THERE IS NOTHING QUITE AS BEAUTIFUL AS A WHOLE CHICKEN ROASTING IN A PAN. CHEF ANDRAE BOPP GIVES US HIS SIMPLE AND YET DECIDEDLY DECADENT RECIPE.

Andrae Bopp, a St. Louis native, has been passionate about food and wine his entire life. Food was always at the center of his life from his high school days in Heidelberg Germany, to when Andrae graduated with top honors, from the French Culinary Institute located in New York City.

Following graduation, Andrae worked and interned in some of the world’s finest restaurants; including Bouley, Danube, Balthazar and Le Bernardin, a Michelin Three Star restaurant. Andrae’s opened in Boise Idaho, to rave reviews in 2004.  Since its inception, Andrae’s was a regional, if not a national destination restaurant and transformed the local dining scene in Boise. Andrae’s was known throughout the Pacific Northwest for the numerous wine dinners with some of the industry’s top winemakers and his work with local farmers, including starting the “Farm to Table” movement in Boise.

ANDRAE’S STUNNING FEATURE, AND COVER OF

FOOD & WINE’S AUGUST ISSUE.

Andrae’s St. Louis-style cheesecake dominates the summer with this formidable, mouth watering dessert. No water bath but oh that creamy texture!

Check out Andrae, his white water passions, river daliances and his cover and feature spread in August 2020’s Food & Wine. Photo Credit: Johnny Autry

Andrae’s Boise restaurant received accolades in Northwest Palate, Wine Spectator, Wine Press Northwest, Culinary Trends, and Santé, a national restaurant trade publication, which named them “Best Fining Dining Restaurant (Southwest) in 2006. Andrae’s received two flawless critical reviews from Boise’s newspaper, The Idaho Statesman. Andrae’s also garnered an array of awards from the Washington Wine Commission, including two Grand Awards and receiving the award for the “Best Washington Wine List outside Washington State” two years in a row, for his Washington and especially his Walla Walla Valley wine programs.

In the summer of 2008, Andrae relocated to Walla Walla, with the plans of combining his love of food with his passion for wine. This came to fruition as Andrae worked harvest and was involved with the blending trials and daily winemaking responsibilities for Dusted Valley Vintners. His hard work and eagerness to learn was rewarded with Andrae being named the Assistant Winemaker and Executive Chef for Dusted Valley Vintners in Walla Walla.

In 2009, Andrae began his Underground/Pop Up Dining Series, La Porte Brune, to sold out events throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was then that he began the process for opening up Andrae’s Kitchen, one of the first mobile Food Trucks in the Pacific Northwest.

In 2012, Andrae opened a permanent restaurant inside the Cenex Convenience Store and has been garnering National attention and awards since, including: Pacific Northwest Caterer of the Year (2012), Best Food Truck Restaurant in North America (2016), Best Gas Station Breakfast in America (2016). And as been featured in The New York Times, Travel and Leisure Magazine, USA Today, Food and Wine, Wine Enthusiast, Sunset and many other Regional and National publications. In 2019 Andrae’s Kitchen was featured on The Cooking Channels show Food Paradise, as he continues to push the envelope with his creative “Gas Station Cuisine”. Over the last 15 years, Andrae has redefined food and dining in the Northwest with his creative and out of the box thinking.

In 2014 Andrae teamed up with Minam Store Outfitters and began their Wine and Food on The River trips, featuring gourmet dinners all paired up with Walla Walla Wineries, served each night at camp, on the Grande Ronde and Salmon Rivers as well as in Hells Canyon on the Snake River. 2020 brought Food and Wine Magazine featuring these trips with a full feature spread plus the cover of the August 2020 issue.

Andrae is married to Michelle and has a daughter Kyndra.  In his spare time, he enjoys traveling to Mexico, white water rafting, hiking, overlanding as well as spending time with his family and his 3 Newfoundland dogs( Thurston, Odin and Radley) and his newest puppy Luke.

ANDRAE’S MOST DELICIOUS ROAST CHICKEN

3.5-4 LB WHOLE CHICKEN

1 Onion, sliced

2 heads Garlic, cut in 1/2

1 bunch Thyme

1/2 cup Butter, diced, softened

2.5 Cups Chicken Stock

1 lb Baby Red Potatoes

Salt

Pepper

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Season the inside cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper.

Put a few tbls of the butter, some of the onion slices, one of the 1/2s of garlic and some thyme sprigs inside.

Using a spoon, separate the skin from the meat on the breast area and around the leg area. As best as you can, put some of the butter in between the skin and meat in those areas.

Rub the whole chicken with butter, place in a pan and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Pour the chicken stock around the chicken and scatter the remaining onions, garlic, thyme, and butter around the chicken.

Add the potatoes and make sure that they are partially submerged in the stock.

Place in the oven and set a timer for 20 minutes.

When the timer goes off, baste the chicken with the stock, and melted butter.

Reset time again and repeat, 3 more times. Total time should be about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Check the temperature with a meat thermometer, it should be 165 degrees.

Chicken should be golden brown and skin crispy. 

Place on a platter with the potatoes, onions and garlic. Reserve the liquid for serving.

Serves 4-6

WHAT TO SERVE WITH IT?

Some might say the potatoes and onions are enough but others would say put together a crisp green salad and some crusty bread to spread the garlic on and dip in the sauce … Now, that’s dinner.

Soda bread is a quick, reliable bread ... quick because it doesn't use yeast to generate carbon dioxide for fluffiness, but instead uses a combination of a base (baking soda) and acid (lactic acid from the buttermilk) which -- as all you chemistry nerds remember -- immediately results in carbon dioxide. It's reliable because you're not at the mercy of temperatures and healthy active yeast cultures.. 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 tablespoons granulated white sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 Tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup, softened butter

• 1 egg

• 1-1/2 cups full-fat buttermilk

PROCEDURE

1. Mix above ingredients until well-blended. Let rest 10 minutes ... because chemistry.

2. Dump out onto a lightly-floured board and knead gently to bring it together into a round loaf.

3. Don’t overdo it, though. The bread should look slightly unkempt when you place it on your slightly-oiled EuroCAST skillet. That's what will make it flakey when it's baked.

4. With a very sharp knife, cut a large X over the top. You'll be glad you did.

Brush with:

• 3 tablespoons melted butter

• 3 tablespoons buttermilk

Bake the bread at 375 degrees F on your the EuroCAST griddle or in your EuroCAST skillet (handle removed!) until well browned. 40-50 minutes. 

And if ya’ll are still hungry after that feast … I invite you to indulge in Chef Andrae’s Salted Carmel S’more’s courtesy of his August Cover and feature story in Food & Wine