Still two days to the deadline of TGRWT #16, chicken and rose water, hosted by Supernova Condensate, but a simple experiment I tried gave me a taste of what the flavor combination could be. I wanted to play with roasted chicken and rose water, so I took some warm chicken broth, added a bit of natural smoke to simulate the flavors of browning, and then slowly added rose water to the mixture.

Five drops at a time, a small sip, a rinse with sparkling water. And then repeat. At the concentration of 15 drops that new flavor just appeared: not quite roasted chicken, not quite flower. It is good and I want that in a dish.

My first attempt to reproduce that great flavor was tonight’s dinner. Good, but not the flavor from the taste experiment.

The dish was inspired by the Moroccan Djaj bel Loz, a chicken with almonds and honey. The dish is sometimes made with rose water, but I felt like tinkering with the traditional recipe. I blanched some almonds, and coarsely chopped them with honey and rose water and placed the result over a chicken breast that had been rubbed with a honey, butter, and rose water marinade. The sauce is caramelized onions, ginger, cinnamon, lemon, almonds, honey, and salt, all puréed together. It came out good, but the chicken did not brown before it was cooked and the rose taste was overpowered by the ginger and lemon. Back to drawing board.