Cooking on the Chicken Cooker

Finally I am going to show you how I cooked a whole chicken on the chicken cooker. 

First, I filled the center cup about 2/3rd's full with white wine.  Then I mixed some Polaner's Seedless Raspberry All Fruit with some Jack Daniels Original Barbecue sauce and added it to the white wine in the cup.  (Sorry, I did not get a picture of the liquids in the cup)

Next I rinsed and patted the chicken dry and then rubbed the entire chicken (inside and out) with Emeril's All Natural Chicken Rub.  

I placed the chicken cavity over the filled center cup of the cooker with the legs pointing down and pulled forward.  I then tucked the wing tips behind the chicken's back (as best as I could). 

Then I placed it in a preheated 350 degree oven.

And I cooked it for 1 1/2 hours.

This is the finished chicken.  It was very moist and delicious.  Above all, it was very easy and did not take alot of my time.  

You may use any combination of liquids, sauces, and rub you would like.  The above is just what I had on hand.  The next time, I am going to baste some of the fruit/barbeque sauce on the chicken along with the rub.  

Until next time.

The Potter's Wife :)

www.palmtreepottery.com

This post linked to Tasty Tuesday at beautyandbedlam.com

Sorry For the Delay

I have been very delinquent in my blogging.  Since the last post we have done quite a bit.  We took our last summer vacation, school started - for Marsh, our senior in high school, Tyler starts next week - and we added a new store through Wholesalecrafts.  The store is in Holland, Michigan and it is the Thistle Gallery.  

We have been very busy or shall I say Mac has been very busy in the pottery shop building back the inventory.  It will not be long before I am back out there because soon there will be pieces needing handles and I also need to make some trays to put back on our shelves.  

A few blogs ago, I started showing you the process of a chicken cooker being made.  On that blog, Mac had made the cooker and I had attached the handles.  Here is a picture of what they look like after the first or bisque firing.

Here they are after they have been glazed fired and ready to come out of the kiln. Sorry, I was busy when he was glazing and forgot to get a picture of that part of the process.

On the next post, I will show you the chicken that I cooked on one in the oven.  I will also tell you the ingredients I used in cooking it.

I hope everyone has had a great summer.  It is always sad when it comes to a close, but I do love the fall and winter.  It is hard to decide which season I like the best because there is something I like about all of the four seasons.  

Until the next post - I promise it will not be as long as it was this time.

The Potter's Wife :)

www.palmtreepottery.com

Just Another Day

Here at home things are winding down from summer heading into my children going back to school.  In the pottery shop we are trying to re-stock our shelves.   Even though we are still in high 90's in temperatures, we are starting to think about the fall and the shows we will be doing.  It is better to make the pottery now and have it fired the first time and have on the shelves to just pull and glaze for orders that come in, for the shows we will be doing, and also for the stores we sell out of.

For those who do not know, here are the stores that sell our pottery:  The Montreat Bookstore in Montreat, NC;  The Weaving Room in Crossnore, NC; Artwalk in Boone, NC; The Corner of Art and Function in Chardon, Ohio; Cornerstone Rustic Gallery in Elizabethtown, New York; and last but definitely not least - High Point Jewelers and Fine Gifts right here in High Point, NC.  We actually took some pottery to them today.  If you have not been into their store, you need to go.  They are located at 800 North Main Street.  Joe Hubay is the owner and his assistant is Bobbie.  We just love them both.  They both worked at Perkinson's Jewelers until it closed last year.  Joe has done a wonderful job with his store and I know you will find it to be the best jewelry store around.  We do not just love the store because they sell our pottery, but we love the whole store.  They have great gift ideas in all price ranges as well as jewelry.  I bought my niece's and nephew's graduation gifts there and not only was I pleased, but they both loved their gifts.  

Can you tell I like this store?!

Okay, back to earth.  If you are in any the above locations, please stop in and see our pottery. 

The last few days I feel like I have run my washing machine and dishwasher continuously.  No, that does not have anything to do with making pottery, but it has all to do with having a child come home after being gone for almost three months - no he did not save everything, but he did bring some laundry home.  Oh, the joys of being a mother - I would not have it any other way because they will not always be here - I love having my children home.  I am the mother who always liked when there were days off from school and mostly summer because my kids were at home.  I do not like when school starts back.:(

Until the next post . . .

The Potter's Wife :)

www.palmtreepottery.com

Back to School Shopping

Well, we did our back to school shopping.  This is the last actual "school" shopping with my children since Marsh is a senior this year.  Walking through Staples, I walked by the bins with all of the pencils, pencil pockets, crayons, markers, erasers, etc.  All the things we had to get when they were in the lower grades.  To think this chapter of my life has come to a close, is very sad.  I remember the Augusts where we would head to Staples, Wal-Mart or whatever store had what we needed with our lists from school in hand.  This time, Marsh had his own list in hand and we went our separate ways in the store.  He to find what he needed and me to find the things I needed for Palm Tree.  

While out shopping we ran into some of our friends - the Welborns, Meredith, Whitney, and Kylie.  They were in Omega Sports.  Whitney is a senior this year and I had Kylie in kindergarten.  She is going to be a freshman in high school!!!  Where did the time go.  She is also taller than me (although it does not take much to be taller than me - so they say).   We ran into Kissie Stroup in Staples.   We talked about the kids growing up and she told me I could take her two youngest school shopping to easy my pain. 

On other matters, the chicken cookers are still drying.  Hopefully they will go into the first firing by tomorrow.  This is a slow process.  

Tyler is coming home from Montreat tomorrow - YEAH!!! He will be bringing the tiles I made in the class on Monday.  I will be glazing them when Mac glazes this week.  I bought my grout from Lowe's yesterday, so when they are glazed, I will be ready to put my mirror together.

Looks like today is going to a very cloudy day and we are getting a break from the heat.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  

The Potter's Wife :)

www.palmtreepottery.com 

Chicken Cookers

Everyone has heard of the "beer" cookers for cooking whole chickens.   We make a pottery version of this.  The next few posts will be taking you through the process of the chicken cooker being made and ending with me cooking a chicken in one.

My brother-in-law, Oma Hester sent Mac a picture of a chicken cooker and asked Mac to try and make one.  Mac made one and sent it to Oma (who by the way could be a gourmet chef).  He in turn tried it out on his grill and sent us the recipe he used.  So began Palm Tree Pottery's chicken cooker which comes with its own recipe.  The cooker can be used on your grill (over indirect heat) or in your oven.  The recipe you get with the cooker is actually Oma's.  

Yesterday, Mac made seven chicken cookers.  That means I had work to do today. They have to sit and firm up (that means they have to dry some) before I can put the handles on the sides.  Here are the seven cookers waiting for their handles.

Today, I had to extrude handles from the extruder.  I cannot pull handles like most potter's do, so I have to use our extruder.  It is like using the thing you put Play-Doh in when you were a child and used the slide with cut outs to make the play dough come out in different shapes.  Only our extruder is a little on the larger side as it is bolted to the wall!!  Anyway, I had to put the handles on the sides of the cookers.  This way you have something to hold on to when you are moving the cooker off the grill or out of your oven.

Now they all have to dry completely before being put into the kiln to be fired for the first time.  

Hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the process in making our pottery.  I should have been out there when Mac was actually making them to take a picture, but I was paying bills, I mean which is more important!!!

Hope everyone is staying cool.  It was really hot in the "studio" aka the garage, when I was working today.  

I do not even like thinking about tomorrow - we have to do back to school shopping!  Where has the summer gone?!

The Potter's Wife :)

www.palmtreepottery.com

Another Weekend in Montreat

We just got back from another weekend in Montreat.  It was still unbearably hot, but we did at least have some rain.  We had to deliver an order to the bookstore and it gave us  a reason to go.

We spent time with Mac's Dad, which is always fun.  He lives at Givens Estate, which is a very nice retirement community in Asheville.  We had dinner with him on Saturday night and he came over and went to church with us on Sunday morning, had lunch with us at the Inn and then went back.  We surprised him by going over on Sunday night to visit him.  Mac, Tyler, and Marsh played pool while Elliott, Izzy and I watched. 

We enjoyed spending time with Tyler since he had Sunday and Monday off.  He is in his last week of work at the Inn.  He will work next Sunday and then head back home. 

While we were in Montreat, I did something that I do not usually do and that was to take two classes on Monday at the Pottery.  I took the tiled mirror class on Monday morning with Mary Moore.  We had a great time.  Of course, I left my camera at the house!!!  We made clay tiles that will be bisque fired this week.  The rest of the class will hand paint glaze on their tiles on Thursday.  After being fired Thursday night, they will meet on Friday to put the mirror together with the tiles.  Tyler is going to pick my tiles up along with the board and mirror that I will need to complete my project.  I will glaze my tiles here in our studio and fire them in our kiln since I am not there.

The other class I took was hand building an owl out of raku clay with Mary Kathryn. I made two and hopefully they will raku fire them this Thursday so Tyler can bring them home to me on Sunday.  Anne Stone is going to glaze them for me.  I really appreciate it.  When I get everything back, I will take pictures and post on a future blog.

Today has been very cloudy and off and on raining.  We have really been busy and the heat had drained us.  We have just been taking it easy today, but tomorrow it is back to the real world - paying bills, washing clothes, - you get the picture.  

Take care, until the next post.

The Potter's Wife :)

www.palmtreepottery.com

The Dog Days of Summer

Thanks to Pam (who cut my hair today - she is the best) for the headliner of today's post!  

It has really been hot and as you can see, Izzy has been enjoying the pool along with all of us.  We have been working in the mornings because the studio/garage is just too hot in the afternoon.  I mixed the chemicals for two glazes this morning and thought I was going to melt.  I have to wear a mask because of the dust from the chemicals, latex gloves to keep it off my hands, and then I had on my apron (you have not seen this one - I made it last year just for the pottery), so I was (as us Southerners would say) glistening - basically just plain ole sweating!!  I then had to put all the parts on four pigs and do a special vase (I cannot tell anymore than that, because it is a surprise that someone ordered!!) which I carved on.  By the time I was finished, I could have jumped in the pool straight from the shop.  I did wait until I had eaten and had given my stomach time to digest before getting in.

I really cannot believe how hot it has been this summer.  Our oldest, Tyler, is still in Montreat working and he told me this afternoon that it is still very hot up there. I am very thankful for air-conditioning.  

Tonight we went to church for the first time in a few weeks.  It was good to see our friends, Wayne and Nancy, and Tim and Elisa.  I also got to have a few minutes to chat with my friend, Barbara.  I usually work in the youth on Wednesday nights, but we are not having small groups this summer, so I will not be doing that until the fall.  

Not really much to talk about.  The kiln is running a bisque load right now, so Mac will be glazing in the next couple of days.  Tomorrow night I am having two dinner guests joining us.  They are two of my good friends, Susan and Sheila - that is right, there will be two Sheila's at our dinner table.  I cannot wait. It will be a Girl's Night, although Mac and Marsh will be here.  I am sure they will make themselves scarce, because there will be a lot of girl talk going on!

Until next time -

The Potter's Wife:)

www.palmtreepottery.com