[pete b]

I have been playing around with perfecting roast chicken. It's a favorite weekend meal with lots of leftovers or when we have another couple over. It's perfect because most of the time is in the oven while you prep sides and keep things clean. And drink beer.
I have a method that's easy with great tesults. So I thought I would share.
1. Get a nice chicken. I find the flavor is directly proportional to the size of the operation: local farm good, Perdue bad.
2. Brine if you have time. It makes a difference but isn't crucial.
3. I preheat oven to 350 and rough chop an onion, a couple carrots, and a couple stalks of celery and put them in my cast iron Dutch oven. The chicken gets patted dry, skin and cavity salt and peppered. I likely stuff cavity with moisture producing aromatics: garlic, lemon, onion, herbs, what have you. The chicken goes on top of the mirepoix breast side down, the lid goes on the Dutch oven and in it goes at 350.
4. After 30 minutes crank up oven to 450 without touching the covered Dutch oven.
5, after 30 minutes pull out Dutch oven and check temps in the middle of the thigh and breast. Once the breast is about 120 the thigh is about 160. This might be now or 15-20 minutes later.
6. Once the breast is 120 put chicken on rack, this time breast side up, in shallow pan. Put back in 450 oven 15_20 minutes to brown skin and finish cooking.
7. Meanwhile add a quart of chicken stock to the mirepoix and chicken juices in Dutch oven and put on high burner. Add salt and pepper, reduce for awhile then strain into saucepan and reduce.
8. When chicken is done put on cutting board to rest and pour juices into Pyrex measuring cup and put in freezer for a few minutes. Spoon schmaltz into a container for future cooking adventures and add brown juices to reduced​ stock and continue reducing into a reminder glace. The demo glace can be made into any sauce you like. Today I added two bulbs of roasted garlic. Herbs and cream or Dijon mustard and cream is nice. Today it got served with roasted beets, potatoes, spring dug parsnips and leeks.

This method yields juicy breast, fall off the bone dark meat, and juicy skin. The dark meat gets a big head start with the bird upside down in the Dutch oven.

[BrewBama]

Thanks for sharing. Your bird looks fantastic.

I also have a soft spot for chicken.  I used to get it at the German Fests. The half liter Beer and half a Chicken in that environment was awesome. Also on the North Shore of Oahu they serve great roadside chicken.

 


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