roasting chicken advice

[tritecliche]

I'd like to roast a chicken tonight, but did not have the forethought to brine/marinade/zunify ahead of time. Can anyone offer me some guidelines to making a supper tonight?

[emilief]

Too late for tonight but when I am cooking for the whole family (6+) I make Martha Stewart's double roasted chicken. YOu can find it on her website. It is two chickens cooked on a bed of vegetables- same idea as the potatoes in the bottom of the pan. Makes alot and is a one dish dinner.

[shu.girl]

Definitely do the thinly sliced potatoes on the bottom, you will not be disappointed. I learned this from Cook's Illustrated, should be on their website. They cut their chicken down the back bone too. I follow the recipe exactly EXCEPT I don't brine the chicken or anything. The potatoes are fabulous!

[ballulah]

I don't follow a "recipe" for roast chicken, but I've been told on more than one occasion that I make a damn good one. All I do is rinse inside and out, salt and pepper the bird, fill the cavity of the bird with aromatics (a whole lemon, quartered onion, maybe a carrot or celery if I have it, and some sprigs of fresh herbs if I have them...if not dried is fine, I like sage and thyme). I massage some butter and sliced garlic under the skin and generously sprinkle rubbed sage and sweet paprika all over. Roast at 375 until it's done...I start checking after an hour or so.

I do have a roasting rack, but if you don't, fill the roasting pan with a single layer of rustically chopped veggies (carrots, celery, onions...I've included whole button mushrooms and grape tomatoes as well) to lift the bird up out of the roasting juices a bit. You can either serve the veggies with the chicken, or you can puree them with the pan juices and a roux to make gravy.

[Diane in Bexley]

Follow JFood's advice, but start the chicken on its back, to release more fat and cook dark meat more thoroughly. Turn onto breast about 1/2 way through roasting. DH is dark (and very well cooked) meat person and kids & I eat our white meat a point, just done but not shoe leather.

[tritecliche]

I appreciate all the comments and feedback. How important is the roasting vehicle? Must I use a rack of some sort?

[jfood]

Must? No.

But if you roast a whole chicken as it releases its fat then the bottom of the chicken will be in the fat as it cooks. Raising it above the fat allows for dry heat to cook the bird not hot fat. Your decision and it will yield different results.

[jfood]

jfood's method. The oven was too hot at 450 and caused too much smoke so jfood lowered to 425 and that seems to give the best results with the least smoke. Likewise jfood has NEVER brined a chicken and uses Bell & Evans. For a 3.5 bird, he takes it out of the wrapper, cleans the kidneys, seasons and places either vertically in the oven or on a rack. About 35-40 minutes later he checks the internal temperature and makes a decision on how much longer. At that pont he also decides whether the skins needs a little TLC to get to the proper crispy level and may turn on the convection. He brings the bird to 185 which others will say is a little too high but that is what mrs jfood likes, so that's where it goes. Usually finished in total of 45-50 minutes.

It is very simple so do not fret too much about it. Just enjoy and make sure you have a good bird to start.

[lynnlato]

I, too, reduce the heat to 425, depending on how clean my oven is! If it's been awhile since I cleaned it... I reduce the temp! :-)

[bnemes3343]

Can you get your hands on a kosher bird like Empire? If so, you will not need to brine, as they are already brined. They are also exceptionally good.

[Karl S]

Most important question: what's the size of your bird? Makes a huge difference in many recipes.

[yayadave]

Make beer can chicken. Season it however you want. Use lemons, garlic, Montreal Steak Seasoning, jerk seasoning, s&p, whatever. It'll be tasty and juicy with nice skin. I like to find a way to use Herbes de Provence with chicken.

[Gio]

Preheat oven to 375*. Wash chicken and wipe with paper towel.
Sprinkle kosher salt ( or whatever you have) and freshly ground black pepper into cavity. Slice 1 or 2 lemons, smash a couple or more garlic cloves and stuff in the cavity as well,(sometimes I add fresh or dried thyme, rosemary)
Place chicken breast side up on a wire rack in a roasting pan.
Sprinkle top of chicken with salt & pepper ( I add cayenne and paprika but I don't addbutter or drizzle with oil....and I don't baste.)
Roast for about 1 1/2 hours according to how big your chicken is. 170* on the meat thermometer is the norm, or till juices run clear.

[JoanN]

I often use the Zuni brining technique for only five or six hours before following the rest of the instructions. It's still terrific even without the long brining.

[lynnlato]

Thomas Keller has the best advice for roasting chicken. I follow his method always and it's beyond easy and produces the most amazingly moist chicken. Rinse and pat dry bird, salt & pepper cavity and outside and cook in high heat oven (450 degrees) for about an hour for a 4lb bird.

Please read his "recipe", it's wonderfully written and he describes how as a child he battled his brothers for the "chicken butt". Yum! He also describes how high & dry heat is important to him b/c it prevents the chix from steaming. He then serves it w/ pads of butter, dijon mustard for dipping and sometimes a sprinkling of fresh thyme. It's heaven!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[C. Hamster]

I wholeheartedly recommend the high heat method.

Line your roasting pan with very thinly sliced potatoes to absorb the fat and keep your kitchen from smoking up.

[lynnlato]

Ooooh, nice idea w/ the potatoes. Yeah, the only con w/ the high heat method is the mess & sometimes smoke! But that juicy chicken is always worth it!

[ozhead]

Second, third, and fourth the high-heat method; since I first heard of and used it a few years ago, I will never roast a chicken any other way. I heat the oven to 450 with the roasting pan inside -- I have a beat-up old 13x9 pan that I reserve for this purpose. I take a chicken in the 3-1/2 to 4 pound range, wash it, then dry it THOROUGHLY; this is the most important part, as it's crucial to a crispy skin. I salt inside the cavity, and on the outside use salt, black pepper, and thyme. I tuck the wings under, then when oven is up to heat I take out the pan, add a teaspoon of oil, and flop the chicken in -- no rack -- breast side up. I roast it for 45 minutes, then take it out and let it sit for 15 minutes before cutting it up; during that 15 minutes I usually use the pan drippings to make gravy, because I like serving roast chicken with mashed potatoes.

The only downside to this method is that it generates a LOT of smoke, but I'm lucky to have an industrial-strength exhaust system in my kitchen so that is not a problem. If C. Hamster's suggestion re the potatoes works to cut down on the amount of smoke, that's great -- though I would not want the fat absorbed, because (as noted above) I use it for gravy.

[lynnlato]

AMEN!

[Miss Needle]

Marcella Hazan's recipe for chicken with two lemons doesn't require any brining.