The Perfect Roast Chicken
Print recipeIngredients
- 1 4-5 pound chicken (preferably humanely raised, cage free, free range, organic, or whatever floats your boat. But realize that you CAN get that kind of chicken a LOT cheaper because you're buying it whole.)
- 1 lemon
- 1 HEAD of garlic
- herbs of your choosing (I prefer rosemary and thyme because I have it in my garden.)
- salt and pepper
- 3-4 yukon gold potatoes (cut into bite size pieces for faster cooking)
- 4-5 Large carrots (I like cutting them on the diagonal, just because it looks fancy)
- 1 Medium onion (quartered)
- softened butter (the amount is going to vary based upon how big your chicken is. I usually use about half a stick.)
Directions
| Defrosting the Bird | |
| Quite frequently when I'm buying a chicken from the CSA, they are frozen. Solid. If this is the case you need to make sure to thaw that baby. Like, SERIOUSLY thaw it out, because if it's at all frozen or even the least bit frosty, it's not going to cook right. And you're going to get a raw chicken on the inside, while the outside is gorgeous and brown. GROSS. So a few days before you are planning on roasting this baby, start defrosting it. The morning of will not work. Not that I've tried that or anything (ahem). | |
| Once your birdy is nice and thawed, salt him. INSIDE AND OUT. Yes, stick your hand in there... it doesn't bite, he's dead. And it doesn't matter if you are going to eat him tonight or tomorrow, salt him and then put him back in the fridge. It just helps start that curing process to get the skin delicious and crispy and seasoned perfectly. | |
| Prepping the Oven | |
| When you are ready, start by preheating your oven to 425. You are going to want to get that oven nice and evenly hot in order to cook your bird well so turn the stove on about 20 minutes before cooking anything, to make sure that the oven is at a nice even temperature, as opposed to SUPER hot where the burners are... and then not so hot where they aren't. It makes a difference, trust me. | |
| Seasoning the Bird | |
| It's time for the bird. The salt will have pulled a little bit of water out of his skin, so give him a good toweling to make sure he's NICE and DRY. This again ensures delicious crispy skin. (Not that we eat the skin because apparently it's SO bad for you... but hey, a little nibble here and there can't hurt.) Salt and pepper him again, LIBERALLY. He's a big boy and needs plenty of seasoning, inside and out. Then, take your lemon and garlic halves, along with some of your rosemary and thyme sprigs and stuff him. FULL. The lemon is going to add moisture, while the garlic and herbs are going to add TONS of flavor from the inside out. | |
| 50 Shades of Chicken | |
| Now take your kitchen string and get all S&M on his ass. Tie that baby up. Tie his legs together and tuck the wings under and you have a perfectly trussed chicken. Now in a roasting pan with high sides, that isn't too much bigger than your bird, put your onions, potatoes, and carrots in the bottom and make a psuedo "rack" for the chicken to sit on. Season them with a little salt and pepper, then place him right on top. | |
| Butter Him Up | |
| Now for the fun part. From the OTHER end of the chicken (not the part you trussed) lift the skin flaps in the back and slide your hands underneath and separate the skin from the meat. Get in there, between the breast meat and skin and start pushing, until you've made yourself a nice little cavity. Then take your softened butter in your hands (do NOT use this butter for anything else btw since you just touched it with raw chicken hands) and push some into that space, on both sides. You will be able to see the butter under the skin, so make sure to spread it out and get it all up inside. Then take a few more sprigs of rosemary and thyme and do the same thing. This is going to ensure a moist, yummy, flavorful bird. | |
| Cooking the Bird | |
| Take a few more pats of butter and throw them in with the veggies, just to make sure that they get some buttery love. Then throw that baby into your oven. Depending on the size of your bird, this could take up to an hour and a half, but at an hour, check its temperature. You want him to be at 170-175 degrees, NO LESS before you take him out. If he's not there yet, throw him back in the oven and check him every 15 minutes or so until he gets there. | |
| Once he has hit 170-175 degrees, take him out, and let him rest on a board. He will continue to cook while he rests, eventually getting up to 175-180 degrees, which is perfection! While the chicken rests, put the veggies back in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until soft. No point having spent all that time on the chicken if your potatoes are still crunchy... so don't be afraid to keep cooking them until they're done. If your pieces were cut small enough, they should be cooking just fine. | |
