Roast Chicken Off
Techniques to master a perfect roast chicken
My cooking usually falls into one of two categories 1) use what you have to get food on the table quickly for the family (see my post on how I plan weeknight meals) 2) plan out a cooking adventure that takes time on the weekend.
Today’s newsletter is about the latter. Specifically, the humble roasted chicken. I love roasting a full bird for multiple reasons:
You end up with a one pot, juicy, flavorful meal that feeds the whole family.
It’s equal parts rich and lean: the schmaltzy fat is scrumptious but the meat is light and lean.
We sometimes have leftover chicken meat or at least have the carcass and turn it into chicken stock to use for chicken noodle soup that week.
It’s one of those meals you throw in the oven and end up with a house that smells like a rotisserie for hours.
It’s easy to modify flavors by making different sauces to dunk the roasted chicken like this or this.
Chefs, food bloggers, and cookbooks all seem to swear by their preferred method for roasting a bird. I HIGHLY recommend
’s Spring Chicken with Crispy Leeks. It’s my go to roasted chicken recipe that always turns out golden and crispy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside. Don’t skip on the salsa verde. You’re going to want to dunk your chicken pieces in the bright, herby, punchy sauce.
Today, I explored a new technique (from America’s Test Kitchen) which focused a lot on the prep of the bird to ensure crispy skin:
Make incisions along the back of the chicken to create escape channels for fat.
Separate the skin from the meat.
Poke 15-20 holes in skin of breasts and thighs.
Rub skin with a baking powder/salt mixture.
Refrigerate uncovered for at least 12 hours before cooking (admittedly I didn’t have time for this)
Roast chicken, breast side down, on lowest portion in your oven at 450 degrees.
Flip chicken and continue to roast.
Blast chicken at the end to get crispy skin by increasing temp to 500 degrees.
The verdict:
The meat was very juicy. I also have started pulling the chicken out of the oven when the breast reaches 155-160 degrees (just under the USDA recommended temp of 165) as long as you let it rest to allow of carryover cooking, you’ll be in the safe eating zone.
The skin was not as crispy as I usually achieve when using Alison Roman’s recipe, so I threw it under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp it up:
Why the recipe works:
Salt the chicken as far in advance as you can to dry that skin out.
The addition of baking powder in your salt rub should produce an even crispier skin, if you give it enough time to do its thing.
I’m not sure flipping the bird midway through roasting makes a difference. I also prefer to roast it in a cast-iron skillet with veggies surrounding it so it soaks up all the delicious drippings
Up next on my chicken journey is trying Judy Roger’s iconic Roast Chicken with Bread Salad recipe from Zuni Kitchen. It’s famous for a reason!
A big thank you for all who made my first Grazen Table at Home Dinner a success ❤️ Cooking for others fills my cup big time and using locally sourced ingredients supports other small businesses like mine.
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