directly underneath the skewers the way it should be, I was told, but on the sides. When the pieces were removed onto banana leaves laid out at the buffet table, the aroma of lemongrass was inviting.
Why such heavenly flavors? It helped that the farm had a poultry and that the chicken were newly slaughtered. Each chicken was rubbed inside and out with salt, pepper and sugar. And that the cavity was stuffed with a mix of lemon grass, garlic and bay leaves.
Here’s a toast to the perfect roast.
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