Roasted Chicken

(with help from James Peterson, Harold McGee, Barbara Kafka, Thomas Keller, Alice
Waters, 2 years of obsessive roasting, and about a 100 birds who gallantly gave their
lives for art and science)
NOTES
-Medium sized birds (around 4 lbs) are better. 2 little ones are better than one monster. This
size is a good compromise between flavor/tenderness and between ease of cooking/having
enough to eat. A good quality, well raised, air-dried bird will always taste best. Ideally seak out
a slow-maturing breed, either heritage or one of the better hybrids. These tend to have longer
legs and smaller breasts.
-use an appropriately sized pan. a skillet is ideal for one bird. a low-sided roasting pan (with an
inch or two space on all sides around the birds) is ideal for two. pan should work on stove as
well as in oven, and be deglazeable. don't use a rack; set bird(s) on a thin bed of coarsely
chopped onions, trimmings, giblets, or anything else you like.

OPTIONAL PREPARATIONS
(if you can start the night before)
Covered Salt Rub
(Best prepararation for an air dried bird, if you can start the night before)
-the night before cooking the bird, pat it dry and rub salt generously over outside
surface of bird and inside cavity. about 1/2 tsp per pound. put more salt on thick parts
of bird (breast, thighs) than thin parts (wings). pepper is optional.
-loosely wrap the bird in paper towels, inside a sealed plastic bag.
-place wrapped bird in fridge overnight.
-remove from fridge one hour before cooking. skip or reduce any additional salt when
seasoning.
Dry Salt Rub
(Best prepararation for a non-air dried bird, if you can start the night before)
-the night before cooking the bird, pat it dry and rub salt generously over outside
surface of bird and inside cavity. about 1/2 tsp per pound. put more salt on thick parts
of bird (breast, thighs) than thin parts (wings). pepper is optional.
-place bird uncovered in fridge, ideally on a rack over a pan to catch drippings
-in the morning, cover the bird with plastic. more than 12 hours can lead to excessive
drying.
-remove from fridge one hour before cooking. skip or reduce any additional salt when
seasoning.

Brine
(Adds water and salt to the meat, and tenderizes it slightly. It dilutes the natural
chicken flavor and interferes with even browning. It's the best way to get some
flavor out of a 2nd rate bird, or if you're afraid of overcooking )
-per quart of cold water: 1/4 cup table salt, 2 TB sugar, 1 shredded bay leaf, 4 to 5
crushed garlic cloves. 1-1/2 quarts is about right for a 4 to 5 lb. bird
-soak chicken in brine in nonreactive container for 90 minutes in fridge.
-rinse bird after removing from brine (too salty otherwise). use a few changes of water
in the brining container to do this without making a mess.
-pat dry.
-let sit out for 30 minutes while oven preheats
-pat dry again (thoroughly) and apply compound butter/oil right before putting in oven
-skip any additional salt when seasoning
-brined bird may cook slightly faster. i don't adjust recommended times for this, but i
do keep a closer watch on brined bird.

BASIC PREPARATION
(always)
Remove bird from fridge one hour before roasting, to season and warm up
If it's very cold in the kitchen, let the bird warm up near the back of the stove (don't
overdo it ... ideal temperature is a 55-60 bird, not a warm one). If the kitchen's hot,
give the bird less time out of the fridge. This timing is fairly important. If the starting
temperature is off, the cooking time can be significantly effected.
Preheat to 500
with rack in lower third. choose a height that puts the the bird roughly equidistant from
the top and sides of the oven. If there's a baking stone in the oven, preheat for an extra
20 minutes or so.
Clip off wingtips and tail. If it's a whole bird, cut off head and feet. Add all bird parts to
the pan.
Note on trussing
I don't like to truss birds unless the legs are so loose and gangly that they flop around
and look like they'll brush against the
pan or oven walls. in this case i truss very loosely just to control the legs. traditional
trussing eliminates air flow from the thickest part of
the bird (where the legs and torso meet) and impedes even cooking, despite everything
you may have read. the technique was developed for spit-roasting in front of a fire,
where it actually helps.

Seasoning
At least 30 minutes before cooking, finely mince 1 to 3 cloves of garlic. place in small
bowl. add salt and freshly ground pepper, and any additional herbs or seasonings that
you like. drizzle until barely covered with olive oil, OR make compound butter by
mixing seasonings in 1 oz. or so softened or melted butter. If the bird was salt-rubbed
overnight, greatly reduce the salt. If it was brined, eliminate the salt.
Pat the bird very dry with paper towels. with pastry brush or paper towel, brush the oil/
melted butter over the outside surface of bird (not the bottom). with a spoon, insert and
spread garlic generously under breast skin, on both sides. sprinkle additional salt and
pepper over outside of bird.
Optional: add seasoning to the inside of cavity. this adds aromatics, and also
contributes flavor to pan drippings. possibilities include any remaining garlic, herbs,
etc. that didn't fit under the skin, sprigs of thyme or rosemary, or citrus fruit.

ROASTING
Preheat the pan and vegetables/trimmings in the oven
Distribute the veggies, pird parts, etc. in the pan and put in the oven 5 to 30 minutes
ahead of the chicken. Timing can be tricky. try to match size of vegetable pieces to
speed of cooking, or add at different times. Chopped onion can go in for five minutes.
long-cooking vegetables like potatoes or carrots should go in 20 minutes ahead. small,
fast cooking veggies (like whole garlic cloves) should go in with the chicken.
Cover breast
This is a substitute for the traditional French practice of barding, which was done with
slabs of fat or bacon. it insulates the breast meat and allows it to cook to a lower
temperature than the dark meat. Use a piece large enough to cover the entire breast
after folding. Use aluminum foil; folded triple for conventional, fat breasted birds,
or folded quadruple for thin breasted birds (black plume, heritage breeds, etc.)
You can also criss-cross thin strips of fatty bacon or uncured pork belly
underneath a double layer of foil.
Cover ends of drumsticks with a wrap of foil
Put in oven with legs facing rear
1/2 way through cooking time, remove foil
3/4 way through the cooking time, rotate pan so the legs face forward
check every few minutes. if you see any part of the bird getting too brown, tear off a
small piece of foil and cover it.

Total cooking time: about 9 minutes per pound. Generally 8 minutes for larger
birds (5 lb or more), 10 to 11 minutes for smaller ones (3-1/2 lbs or less), 9 minutes for
medium ones (4 to 4-1/2 lbs).
Bird should be medium brown and evenly colored. Joints should feel loose. Juice from
hip joint should run clear; cavity juices should be colored and cloudy.
Ideally internal temp* (dark meat between thigh and breast at thickest point) should be
150-155. After rest it should rise to about 155-160. Breast meat should be
140-145. It should rise to 145-150.
Breast meat will still be juicy if it cooks a few degrees higher than this. in any case,
juices from thigh joint should run clear (cavity juices may not). Hip joints should feel
loose. Skin should be well browned over the whole top of the bird.
remove from oven, transfer to serving platter or pan, loosely cover with unfolded foil
from breast, and leave in a warm place for at least 10 minutes before carving. Beware
of hot places: the oven, or the back of the stove by the vents, are likely too hot and will
overcook the bird.
For very large birds (over 5 lbs) lower oven temp to 425 after the first 30 minutes, or
leave the foil on 3/4 of the cooking time. Keep an eye on the internal temp, and on
evenness and degree of browning. Be prepared to put foil back on, or to rotate the bird,
if parts start overbrowning.
For two birds calculate the time using the weight of one bird. Most ovens will require a
bit more than 10 minutes/lb for 2 birds in a large pan. Professional ovens won't require
any time adjustment. For even browning you may have to remove the pan and rotate
the birds a couple of extra times. Keep a close watch.

PAN SAUCES
to make a simple, unbound pan sauce (an extended jus, basically), have 1 to 2 cups of
chicken stock ready. For a more formal sauce, this sauce can be enriched with
demglace or glace de viande, or can be seasoned with any number of aromatic
ingredients or spirits.
If you want more savor, add a couple of chopped wings (bought separately) to the bed
of vegetables that the chicken sits on.
-before removing bird from pan, tilt to empty juices from cavity into pan.
-put pan on stove over high heat. boil juices down until they brown, glazing the pan and
the vegetables. spoon off or pour off fat (pour through a strainer to catch any veggies
that fall out).
-deglaze with a small quantity of water, wine or stock, and boil down until it all rebrowns.
-add thyme or other long-simmering herbs
-deglaze with a small amount of stock and simmer briefly to reduce until you like it.
(this double deglaze allows you to deepen roasted flavors and increase intensity
without losing all the fresh flavors of the stock)
-optional: reduce, brown, and deglaze a third time
-add any freshening herbs like parsley and simmer briefly
-strain, or serve rustic by leaving the vegetbles in the sauce, pureed on in chunks.
-if you'd like to enrich and thicken it, finish with butter, swirled in off the heat. or just to
thicken slightly, simmer with a bit of arrowroot slurry.
*If you're using a thermometer, be very careful and take multiple readings. Chicken joints are
small, and there are many ways to get erroneous results. If the tip of the thermometer hits
bone, connective tissue, an air pocket, or if it goes all the way through and hits the pan, your
reading will be wildly wrong (typically too high). I find the subjective indicators (color, juices,
joint looseness etc.) to be more reliable than thermometers with whole chickens.
2005-2009 Paul Raphaelson.
2009 Paul Raphaelson / Underbelly
www.under-belly.org