I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken. To that goal, I have
read all the recipes in my cookbooks, and have gone over dozens of recipes
on the internet. The problems to be adressed in roasting a chicken are the
difference in cooking times and final temperatures between the white and
dark meats, the tendency of chicken to dry out and toughen while roasting,
and the desire for browned, crispy skin. Here is the method that is tested
in my kitchen (times eight chickens!) and will produce a reliably perfect
baked chicken.

1 cup salt
1 cup sugar
4 bay leaves
8 cloves garlic, crushed
6 cups water

Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl until salt and sugar are disolved.

1 four to five pound fresh chicken.
8 cloves garlic minced fine
1 medium yellow onion, quartered

Remove giblets and reserve for other use. Rinse the chicken, and place it in
a one gallon Ziplock® bag. Add the salt/sugar solution, and seal, expelling
the air. Put the bag in the mixing bowl, and refrigerate for six hours.
Discard the brine, and rinse the chicken again. Dry the chicken thoroughly
with paper towels, and put it on a rack over a baking pan. Refrigerate
uncovered overnight. This step allows the skin to dry out so that it will
brown and crisp when baked. The meat is protected by the skin, and will not
dry out. Trust me. Preheat the oven to 500+ degrees. Remove the chicken from
the refrigerator, and, if necessary, dry inside and out again with paper
towels. Smear the garlic on the inside and outside of the chicken. Tuck the
wingtips under the back of the chicken. Place the chicken on its side on a
V-rack over the baking pan and place in the center of the oven for 20
minutes. Turn the chicken to the other side and continue roasting for
another 20 minutes. Place the chicken breast down and return to the oven.
Turn the oven down to 350 degrees. In 20 minutes, remove the chicken and
cover the breast and wings with aluminum foil. Bake for about 30 minutes
more, or until a thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh reads 155.
Remove the chicken from the oven and tent with foil to rest for at least 30
minutes. Carve and serve.

Enjoy!

Rich wrote:
> I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken.

You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and just used the
Marcella Hazan method:
http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/roastchickenwit.shtml

-L.

"-L." > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Rich wrote:
>> I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken.
>
> You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and just used the
> Marcella Hazan method:
> http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/roastchickenwit.shtml

My experiments prove that the difference between a brined and an unbrined
chicken is remarkable and brining is well worth the time and minimal effort.
Also, the drying of the skin in the refrigerator is important if you want
crispy, brown skin. Those who throw away the skin because they think it's
unhealthy may skip this step.

--Rich

-L. wrote:
> Rich wrote:
>
>>I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken.
>
>
> You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and just used the
> Marcella Hazan method:
> http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/roastchickenwit.shtml
>
> -L.
>

I do something really similar. I cut the lemons in half and roast in a
similar fashion. I don't care for the sugar/salt brining and think the
lemons keep the meat really juicy with a nice bright taste.

>>
>> Rich wrote:
>>> I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken.
>>
>> You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and just used the
>> Marcella Hazan method:
>> http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/roastchickenwit.shtml
>
> My experiments prove that the difference between a brined and an unbrined
> chicken is remarkable and brining is well worth the time and minimal
> effort. Also, the drying of the skin in the refrigerator is important if
> you want crispy, brown skin. Those who throw away the skin because they
> think it's unhealthy may skip this step.
>
> --Rich
Recipe sounds good, but seems like a lot of steps in turning. We usually
turn just once. Breast up then down.

Also, are you starting with a pre-injected/brined bird? Unless you shop
carefully, this is usually what you get, and that can effect your recipe.

Larry T

In article >,
"Rich" > wrote:

> Remove the chicken from the oven and tent with foil to rest for at least 30
> minutes. Carve and serve.

Doesn't the skin get soft under the tent?
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.mac.com/barbschaller
http://jamlady.eboard.com

Rich > wrote:
>I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken.

Tyler Florence already found it.

--Blair
"Were there two?"

George wrote:
> -L. wrote:
> > Rich wrote:
> >
> >>I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken.
> >
> >
> > You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and just used the
> > Marcella Hazan method:
> > http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/roastchickenwit.shtml
> >
> > -L.
> >
>
> I do something really similar. I cut the lemons in half and roast in a
> similar fashion. I don't care for the sugar/salt brining and think the
> lemons keep the meat really juicy with a nice bright taste.

I think the roasting method is most important, as I have done it with
less-juicy onions instead of lemons and the meat is still moist and
tender. Also, if you rub the skin with oil it gets brown and crispy,
too, so the part about having it dry in the fridge is unnecessary.

-L.

Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> Rich > wrote:
> >I have been on a quest for the ultimate roast chicken.
>
> Tyler Florence already found it.

I like several of his "ultimate" recipes. He does a good job of
explicating the "whys" of some processes. As to the perpetually
popular roast chicken, Sunset magazine did a test/comparison of about
fifty (50!) chickens and ended up with some pretty specific
recommendations, which I've posted before. Some of what they said:

* Oven temperature. A constant 425°F oven--regular or
convection--produced the crispest, most richly browned skin and
juiciest breast and thigh meat....

* Chicken position. Starting the bird breast down, then turning it over
to brown, didn't keep the meat any moister. Nor did rotating the
chicken from side to side. And in both cases, the skin wasn't as nicely
colored. [i.e., cook it breast up]

* Rubbing with fat. Smearing the bird with butter or oil before
roasting made the skin slightly crisper but had no flavor impact.

* Basting. Spooning the pan drippings over the chicken as it roasted
made the skin less crisp and, again, added nothing to the meat flavor.
[i.e., don't baste]

* Free or not. In the most telling taste tests of all, standard
commercially reared chickens edged out free-range birds for best
flavor.

* Size. Big chickens--often labeled roasters (generally 6 to 8 lb.....
)--have deeper, richer, and more complex flavor than smaller ones....
In fact, everything a roast chicken does well, it does best when
bigger. -aem

For the full article, go he
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...06/ai_69494906

aem wrote:


> * Size. Big chickens--often labeled roasters (generally 6 to 8 lb.....
> )--have deeper, richer, and more complex flavor than smaller ones....
> In fact, everything a roast chicken does well, it does best when
> bigger. -aem


I mentioned before that I got the Julia Child DVD series from the
library. I'm working my way the through the "meat" disk, and just
watched the the roast chicken episode. She had a bunch of chickens
lined up on the counter and discussed them all. She also was in favor
of the "roasting" chicken.




Brian (roasting them in Weber kettle is a good way)

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

Default User wrote:

> aem wrote:
>
>
>
>>* Size. Big chickens--often labeled roasters (generally 6 to 8 lb.....
>>)--have deeper, richer, and more complex flavor than smaller ones....
>>In fact, everything a roast chicken does well, it does best when
>>bigger. -aem
>
>
>
> I mentioned before that I got the Julia Child DVD series from the
> library. I'm working my way the through the "meat" disk, and just
> watched the the roast chicken episode. She had a bunch of chickens
> lined up on the counter and discussed them all. She also was in favor
> of the "roasting" chicken.


The following may not be the "ultimate" roast chicken but its very good.

Stuff the chest cavity with peeled cloves of garlic and baste the
chicken with a good, strong, fresh fish stock while it is roasting.

When done remove the garlic from the breast cavity and reserve for other
uses.

Pour out the pan juices from the roasting pan, deglaze the pan with a
bit of white wine & defat the pan juices and then proceed to make a
sauce from the pan juices using 1 or more cloves of the roasted garlic.
---
JL
>
>
>
>
> Brian (roasting them in Weber kettle is a good way)
>

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:23:25 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes
> wrote:
>The following may not be the "ultimate" roast chicken but its very good.
>
>Stuff the chest cavity with peeled cloves of garlic and baste the
>chicken with a good, strong, fresh fish stock while it is roasting.
>
>When done remove the garlic from the breast cavity and reserve for other
>uses.
>
>Pour out the pan juices from the roasting pan, deglaze the pan with a
>bit of white wine & defat the pan juices and then proceed to make a
>sauce from the pan juices using 1 or more cloves of the roasted garlic.

Fish stock?! Interesting! Would never have thunk it. I favor Thomas
Keller's recipe in his book, Bouchon. I've never tried the Marcella
Hazan recipe but based on comments here, I'll give it a go. One of
these times. When it truly cools down!

TammyM