My husband and I recently learned what the word "broast" means. The spell checker doesn’t even recognize the word, so I guess we’re not the only ones (it keeps wanting to replace the word with roast, boast, or breast!) Anyway, we were out with friends at a restaurant I never went to before. I wasn't sure what I wanted, so I ordered the broasted chicken. We all figured that it was a form of roasting the chicken since it is close to that word (or a cross between broiling and roasting). Nobody at my table knew that broasting chicken meant deep-fat frying until that surprising moment when the most fried chicken I’ve ever seen appeared at our table. I haven't eaten fried chicken for years, but the waitress disappeared and I was hungry. It didn’t even taste like chicken- it just tasted like grease and my body doesn't handle fried foods well either. The waitress seemed surprised that I didn’t know that the chicken was fried- worse than fried. She explained that the chicken was fried, breaded and then deep-fried. Shouldn’t a restaurant specifically write on the menu that an entrée is deep-fried? Definition of deep-fry: Cook in hot fat that’s deep enough to float the food. (Yuck!)
Don’t get me wrong. I know several ways of cooking chicken besides frying/deep frying/ deep fat frying, such as: bake, boil, broil, roast/oven roast, sauté, stir fry, poach, steam, simmer, grill, and microwave. I have a cookbook at home with a glossary of cooking terms that also include: sear, panfry, and stew. Broast was not in this glossary. None of my cookbooks have the word broast in them and it's not in my old Webster’s Dictionary either.
So, I googled it. It turns out that "broast" is not a real word. It's a product (like using the word Kleenex instead of tissue). Broasting a chicken means using a product called a broaster to pressure cook and deep fry chicken that has been marinated and breaded. The broaster and the seasonings are only sold to restaurants, supermarkets, and other "food trade", so broasted chicken is only available to you when you dine out. So why would a waitress expect all her diners to know what the process of broasting is? The most interesting part of this story is that the restaurant incorrectly used the word "broasting" in the first place. While researching what broasting means, I found a list of all the places that use broasters on the official broaster.com website. I noticed that the restaurant wasn’t listed there. Since broasting chicken means you are actually using a broaster (and they aren't), then they aren't actually broasting the chicken. They are just breading and deep frying it. So, it looks like the restaurant doesn't know what broasting is either.
1 comment:
it is not a defined word because it is a trademarked term. There is a company in Wisconsin called something like the Broaster Chicken Co. that licences out their invention of a pressure cooker/deep fryer. It is deep fried chicken but because it is deep fried using a pressure cooker it retains more juices and the skin (the bad yet oh so good and chewy and salty part) is not as gooey, salty, and chewy and falls right off if you want to eat healthier. The inner part of the chicken will resemble more of a roasted breast as it will be juicier as well. Osmosis will not occur as pressure will keep the water contained in the cells of the chicken meat. So it will still be bad for you like fried chicken but will not be as addictive or hit the spot quite as much at 3 am after a night out with friends at the bar. If you ask me it is better to get a roasted chicken because it will be healthier and taste better. If you want fatty greasy and crispy chicken that will ruin your health you might as well get some that tastes like heaven on earth and get your chicken fried in a bat of grease and salt. Both fried and broasted will deteriorate your health at an equal rate if you eat it daily and will both leave you nursing a bottle of Pepto to self medicate a sore tummy a few hours later. I tried broasted chicken today and felt cheated after I realized it is just as bad and had less flavor than KFC. I was in the mood for fried chicken earlier and saw broaster on the menu being advertized as more "fresh" and juicy so opted for it instead. Oh well we live and we learn right?
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