Summer holidays for my family meant we kids got to eat things we didn't normally. Not one for takeaway food, my mother would relent when it came to holidays and the hot chook - which for her was an acceptable, if occasional, substitute for homemade. The foil-lined white bag would be brought back from the hot chook shop and its contents plated, with everyone taking a moment to admire the glistening golden skin before the battles over breast meat and skirmishes over stuffing would ensue.
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The hot chook fell out of favour over the decades as the number of takeaway options and our own curiosity grew, but on a recent trip to Noosaville, I rediscovered this Australian culinary icon.
While lively Hastings Street with its beach and boutiques may be Noosa's tourism epicentre, village-like Noosaville has a more old-school holiday vibe. Tinnies putter down the river, lined with boat-hire and bait shops, kids paddle in the shallows, locals walk their dogs and flotillas of pelicans cruise the jetties while fishermen clean their catch - the perfect spot to indulge in some food nostalgia. On a modest strip of shops, JD's Chicken Co is barely more than a hole-in-the-wall and could easily go unnoticed.
It's owned by Justin North, chef of the former Sydney fine-diner Becasse, and David Singer of Frenchies Brasserie in Noosa.
Sourced from free-range, ethical farms in the hinterland, the chickens are brined for premium juiciness, given a dusting of house-made chicken salt and cooked on a flame rotisserie. There are sides, like rosemary chips, roughed up and cooked to peak crispness in duck fat; silky, buttery mash; and glossy gravy for dipping or pouring, made from chicken stock and rosemary-infused burnt butter. There are tables outside, but it's far nicer to take your chook across to the treed foreshore where there are playgrounds and shady river-facing picnic tables - a mellow spot to enjoy an old-school favourite. jdschickenco.com.au
