Essentials: Roast Chicken

Serious Eats Essentials

Posted by Robin Bellinger, February 22, 2008 at 10:30 AM

Roasting chicken always, always reminds me of Jeffrey Steingarten. I think the moment my crush on him bloomed into undying love was when I read his essay “As the Spit Turns” in the August 1999 issue of Vogue (reprinted in It Must’ve Been Something I Ate), in which he discusses his efforts to rig up an effective spit-roasting system at home. Two passages near the beginning won me over: “Whenever I have nothing better to do, I roast a chicken. …I’ll roast a chicken in the afternoon even when I am not hungry and have plenty of food in the fridge and a reservation for dinner. It’s like a hobby.” And then, “The great Brillat-Savarin declared, ‘We can learn to be cooks, but we must be born knowing how to roast.’ I often lie awake nights worrying about whether I was born to roast.’” I like a man who has his priorities in order. It is in this spirit that I offer you Marcella Hazan’s beautifully simple bird stuffed with two lemons. I suspect that many of you already love this very recipe, and if you do not know it yet, that you, too, are always tinkering with roast chicken, perhaps even roasting a bird whenever you have nothing better to do.

I have never managed to roast a chicken to Steingarten’s exact specifications (“Dark and crispy skin, intensely savory, covering every square millimeter of the bird with no unsightly white patches”), a shame because I love crispy poultry skin as much as the next glutton. It’s something to strive for, but is it not impossible to cry over skin that is flabby here and there when the roasted flesh beneath it is so uniformly juicy and delicious? It was once my habit to massage a bird with butter and salt and pepper and stuff it with garlic and lemon before roasting it on a bed of vegetables, but a year or two ago the recipe below won me over with its effective simplicity: chicken, lemon, salt, pepper. I don’t bother with trussing, but I do flip the roast midway through cooking: it isn’t too much trouble, and it does get good results. A 12-inch cast-iron skillet has been my roasting pan ever since I first made Zuni roast chicken.

Though I am fairly certain I was not born to roast—my reliance on meat thermometers suggests that I am not a natural—I see no reason to stop working towards that crispy, thoroughly bronzed goal. After all, it’s a great hobby.

About the author: Robin Bellinger recently escaped a career in book publishing, which was cutting into her cooking time. Now she's a freelance editor and can bake bread on Tuesday afternoon if she feels like it. She lives in Midtown Manhattan with her husband and blogs about cooking and crafting at home*economics.

Roast Chicken with Lemons

Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

-serves 4-

Ingredients

A 3- to 4-pound chicken
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 rather small lemons [I have also used 1 large one with success, in a smallish chicken]

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Wash the chicken, inside and out, in cold water. Remove any loose bits of fat. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it. Pat it completely dry with paper towels. Season generously with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the body and into the cavity.

2. Wash the lemons in cold water and dry completely. Roll on a counter to soften and then puncture each lemon in at least 20 places, using a toothpick, trussing needle, or fork. Put both lemons in the cavity.

3. Close the cavity opening with toothpicks or trussing needle and string. Close it well, but don’t make it absolutely airtight or the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks; the string is just there to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.

4. Place the chicken breast-down in a roasting pan. Do not add any fat: it isn’t necessary. Put the bird in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken so that it is on its back, breast facing up. Be careful not to puncture the skin while turning. Cook for another 30-35 minutes, then turn the oven up to 400°F and cook 20 minutes more. Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes’ total cooking time for each pound of chicken. You do not need to turn the chicken again.

5. Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious; be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, as they may squirt.

13 Comments | Tags: chicken, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella Hazan, roast chicken, Serious Eats Essentials

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13 Comments:

I'm so glad you posted this, Robin, because the recipe has bedeviled me for years. I have never found one lemon, let alone two, small enough to fit the cavity of even a large chicken. A single medium-sized lemon fills the space so thoroughly that the bird roasts unevenly. So I've never understood how TWO lemons could cook to shriveled-ness in the time Marcella specifies.

I do make this chicken, but I cut the lemon up first. I'm eager to read about other Serious Eaters' experiences.

Cathy at 11:12AM on 02/22/08

Thanks for the recipe! A good roast chicken is hard to top, and no matter how good you do it, it always seems like there is room for improvement. I recently posted about a Cook's Illustrated version on my blog: The Teacher Learns to Cook.

darronvigs24 at 11:12AM on 02/22/08

One small lemon cut in two, one half a standard yellow onion cut in two, both in the bird, oven preheated and left at 400 F the whole time, flip over every half hour. A knob of sweet butter inside too if you're feeling buttery.

Use a rack (I use the small rack from the toaster oven balanced over a yellow ceramic roasting pan), choose a bird with taste (if you do not do upscale gourmet marketing the Tyson All-Natural is a good choice of bird and the price is only slightly higher than the junker birds), salt and pepper.

Each time, perfection.

We roast the bird for the skin. Each morsel is crisp and salivation-worthy. Not a flabby bit. The meat remains juicy and good for salads or crepes or simply snacking from hand.

And it really is a lazy method. Good old BS (Brillat-Savarin) probably was thinking of wood-fired ovens when he penned his poetic jibe about needing to be born knowing how to roast. As a matter of fact its such a great line that one wants to sing it, enjoying the sound, forgetting that really . . . it simply is not true.

Karen Resta at 12:33PM on 02/22/08

Flipping is a waste, as is a rack. Get a smallish chicken, heat a dutch oven in the oven at 400 F, salt the chicken, drop it into the hot pot, wait about 50 minutes, done.

Luther at 12:35PM on 02/22/08

There is another delicious roasted chicken recipe out there that I think all you serious foodies would love. The recipe can be found on Epicurious and is called "My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken" by Thomas Keller, Bouchon. I would guarantee it that you won't be disappointed. The recipe is sensational! Because of the cooking technique that Keller uses, you might experience some smoking in your kitchen. Beware - your smoke detectors might go off!

Catharine56 at 12:37PM on 02/22/08

Robin, you must have been reading my mind. We are definitely simpatico. I have been struggling with the perfect poulet roti quandary for several weeks and I decided that I will try every recipe in this stack of books next to the sofa. Maybe...

The contention is that a chef can tell everything about a prospective cook by how the cook roasts a chicken. This makes me a bit nervous, since I cannot determine which chef's recipe among my nominees for "Best Interpretation of Perfect Poulet Roti by a Virtual Amateur Chef" could be the frontrunner. I'm thinking it's better not to project at this point. It's really too early in the race to tell.

Jeffrey's hobby of roasting chickens aside, there's also The Minimalist version. Mark Bittman rubs the chicken with olive oil and herbs, s&p, high heat (450 degrees), short roasting time (approx. 30 min), no turning. Bing bang boom. Les Halles French Bistro style seasons, trusses, and stuffs the bird with lemon, onion and herbs. It also gets a herb butter rubdown under-skin and out. It roasts halfway at 375 degrees then the oven gets revved up to 450 degrees with basting during the roasting time. Would the French steer me wrong?

Yet, I sense a possible derailment ahead. The French CIA directs you to brown the chicken on all sides before roasting, breast up in the oven at 450 degrees for about 50 minutes. My Glorious French Food guy takes the more minimal route, 450 degrees, about 50 minutes, covered with foil the first half of roasting time.

The ladies take a more tender approach. Julia recommends a lower oven temp (425 degrees at first then reduced to 350), trussing, much butter rubbing, basting and turning the chicken on all sides while roasting. Food scientist extraordinaire Shirley O. Corriher subscribes to Harold McGee's techniques for the perfect roast chicken. Of course she brines the bird, which allows it to withstand a raging 475 degrees for about 40 min. (She is actually suggesting a 6 lb. bird as opposed to all the other recipes, which direct you to use a 3-4 lb.bird.) Also much turning and basting take place before the oven gets turned down to 325 degrees to finish.

Do I start with the most complicated and work my way back? If I begin with the minimalist version, what if it is so perfect and satisfying, I won't continue my quest? I could be missing something great along the way. Therein lies the problem. Is it the process I'm so hooked on or the result? Nuts... I have to go roast six chickens.

frederika at 12:53PM on 02/22/08

@Catharine56 - Darn it - I forgot about that one. Now I have to roast seven chickens. Sigh...

frederika at 12:58PM on 02/22/08

Make that eight, frederika. ;-} Here's my favorite no-fuss bird, from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall -

Herb-roast chicken

Serve this with nothing more than a green salad to mop up all the herby, buttery juices. Serves four to five.

1 plump organic roasting chicken, weighing around 2kg
50g soft butter
A couple of generous handfuls of fresh herbs, such as parsley, chives and marjoram, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
Salt and ground black pepper
½ glass white wine

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Remove the bird from the fridge at least an hour before cooking it, ideally two or three. Take off any string trussing, place the bird in a roasting tin and spread out its legs from the body. Enlarge the opening of the cavity with your fingers so hot air can circulate inside the bird.

Put the butter in a bowl, throw in the herbs and garlic, and season generously. Mix together with your fingers, then smear all over the chicken, outside and in. Place in the centre of the hot oven and leave for 25-30 minutes (this is phase one). Baste the chicken, turn down the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4, pour the wine into the tin (not over the bird) and roast for another 35-50 minutes (phase two), depending on its size. (A good test for doneness is to pierce that part of the bird where the thigh joins the breast; the juices released should run clear.) Open the oven door, turn off the oven and leave the bird for 15-20 minutes to rest before carving. For a bigger bird, at the longer end of the cooking time, you may wish to protect the skin with buttered foil for, say, the first 20-30 minutes of phase two.

Carve the bird in the tin, as untidily as you please, letting the slices fall into the buttery juices, then take the whole thing to the table so people can help themselves.

Cathy at 1:14PM on 02/22/08

For all you foodies, there is another roasted chicken recipe you might be interested in. The recipe can be found on Epicurious and is called "My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken" by Thomas Keller, Bouchon. The cooking technique is different than the above recipe and because it cooks at such a high temp, there may be some smoking. I actually set my smoke detectors off when I made this. I don't think you will be disappointed - it is delicious and is very crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

Catharine56 at 1:29PM on 02/22/08

I think there should be a National Roast Chicken Appreciation Day at SE. If National Meatloaf Appreciation Day was fun (and it certainly was!) I can only imagine the passion and joy to be experienced on National Roast Chicken Appreciation Day.

Karen Resta at 1:41PM on 02/22/08

I think its fascinating how strong people feel about their roast chicken recipes! I've tried most of the methods listed above and been pretty happy with the results every time, though my go-to is a Jamie Oliver adaptation - sage, chopped pancetta, salt and pepper mixed into butter and shoved under the breast skin and then roasted till done. It's delicious.

christianne at 1:57PM on 02/22/08

I have been roasting chicken with two lemons ever since reading the Marcella Hazan recipe printed in Bon Appetit. I also sprinkle different combinations of herbs into the cavity before inserting the lemons. This makes the best gravy you can imagine - siphon up all the drippings, remove as much fat as possible, and thicken with arrowroot. The resulting gravy tastes EXACTLY like gravy for turkey! Our own comfort food!

Radiofiesta at 12:31AM on 02/24/08

This is a tried and true recipe...delicious every time. I am glad to see that the foodies have so many variations. Cooking also takes love. The forgotten ingredient.

greatgram23 at 9:17AM on 04/30/08

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