The Best Roast Chicken
I didn’t have any Butcher’s Twine to truss the chicken. If you do not have this on hand, there is absolutely no need to worry. The chicken will still come out great.
The classic American dish that brings the family and friends to the table is…Roast Chicken, of course! It’s one of my favorite comfort foods. When it’s made right, roasted chicken has crispy skin and succulent, flavorful meat.
Roast chicken warms the soul
There are millions of iterations on how to make this dish, and a lot of it is on preference. Heck, I make it 20 different ways, depending on the time of the year and who’s coming over for dinner.
Varied accoutrements
Though the basic process is the same year-round, how I like my roast chicken is based on the season.
1. In fall and winter, I go for a heavier chicken. I rub the skin with butter and fill the bird with bread stuffing, surrounded by onions and carrots.
2. In the spring, I go slightly lighter. I’ll stuff the bird with a bouquet of herbs, and onion, and make a wine sauce to accompany it. Typically, I serve green beans on the side.
3. In the summer, I make it as light as possible. I stuff the bird with lemons and garlic, I’ll use olive oil instead of butter, and roast the chicken with zucchini and squash. For those chillier summer nights, I make a pan gravy to go with it.
Spring roast chicken by Moi
One of my favorite roast chicken recipes features mushroom wine sauce, cauliflower mash, and green beans. (Note: Preparation takes 3 days, so plan ahead!)
Recipe
Ingredients
5.5 – 7 pound whole chicken
7 tsp Himalayan salt (do not use regular table salt—it will be too salty)
6 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
4 cloves garlic, pureed
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1 Large Sweet Onion
1 Lemon
Instructions (Don’t forget the 3-day window for prep)
1. Prep your dry brine. Grind up 7 teaspoons of Himalayan Salt and 6 teaspoons of black pepper. Mix together in a bowl.
2. Take chicken out of the package and remove giblets.
3. Rinse chicken—inside and out—with cold water.
4. Dry the chicken with paper towels (top, bottom, and inside). When you think it’s dry enough, keep going. Get to a point where the paper towels are not absorbing any moisture. Make sure to spend extra time around the wings and drumsticks, as water tends to cling there.
5. Once dry, place the chicken on paper towels and start rubbing with the dry brine. I do the top and sides first, and then flip it over to do the bottom. Some brine will fall off the top, so I give it another light coating after doing the bottom.
6. Loosely wrap the chicken in paper towels and put in a baking dish. Place in the fridge for 24 hours. The salt will pull moisture from the skin to create the “brine.” Some of the brine will absorb back into the meat, and some will be pulled into the paper towels. The brine is the key to this chicken recipe—it results in succulent meat and crispy skin.
7. After 24 hours, take the chicken out of the fridge and replace paper towels. The chicken will be ready to cook in another 12-24 hours.
8. A few hours before cooking, the chicken is ready for seasoning. I do it via a butter rub.
9. Finely chop 2 sprigs of rosemary and 3 sprigs of thyme. Add 1 stick of soft butter and 4 cloves of pureed garlic. Mix until thoroughly combined.
10. Working from the back, use your finger to separate the skin from the chicken breast meat. DO NOT RIP THE SKIN. Once you have two pockets, stuff each with ¼ of the butter mixture. It can be hard to evenly spread the butter, so press the butter from above the skin to help distribute it.
11. Once you’ve buttered the meat, take the remaining ½ of the butter mixture and rub all over the chicken skin—Breasts, wings, drumsticks. You don’t want it caked on, but it should be a healthy coating.
12. Put in the fridge for 2 hours.
13. About 30 minutes before you are ready to start cooking, preheat the oven with your empty baking dish inside. I use a Le Creuset enamel coated cast iron roaster. The temperature will depend on your oven—if using an electric oven, start at 475 degrees. If gas, start at 500 degrees.
14. If you are going to stuff your bird, now is the time to do it. Take 1/3 of a chopped sweet onion and 2/3rds of a sliced lemon and stuff it inside the cavity of the bird. Don’t go overboard with the remaining chopped onion or sliced lemon.
15. Once the oven and pan are preheated, take the prepared bird and place it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle. Take the remaining chopped onion and lemon and lay around the edge of the pan. Don’t eat these—they are simply to help flavor the juices you will use to baste the chicken.
16. Let the chicken roast on high heat for 15 minutes (plus or minus 5 minutes, depending on your oven). All the butter should melt, and the chicken should start to develop some nice color on the breast, wing tips, and drumsticks.
17. After 15 minutes, baste your chicken with any melted butter/juice in the pan.
18. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for ~20 minutes per pound, basting every 30-45 minutes. The basting helps flavor the chicken, keeps the meat moist, and crisps and colors the skin.
19. The chicken is done when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit at its thickest point. Check the breast meat and thighs. (I like mine a little more done; I prefer to cook it until 175 degrees Fahrenheit.)
20. Once at temperature, baste it one last time, and let it rest in the pan for 10-15 minutes before carving.
Voila! Comfort food at its best.
