Back in the sixties, Julia Child first showed us how to roast a chicken on the French Chef. I sometimes wonder what life would be like if she hadn’t come along. Would we all still be eating jello with marshmallows in it? The most important thing to consider when roasting a chicken is… the chicken. Aiir chilled, grain fed bird at a minimum. They are easy to come by these days. Why waste the time and effort only to be disappointed by the water laden, flavourless no name bird?
Next is oven temperature. This isn’t a baked bird – it’s roasted. Set your oven to roast. 400F is roasting. This recipe works well with a fryer (3-4lbs) or a smaller roaster. For a bigger bird you should consider dropping the temperature to 375F. Some of the concentrated chicken stock will bring it up to something special. This is not essential but it does kick it up a notch. Anything powdered and electric yellow on the other hand has absolutely no place in this recipe. Finally, the pan plays a role. A cast iron frying pan is a good candidate. You need something that can move from a hot oven to the stovetop. If it has a metal handle hang a tea towel on it when it comes out of the oven to remind you it’s hot. Everyone burns themselves once – it really hurts. Serve this with roasted or whipped potatoes and some buttered green beans and you are golden…
Variations This is a base recipe and you can go many different directions with it. Lemon chicken/chicken piccata Cut a lemon in half and put it in the cavity before you roast it. Squeeze the roasted lemons into the pan to deglaze instead of using white wine (catch the seeds). Follow the recipe from there. Pushing this a bit further, add some capers after the lemon – roast chicken piccata. Mustard cream Follow the recipe right to the end. Mix some dijon or pommery mustard with a bit of stock. Add 1/4 cup whipping cream to the sauce and then stir in the mustard mix. Chipotle Replace salt and pepper with some creole or cajun seasoning. Add some finely chopped chipotle in adobo to the sauce at the end. Truffled Add a bit of truffle salt or truffle oil at the end (truffle purists please don’t shoot me) Let your instincts guide you – almost anything works.
