Best Roasted Chicken
Anyone can throw a chicken in the oven, cook it until the meat is falling off the bone; but who wants to eat that dry tasteless bird? With just a couple extra steps, you can prepare a moist, tender and delicious bird that your family and friends will beg you to make time and again.
Try to use a whole chicken no less than 5 pounds. I tend to use the Perdue brand, and get one about 6.5 to 7 pounds.
FIRST of all, BRINE the chicken. See my article on how to brine here:
http://chefgregsgormetkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-about-brining.html
Ingredients:
FOR COMPOUND BUTTER:
1 stick of butter, softened (room temperature)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (chopped fine)
1 teaspoon fresh parsley leaves (chopped fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Simply put softened butter (NOT MELTED!!) in a bowl, add the herbs and seasonings, and mix together using a fork until combined. If you forgot to take the butter out of the fridge, like I do a lot of times, use the microwave at 10% power for 1 minute, works like a charm for me.
What's great about making a compound butter, is you can use anything YOU want in it. I always have all sorts of different compound butters in my fridge for different occasions.
AROMATICS: (The stuff your will stuff inside the bird)
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 celery rib, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1/2 lemon
6 fresh thyme stems
6 fresh parsley stems
3 fresh rosemary stems
2 garlic cloves, crushed
This is going inside the bird, and will not be eaten, so it doesn't matter how it looks, etc, just chop em up so it all fits inside, you can even leave the peelings on the onion and garlic.
Let's get to the bird:
5 to 7 pound whole chicken
About 8 slices of bacon
salt and fresh ground pepper
Put it all together:
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse the chicken out, inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Generously salt and pepper inside and outside of the bird, and place on a roasting rack inside roasting pan. If you don't have a roasting rack, you can make a "make-shift" rack using vegetable/potato medley. Chop up onions, celery, carrots and potatoes and line bottom of roasting pan, and then set the chicken on top of the vegetables. The main reason I don't like to do it that way is because I prefer the juices from the chicken that collect in the bottom of the pan to make a sauce with. If I put vegetable in the pan, then they soak up all those great juices, and also make the drippings taste like vegetables. I just prefer my drippings to taste like the meat.
3. Using your fingers, GENTLY go under the skin on the breasts, separating the skin from the breast. Start from the rear and go as far as you can, then go in from the front. You are NOT removing the skin, just making enough room between the skin and the meat to push in your compound butter. I generally don't do this to the thighs, since the dark meat tends to stay juicy, but feel free to if you like.
4. Put half of the compound butter underneath the skin on the breasts. Push it in as far as you can, then you can push down on the outside to spread it around.
5. Put the Aromatics inside the cavity of the chicken, and if needed, tie the legs together using kitchen twine to hold the aromatics in.
6. Take the rest of the compound butter and spread on the OUTSIDE of the chicken, all over. Breasts, legs, thighs, etc.
7. Lay the bacon over top of the chicken breasts, overlapping. I have never neede
d to secure the bacon with toothpicks; the bacon has always stayed in place for me, but you CAN if you want.
8. Place chicken in per-heated 450 degree oven on center rack for 15 minutes.
9. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and baste chicken with juices in the roasting pan.
10. Continue
cooking until chickens internal temperature reaches 165 degrees when thermometer is inserted into thickest part of the thigh, basting about every 15 minutes. Approximately 2 hours. I have one of those thermometers that stay in the meat while its cooking, and lets me know when the desired temp is reached; it's a great tool to have, and everyone should have one.
11. Remove bacon, and put back in oven for another 15 minutes to brown the breast.
12. Remove from oven, and as crazy as this may sound, let the chicken rest for no less than ONE hour, but preferably let it rest for the same amount of time you had it in the oven. While the chicken is resting, you can prepare your side dishes, sauces, etc. If you don't let it rest, you will lose all juiciness. "Oh no, the chicken will be cold if I let it rest that long!" No, it will not be COLD, but it will not be steaming hot either, and that is why you want to make gravy or a sauce to put over it.
Use the pan drippings to make a gravy or sauce, and serve with any side dishes you like.
Note about basting
: I tried this same recipe without basting, and it was NO where near as good, so basting is VERY important! Best tool to use is a basting tool, which is basically a big eye-dropper looking device. It allows you to get down into the pan where the drippings are and suck them up without getting burned, then squeeze it out over the top.
Try to use a whole chicken no less than 5 pounds. I tend to use the Perdue brand, and get one about 6.5 to 7 pounds.
FIRST of all, BRINE the chicken. See my article on how to brine here:
http://chefgregsgormetkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-about-brining.html
Ingredients:
FOR COMPOUND BUTTER:
1 stick of butter, softened (room temperature)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (chopped fine)
1 teaspoon fresh parsley leaves (chopped fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Simply put softened butter (NOT MELTED!!) in a bowl, add the herbs and seasonings, and mix together using a fork until combined. If you forgot to take the butter out of the fridge, like I do a lot of times, use the microwave at 10% power for 1 minute, works like a charm for me.
What's great about making a compound butter, is you can use anything YOU want in it. I always have all sorts of different compound butters in my fridge for different occasions.
AROMATICS: (The stuff your will stuff inside the bird)
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 celery rib, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1/2 lemon
6 fresh thyme stems
6 fresh parsley stems
3 fresh rosemary stems
2 garlic cloves, crushed
This is going inside the bird, and will not be eaten, so it doesn't matter how it looks, etc, just chop em up so it all fits inside, you can even leave the peelings on the onion and garlic.
Let's get to the bird:
5 to 7 pound whole chicken
About 8 slices of bacon
salt and fresh ground pepper
Put it all together:
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse the chicken out, inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Generously salt and pepper inside and outside of the bird, and place on a roasting rack inside roasting pan. If you don't have a roasting rack, you can make a "make-shift" rack using vegetable/potato medley. Chop up onions, celery, carrots and potatoes and line bottom of roasting pan, and then set the chicken on top of the vegetables. The main reason I don't like to do it that way is because I prefer the juices from the chicken that collect in the bottom of the pan to make a sauce with. If I put vegetable in the pan, then they soak up all those great juices, and also make the drippings taste like vegetables. I just prefer my drippings to taste like the meat.
3. Using your fingers, GENTLY go under the skin on the breasts, separating the skin from the breast. Start from the rear and go as far as you can, then go in from the front. You are NOT removing the skin, just making enough room between the skin and the meat to push in your compound butter. I generally don't do this to the thighs, since the dark meat tends to stay juicy, but feel free to if you like.
4. Put half of the compound butter underneath the skin on the breasts. Push it in as far as you can, then you can push down on the outside to spread it around.
5. Put the Aromatics inside the cavity of the chicken, and if needed, tie the legs together using kitchen twine to hold the aromatics in.
6. Take the rest of the compound butter and spread on the OUTSIDE of the chicken, all over. Breasts, legs, thighs, etc.
7. Lay the bacon over top of the chicken breasts, overlapping. I have never neede
d to secure the bacon with toothpicks; the bacon has always stayed in place for me, but you CAN if you want.
8. Place chicken in per-heated 450 degree oven on center rack for 15 minutes.
9. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and baste chicken with juices in the roasting pan.
10. Continue
cooking until chickens internal temperature reaches 165 degrees when thermometer is inserted into thickest part of the thigh, basting about every 15 minutes. Approximately 2 hours. I have one of those thermometers that stay in the meat while its cooking, and lets me know when the desired temp is reached; it's a great tool to have, and everyone should have one.
11. Remove bacon, and put back in oven for another 15 minutes to brown the breast.
12. Remove from oven, and as crazy as this may sound, let the chicken rest for no less than ONE hour, but preferably let it rest for the same amount of time you had it in the oven. While the chicken is resting, you can prepare your side dishes, sauces, etc. If you don't let it rest, you will lose all juiciness. "Oh no, the chicken will be cold if I let it rest that long!" No, it will not be COLD, but it will not be steaming hot either, and that is why you want to make gravy or a sauce to put over it.
Use the pan drippings to make a gravy or sauce, and serve with any side dishes you like.
Note about basting
: I tried this same recipe without basting, and it was NO where near as good, so basting is VERY important! Best tool to use is a basting tool, which is basically a big eye-dropper looking device. It allows you to get down into the pan where the drippings are and suck them up without getting burned, then squeeze it out over the top.
