Christmas Special Main: Streets of Rage - Roast Poultry

For the main of the Gourmet Gaming Christmas meal it’s obvious that I had to go with some kind of roast bird and I’ve had many requests for the chicken/turkey (nowhere seems to be able to decide which it is) from Streets of Rage. I grew up with Streets of Rage on my Sega Mega Drive and I would regularly play it with my childhood best friend. We were never able to complete it and it seemed I was to be eternally bested by the penultimate level… Until this year when I purchased the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection on Xbox 360 (in case you were wondering both myself and my co-op partner both said “No!” like the goody-two-shoes we are). I originally wanted to make this recipe with turkey so it would be more festive but sadly at the time they weren’t readily available in the stores, however this recipe works very well for either fowl.

This recipe serves 3-4.

What you will need: Large roasting tray and a wooden skewer.

Ingredients:

1 Small Chicken/Turkey

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 Lemon or Orange

Handful of Fresh Parsley

5 Garlic Cloves

2 Celery Sticks

2 Carrots

1 Large Onion

2 Bay Leafs

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

Preparing the Roast:

1. Preheat the oven on its maximum temperature. Chop the carrots, celery and onion roughly and line the bottom of the roasting tray with them.
2. Place the bird on top – if it’s legs are tied down, untie them and push them up into the air. Slide the wooden skewer through the flesh on the back of the legs, through the body and out the legs on the other side to help support them and keep them upright.
3. With a sharp knife, slice a few holes into the lemon then pop it in cavity along with a few cloves of garlic, the parsley and two bay leafs. Make sure you don’t over stuff and that there’s still room otherwise the bird wont cook evenly!
4. Rub butter over the skin, season with salt & pepper then pour over a little olive oil.
5. Place the bird in the oven then turn the temperature down immediately to 200C/400F and cook as per the time-to-weight instructions of your bird.
6. After 90 minutes, begin basting the bird every 20 minutes until it’s finished cooking.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes, serve with your favourite roast vegetables.

I decided to keep the chicken quite simple so it would reflect the in-game bird which, actually, looks more like a chocolate bird than anything else. I couldn’t eat the chicken, but I was assured it was moist and delicious. Next time I might try calling for back-up and use the flames from a tirade of air-to-ground missiles to cook my Christmas dinner.

Like this? You might also enjoy the Sonic The Hedgehog - Chili Dog A La Sonic.

Sonic The Hedgehog – Chili Dog A La Sonic

It’s a renowned fact that Sonic loves Chili Dogs, I remember it vividly as a running theme in the Sonic cartoons (Remember? That ended with that amusing oh so 90’s “Sonic Sez” feature?). I first played Sonic on my aunts Sega Mega Drive and when I was dragged to numerous house parties as a kid I would take the console with me and set it up in a bedroom and guests would drop in and play with me. Although I’m sure Social Services would have something to say about this it is one of my fondest childhood memories. Chili Dogs have appeared in numerous versions of the game and a recipe for “Chili Dog A La Sonic” was even published in the first issue of the Archie ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ comics which I have faithfully reproduced.

This recipe serves 6.

What you will need: A large pot and a spoon!

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

450g / 1lb Ground Beef

100g / ½ Cup White Onion (Chopped)

100g / ½ Cup Peppers (Chopped)

100g / ½ Cup Mushrooms (Chopped)

400g / 2 Cups Tinned Chopped/Crushed Tomatoes

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

210ml / 8 fl oz Barbecue Sauce

1 Teaspoon

• Chili Powder
• Ground Cumin
• Oregano

400g / 2 Cups Kidney Beans (Tinned or Pre-cooked)

6 Hot Dogs

6 Hot Dog Buns

Grated Cheese

Making the Chili Dogs:

1. Heat some olive oil in a large pot then brown the beef. Add the onions, peppers and mushroom and cook for about 5 minutes.
2. Pour in the can of tomatoes, add the Worcestershire sauce and the barbecue sauce and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Add the chili powder, ground cumin, oregano and the kidney beans. Season with salt and pepper to taste then simmer for a further hour.
4. Add the hot dogs to the chili sauce and cook them for 10-15 minutes. While the hot dogs cook, lightly toast the hog dog buns.
5. Once cooked, serve the hot dogs in the toasted buns, pour over the chili and add your favourite garnishes.

There’s a few ways to enjoy these Chili Dogs - if you’re a veggie you’re not alone; Sonic’s sister Sonia The Hedgehog (genius) enjoys hers as tofu-dogs while Tails prefers his smothered in melted cheese. I served mine with some rather fitting baby red onion rings. But the most important question is why aren’t chili dogs more popular?! This is officially one of my favourite things to eat now - whenever I make chili I will no longer be serving it with rice or tortillas or wedges, no screw that! Instead I’m tossing in some hot dogs. He may be blue but damn that hedgehog knows how to eat.

Thanks to thesoniczone.net for posting all the old Sonic comics.

Like this? You might also enjoy the Golden Axe - The Meat.

Request: Golden Axe - The Meat

The requester asked for the “Golden Axe chicken leg”, I read this and thought oh yeah the “chicken leg”. I then fired up the game (sadly on the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collect for Xbox, not on a Mega Drive as I did back in the day) and smacked that little gnome with his green bag and out popped this… this thing. It wasn’t a chicken leg. It wasn’t a leg of lamb. It wasn’t anything like I’d remembered seeing before. What the hell is that roll of meat on a bit of bone? It’s probably come from one of those lizard-bird steeds (edit: It’s apparently a Cockatrice…) you get to majestically ride on for about 5 seconds before some bitch in a bikini beats you off it. So I decided, just like this reptile-bird, to concoct some kind of hybrid dish with a bunch of different meats.

This recipe serves 1.

What you will need:

A frying pan, toothpicks, casserole dish.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

2 Chicken Drumsticks

1 Thin Slice Topside of Beef

1-2 Sausages

Salt & Pepper

1 Onion

2 Carrots

1 Large Potato

Preparations:

1. Cook your chicken drumsticks however you like. Once cooked remove/eat the meat from them and set aside. 
2. Take the bones and boil them in a pot of water for about 10-15 minutes until any gristle and residue is removed from them. You may still need to scrape and pick bits off to clean them enough - these bones will be used to garnish later.
3. Chop the onion, carrot and potatoes, place them in a casserole dish and pour over some olive oil and season well.

Making ‘The Meat’:

1. Remove the sausage meat from the casing, try to get a good quality sausage with a high pork content. Feel free to add any herbs/seasoning to the sausage meat at this stage.
2. Lay the sausage onto the topside of beef, then roll the topside around it to create the desired shape. Keep it in place with the toothpicks. Trim the edges if they are very uneven so it’s neat.
3. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and pre-heat the oven to 200C.
4. Season the meat-roll well and then fry for a few minutes on each side to seal and colour the beef. Remove from the pan and place into the casserole dish on top of the chopped vegetables. Cook in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until everything is cooked through.
5. Once cooked, poke a chicken bone through either end of the roll and serve with the vegetables and a gravy or sauce of your choice.

Unfortunately I couldn’t eat this Gourmet Gaming nor did I even bother to attempt to make a version for myself… but it seems to be another success in the taste stakes! I was really worried about this, I don’t cook meaty things very often nor did I know how to mix any flavours here so I kept it simple. This way it’s as if it has actually just come from an animal. So go forth and quest! And next time you’re resting at your camp fire why not just cook up your Cockatrice as he’s far more delicious than he is useful in battle.

Like this? You might also enjoy the Castlevania - Wall Turkey.