From an Easter Egg in the Buckaroo Bonzai DVD comes a recipe for Chicken in a Watermelon. Why? Who cares, that’s why. Mad delicious, and ridiculous to boot. Your friends and family will not believe it.
Chicken in a Watermelon
Total time : 5 hours
1 very large watermelon
1 roaster chicken, about 5 to 6 pounds
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 lemon
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
2 tablespoons chilled butter.
- Cut a 1/4-inch-thick horizontal slice off bottom of watermelon, so it won’t roll. Discard. Cut off the top third of the melon horizontally, then scoop out seeds and enough of the pulp from both remain parts to make room for the chicken.
- Season cavity of chicken with salt and pepper. Insert lemon pricked with fork, along with 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce. Brush outside of chicken with remaining soy sauce, and sprinkle with five-spice powder,
- Place chicken in the larger part of the melon, and position the other piece of melon on top, securing with long skewers.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and bake 2 hours. Then, reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake 2 1/2 hours longer.
- Place watermelon on a tray and show it to guests. Return it to kitchen: remove chicken and carve. With a ladle, remove juices from watermelon and reduce in skillet until thickened; whisk in cold butter and spoon over chicken before serving.
Yield: 8 servings
Note, orient melon on side instead of upright. This is really delicious. An absolutely unique flavor to experience.
December 17, 2009 at 11:25 PM
Really interesting recipe. I am curious if I could make this work on my grill. My tiny kitchen gets too hot to bake something 5 hours during watermelon season.
December 18, 2009 at 12:36 AM
I once cooked a Thanksgiving turkey for several hours on a Weber grill and it turned out great. I arranged the briquets in a circle around the outside of a pie tin placed in the bottom of the grill. The heat was largely indirect because no briquets were directly under the bird.
I suppose the same method of cooking could be tried. I want to hear from you if you attempt it and let me know how it turns out.
I basted my turkey with beer (yes, I drink beer too, I’m not a wine only guy” but your chicken will self baste and all beer or wine will be yours to enjoy.
Be sure to put the watermelon in an aluminum roasting pan, the watermelon loses some structural integrity over many hours of cooking. I can just see your summer grill leaking watermelon and soy juice.
March 31, 2010 at 12:49 PM
[...] Get the full recipe here at @ johnonwine.com – [...]
March 31, 2010 at 1:19 PM
Hey Binkis, thanks for linking back to my original post. The recipe is killer cool. Hope your readers enjoy it. -John