Jackson Free Press

Not too long back, a dear friend would take me out to eat at this food joint over on Pico Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. Its clientele was diverse, with Los Angeles Police Department and Sheriff’s Office members sitting across from ranked members of the gang communities—the parking lot a tapestry of tricked caminos, Bel-Airs, and the occasional Sinaloa Edition Ford interlaced between unmarked cruisers, swat vans and blacked-out Crown Vics.

What was it that unified all these people through their bellies? The restaurant’s rotisserie chicken. I have since used this dish to inspire an adaptation I call my Angeles Perdidos Baked Chicken.

Angeles Perdidos Baked Chicken

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl

• Whisk

• Can opener

• Cutting board

• Cleaver (sharp)

• Oven

• Baking tray(s)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken

• 1 cup orange juice

• 1 cup pineapple juice

• 4 tbsp jalapeños (minced)

• 1/2 tbsp garlic (pureed)

• 1/2 tbsp mace

• 1/2 tbsp salt

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp crushed red pepper

• 1 oz Southwest base sauce

Directions:

Prepare the “yard bird” (chicken). Cut it in half, first removing the spine and then parting the keel bone with the cleaver.

I recommend keeping the chicken bones to make stock with later. If you aren’t making stock immediately for any reason, freeze the chicken bones until needed.

Pour the orange and pineapple juice into the mixing bowl. Then add the jalapeños, garlic, mace (a spice that comes from nutmeg), salt, cayenne, crushed red pepper and a “southwest sauce,” which you buy bottled or look up a recipe to make your own.

Place the chicken and that marinade into a sealable container, or a baking dish with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250°F and bake for 2.5 hours.

Remove and let rest until it has cooled enough to serve. Enjoy.

Note: Multiply the ingredients appropriately to serve more people.