PrintThe Best Roast Chicken Recipe? Who Wants to Try It With Me?
There's a hint of fall in the air, I'm feeling a tad frisky, so I'm finally going to tackle the Zuni Cafe roast chicken recipe. I've had Judy Rodgers' famous roast chicken and bread salad many times at her restaurant, and it is so fine, but I've always been intimidated by the thought of making it at home because, well, the recipe is 4 3/4 pages long in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. 4 3/4 pages long! It's the Moby Dick of roast chicken recipes.
But I re-read the recipe last night, and realized that half of the 4 3/4 pages are devoted to the bread salad. Well, I just made an executive chef cooking decision to skip making the bread salad and concentrate on the roast chicken, which still takes a full weekend to prepare. As I might need a hug to get through this recipe, I'd like some other Serious Eaters to consider making the Zuni roast chicken as well. That way, we can suffer together, compare notes, and either swoon or cry in unison when we finally get to taste the fruits of our labor. Only when we taste will we know if Rodgers' obviously obsessive method for roasting chicken is worth the Herculean effort it entails.
Here goes.
Zuni Roast Chicken (Skip the Bread Salad)
- serves 2 to 4, depending on how hungry everyone is -
Ingredients
One small chicken, 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 pounds
4 tender sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary, or sage, about 1/2 inch long
Salt
About 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
A little water
Procedure
1. Seasoning the chicken (1 to 3 days before serving; for 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 pound chickens, at least 2 days): Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat very dry inside and out. Be thorough--a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown.
2. Approaching from the edge of the cavity, slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets. Now use the tip of your finger to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Using your finger, shove an herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.
3. Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and the pepper (we use 3/4 teaspoon sea salt per pound of chicken). Season the thick sections a little more heavily than the skinny ankles and wings. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity, on the backbone, but don't otherwise worry about seasoning the inside. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate.
4. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Depending on the size, efficiency, and accuracy of your oven, and the size of your bird, you may need to adjust the heat to as high as 500 degrees or as low as 450 degrees during the course of roasting the chicken to get it to brown properly. If that proves to be the case, begin at that temperature the next time you roast a chicken. If you have a convection function on your oven, use it for the first 30 minutes; it will enhance browning, and may reduce overall cooking time by 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Choose a shallow flameproof roasting pan or dish barely larger than the chicken, or use a 10-inch skillet with an all-metal handle. Preheat the pan over medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.
6. Place in the center of the oven and listen and watch for it to start sizzling and browning within 20 minutes. If it doesn't, raise the temperature progressively until it does. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoiking, reduce the temperature by 25 degrees. After about 30 minutes, turn the bird over (drying the bird and preheating the pan should keep the skin from sticking.) Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, then flip back over to recrisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes. Total oven time will be 45 minutes to an hour.
7. Remove the chicken from the oven and turn off the heat. Lift the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate. Carefully pour the clear fat from the roasting pan, leaving the lean drippings behind. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl it. Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken, then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings. Set the chicken in a warm spot (which may be your stovetop), and leave to rest. The meat will become more tender and uniformly succulent as it cools. Tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape to soften any hard golden drippings. Taste--the juices will be extremely flavorful.
8. Cut the chicken into pieces and pour the pan drippings over the chicken.
Rather than making the bread salad, I am going to make a mixed green salad with lettuces from the farmers' market, and buy a good baguette. We will then tear off pieces of the baguette and dip them into the pan juices. Yummy!
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21 Comments:
We have had some tremendous roast chickens at home that have not required days of preparation. The key element, in my view, is the chicken itself. We have been getting ours from an organic farm not too far from our house and every one has been fantastic. We have done simple chickens, simply basting them in balsamic as they cook -- loosely following a Molto Mario recipe -- or just something a little more complicated, making an herb mixture and rubbing it under the skin.
In either case, I hope your chicken turns out. I'd like to hear whether it's vastly superior to other roast chickens you have made. Good luck!
Fillippelli the Cook at 9:04AM on 09/14/07
The question then becomes, how does this compare with the results of the two-pager in Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook? Especially in view of the following on page 181: "Put twelve chefs in a room, with the mission of defining once and for all how best to roast a chicken, and you will never get an agreement. Only spirited discussion, some heavy drinking, and maybe fisticuffs. But this recipe works for us at Les Halles. It's simple, it's good, it requires minimal technique -- and the possibilities of failure are few."
LunaPierCook at 9:05AM on 09/14/07
I make this recipe all the time and while it takes 3 days, most of that time is salting the chicken and letting it sit in the refrigerator.
I've had great luck with this using a 10" frying pan on a really hot grill. It gives you the blistered crispy skin and incredible moist meat you are looking for.
You really shouldn't skip the bread salad - it's really great and even if I make a double batch it always vanishes.
NumberSix at 10:01AM on 09/14/07
This is an excellent roast chicken. It is a process but doesn't seem much different than most other methods, brining, or standing up, or flipping, or rubbing with herb butter in every single crevice, or whatever.
I roasted one using this method about a month ago, using a farmer's market local, organic, happy, and the like type chicken, and utilizing a 10 inch cast iron skillet for the pan. I think I used a little too much salt though. But I did let it sit in the refrigerator after drying and salting for over 24 hours. I also really wish I had a convection feature on my oven. We have done the same thing with industrial farmed, much larger chickens for staff meals at work and the convection oven makes them come more consistently cooked and colored.
On the one I made at home, I loved the skin, and surprising to me, the breast was still even a little moist. Pretty much similar result as the "make sure it is dry, really dry, don't stuff anything in it, and leave it alone" Thomas Keller method, but this one has more delicious pan juice because of the herbs and salt. Didn't make the bread salad either, just enjoyed a leg and some ciabatta standing over the stove with some pickles and green onions, the rest kept me in really good chicken all week (and the other leg and wing I ate cold with some Dreamland barbecue sauce at 11:30 PM on Tuesday night was so very, very good). The only thing I miss is not roasting vegetables in the pan with the chicken because I really like vegetables cooked in the chicken juice, and I know I could do it later, but it is not the same.
I will buy chicken at the market in the morning tomorrow from and try it again. Thanks for the encouragement Ed.
intheyearofthepig at 10:02AM on 09/14/07
I'm in for a nice chicken roasting challenge!
alynn at 10:17AM on 09/14/07
The whole Zuni bread salad is worth making. Once you follow the detailed receipt and get a feel for it, the next time is easier. In general, the Zuni receipts are great, but written in a way that makes them seem more ornery than they really are.That said, I had good luck with a bastardized variant:
http://thegurglingcod.typepad.com/thegurglingcod/2007/05/shortcut_rednec.html
The Gurgling Cod at 10:39AM on 09/14/07
I'm in, though I agree with the others that using a happy chicken from the farmers' market is the real secret to excellent roast chicken. (Jonathan Waxman said in United States of Arugula that was the key to his reknown roast chicken.) And thanks, Mr. Cod, for the modified bread salad recipe, will have to try that as well.
homesicktexan at 11:29AM on 09/14/07
I second the recommendation above. If you can read this comment, you can make the bread salad. The length of recipes in *Mastering the Art of French Cooking* is often a sign of their complexity; the pages are packed with elaborate preparations involving lots of tools, ingredients, steps, and references to several other recipes that you must follow days in advance to be able to assemble the dish at hand. Judy Rodgers invites you to produce much simpler dishes, but offers the kind of exacting detail that a novice needs to achieve consistent results. (Okay, so you should season Sunday's chicken Friday.) I find the book a model of instructive, clear writing. Once you master this dish, try the ricotta gnocchi and the rough puff pastry to make what she calls a crostata before peaches disappear from markets. Excellent recipes. Cf. her own admission about the daunting length of the text. Much better than the careless, terse recipes written by chefs who are less gifted teachers.
Eliz. at 11:41AM on 09/14/07
P.S. Some argue about the supremacy of the Zuni bird. Frank Ruta of Palena has his own following.
Eliz. at 11:44AM on 09/14/07
Well, that does seem like a lot of work. I use the roast chicken recipe from Cooks Illustrated's "The Best Recipe," which is very low-key, and it turns out a perfect--PERFECT--roast chicken every time. So, sorry, Ed, but this time you're on your own!
klg19 at 1:10PM on 09/14/07
Maybe I'm being dense, but I don't think so. Shouldn't the recipe say that you should rinse and dry the chicken, then season it, then let it sit, seasoned, overnight? There is a timing thing going on here that is not explicit, or intuitive, at least the way I have always roasted chickens. It seams as though part of the secret here is allowing the bird to dry a bit, so it doesn't merely steam itself. Is that correct?
outsidecounsel at 1:24PM on 09/14/07
I do this all the time -- I just salt a chicken when I get home from the store, stick it in the fridge, and then cook it whenever I get around to it. If you think about it as a technique, not a recipe, it's less daunting ...
Charlotte at 1:37PM on 09/14/07
DO NOT skip the bread salad. It's easier than the lengthy instructions make it sound, and it's really the crowning glory of this dish. It's adaptable to whatever spiky-tough greens you have.
We make this dish at least monthly, and it's really worth the effort. But don't skip the salad.
anitaepler at 1:53PM on 09/14/07
Oh, I was just telling my bf about this yesterday (he is in charge of all chicken roasting)! We're in (assuming I can convince him to make it)!
LoDega at 3:13PM on 09/14/07
I can tell you from experience that the Bread Salad is terrific. Definitely worth making, if you're going to go to the trouble of roasting the bird. Here's a posting to check out my recent VittlesVamp posting about the same said recipe - including a photo of the glorious results!
The Vamp at 3:23PM on 09/14/07
OMG, Eliz. at 11:44, did you HAVE to remind me about the roast chicken at Palena (D.C.)?!? THE. BEST. ROASTED. CHICKEN. EVER. For something like $11, if I remember right... Just fantastic. I'm in Chef Ruta's fan club, and I'm up in NJ!
In other news, get an organic/happy/local chicken, or a Kosher one. Seriously; every time I have truly great chicken, it turns out to be Kosher.
Curlz at 10:29PM on 09/14/07
Oh, Palena has heavenly food, and, yes, the chicken is divine. Add me to the fan club list, even in St. Louis.
lemons at 10:32AM on 09/15/07
Excellent , does not seem like a lot of work. I love the idea of tucking in the herbs inside the small pockets of skin.
mira
mira at 11:41AM on 09/15/07
I' ve always made the Barefoot Contessa Perfect roast chicken, and it is indeed quite perfect. It also involve putting herbs under the skin, but uses butter, lemons and onions. I will, however, try the Zuni method, and make a comparison. I believe if you buy a quality chicken(like Murray's) you are already on your way to a fantastic bird.
Mich23 at 6:42PM on 09/15/07
Adam Roberts used the recipe and here's the link to some of his thoughts. It really is a lot of work for a roast chicken! http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2006/02/zany_zuni_bread.html
PattyCho at 8:44PM on 09/16/07
I just realized that you're making this chicken without the bread salad. Salting the bird sounds like a great technique. I think I am going to make it this week.
PattyCho at 8:49PM on 09/16/07