Perfect Roast Chicken

Disclaimer: The image to the left is not my roast chicken. It is one that I nabbed off of google images because my camera is not cooperating (see below post of library books. Like that lovely black shadow creeping in from the corner? I don't either. And my other camera isn't "talking" to my computer so guess what I'm asking for for Christmas? :) However, it looks a LOT like my roast chicken so I'm using it here as an example. If I have an opportunity to share a good picture of my very own roast chicken, this post will be revised. Until then, we're moving on.

There are a million and one recipes for roast chicken. Some quite good, some quite bad, some too detailed, some not detailed enough. My point here is not to give you another recipe. My point with this post is to share with you a METHOD that I've discovered, experimented with, and now faithfully adore, that gives great results every time.

Results like nummy, nummy crispy golden skin, moist chicken breasts, never dry, never undercooked chicken. The perfect roast chicken.

It is too good not to share.

The Method for Perfect Roast Chicken

(as taught to me by the lovely Nigella Lawson in her book How to Eat)

Turn oven on to 400 degrees Farhenheit.

Rinse whole chicken (or two, I frequently cook two at a time) with cool water, making sure to remember to take all of the innards out of the chicken and using or disposing of them as you will. Rinse inside of the chicken well, until water runs clean.

Pat chicken dry with a paper towel. Place in your roasting tray. With your fingers gently loosen the skin from the meat over the breasts on both sides.

Place some aromatic goodies in the cavity of the bird. I vary on this based upon what I have on hand. Frequently it is half of a lemon, or half of an onion and a couple inches of celery, or half of an apple and some sage.

Liberally coat under the loosened skin and all over the skin of the chicken with butter or olive oil. Depending on my mood, I use either, massaging with butter, leaving little pats here and there, or smoothing with olive oil. Liberally salt and pepper the bird.

Place roasting pan in oven and roast chicken based on the following timeline:

For every pound of chicken roast for 15 minutes, then add an additional ten minutes to the total.

If you are cooking two chickens at once, try to get two very close in size and base the timing on the largest (if they are in the same roasting pan.) If the birds differ wildly in size, use seperate roasting pans, and thus seperate timing. Do NOT take the sum poundage of BOTH chickens to determine the cooking time. Mine normally average close to 90 minutes.

That's it. Isn't it easy?? This method makes a simple, perfect roast chicken. Great with whatever you want to pair it with. I have made this probably fifteen times with beautiful results every single time. I can't say that about the majority of recipes I've tried.

And you know what is so great about this method? You can tweak the flavorings of the chicken as much as you like. Want a sesame teriyaki chicken? Simply marinate it for a few hours in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and sesame chili oil. If you use oil in your marinade, you may not have to add it on top before roasting and voila! Serve with rice and stir-fried veggies. Want a chili-lime marinated chicken? Simply marinate it for a few hours in lime juice, olive oil, garlic, chili powder and cumin and roast as directed. The options are endless.

Want to roast pieces of chicken? Use the same method, but just scale back the timing based upon the size of your pieces. Bone-in, skin-on breasts generally take about 40 minutes, thighs probably about 30.

And then, once your dinner is over, when you are washing up the dishes, take the carcass of your chicken and all of the goodie left in the bottom of the pan and either scrape it into a stock pot to make stock the next day or place in a gallon-size freezer bag to freeze until you are ready to make stock. I normally also throw the neck (from the variety of innards that chickens come with) in the freezer bag too. My stock recipe to come tomorrow . . .

Enjoy!