“Chicken necks and backbones right off the rotisserie at The Park-side in Providence, Rhode Island. I worked at The Parkside as the meat cook early in my cooking career, while I was at Johnson & Wales University. We brined whole birds with lemon and garlic, then roasted them slowly on a gorgeous, fire engine red Rotisol rotisserie. As soon as they came off the flames, I would use shears and cut the backbones out (half chickens were on the menu), ending up with a big pile of them every single day. The best part is a little half dollar-sized piece of meat on the lower back of a chicken called the ‘oyster,’ but the whole thing would just get eaten by the chefs like an ear of corn on the cob, spitting out vertebrae like watermelon seeds. The skin was brown and crispy and still gelatinous, the meat was falling off the bone, perfectly salty and garlicky. I’ve never tasted anything so good in my life.”
Banyan Day Provisions is a seafood counter in Timbercreek Market.
