Roasted chicken

A roasted chicken is still one of the best meals that you can have. It’s simple to prepare and few things are as satisfying. You can easily feed 4 or more people, plus you get a carcass that makes amazing stock (you do make stock from scratch, don’t you?). In my house it’s only my wife and I so we noramlly get 2-3 dinners out of the actual chicken. If you’re serious about cooking, you really should be roasting a chicken every week or so because you get enough bones to make good several quarts of good rich stock. In fact, some friends of ours had to listen to one of my drunken diatribes about this same subject a while ago, and now, as a result of politely listening to a raving lunatic, I owe them, what else, but a roasted chicken dinner.

For something so easy, a fair amount has been written about how to roast a chicken because it seems that many people just don’t get it. For my favorite method and commentary, I would direct you to Anthony Bourdain’s wonderful Les Halles Cookbook. In there he goes into great detail about what makes a great roasted chicken and how to prepare one. Since he covers this is such great detail, I won’t go into too much detail, but there are a few things to point out.

First, get a good chicken. I’m certainly guilty of buying commercial chickens at the supermarket when they’re on sale, but most commercial birds don’t have much flavor and can be pretty dry. If you use a commercial chicken, brine the bird with about ¾ cup of kosher salt and 3/8 of a cup of sugar in enough water to cover the bird. Let it sit for a few hours (but probably not more than 4-5 hours), but even as little as 30-60 minutes can make a big difference. If you can, get a naturally raised free-range or organic bird.

Wash it well and stuff the cavity with a good handful of fresh herbs. Pretty much anything will do, but I normally stick to sage, rosemary, and thyme in any combination. Salt the cavity and add either a halved lemon, a halved onion, or an entire head of garlic that’s been halved. Next, you absolutely must truss the bird. If nothing else, tie the legs shut, but what you really need to do is truss it in such a way that the wings and legs are flush to the body. The bird should be compact and shaped vaguely like a football.. This helps the bird cook evenly and ensure that the legs or wings don’t jut out and burn. If you do it correctly (and again read Anthony Bourdain for details), the wings will also partly cover the breast so they don’t receive too much direct heat.

You can cook it inside or outside. Most people prefer a crisper skin and there several competing methods to do this. I normally stick to a fairly high temperature like 400-450 to ensure and use a small enough bird that I can cook it through at this temperature without overcooking anything. When the thighs register about 155 or so, it’s done. Take it off the fire and let it rest for 10 minutes. You need to do this. It’s not option all, unless you want a dry bird.

Today, I’m cooking it outside because it’s hot and nothing beats a roasted chicken over a real fire. On the side, we’ve got grilled spring onions and baby carrots from the farmers market. Also we have more potatoes cooked in a foil packet with garlic, olive oil and herbs.

Roasted chicken is such quintessential bistro fare that nothing beats an uncomplicated easy drink red with it, but beer’s a great choice as well. Today, it’s homebrewed beers. I normally have five homebrews on tap. Because I love Belgian beers, I normally have 2-3 of those. At this point, I’m stuck between a fairly fruity Belgian amber and a NW IPA. It may require a half glass of each to make the final decision. The Belgian amber is about 20% Vienna Malt, 20% Munich malt, and 60% Pilsner malt, plus some sugar to boost the alcohol but lighten the body. It’s a light amber, with a lot of yeast fruitiness and a nice compliment of spice from the combo of Saaz hops and Styrian Goldings hops. The alcohol is about 6.5-7%, so it’s hefty, but not over board. The IPA is similar light amber, with a solid malt backbone, and hopped with Centennial, Amarillo, and Summit hops. Most of the hops are in the finish, so it has a lot of hop flavor, but isn’t overly bitter. The Belgian is the more alcoholic of the two but also the drier because of the sugar (which ferments completely and doesn’t leave any residual sugar).

The choice ended up being the Belgian Amber, because it was dry, with nice fruity aromas but also had a nice flavor of toffee from the Munich and Vienna malts. It was the more understated of the two but also the more complex of the two. It was a good match to the food, although it was a little too dry for the amazing peach I had for dessert. Tough to beat Belgian beers with bistro food, but I’d still take a great pale, IPA, or brown ale with a burger or a roast beef sandwich. I’ll save my diatribe about a proper burger for another time.

We at the breasts of the chicken for dinner but saved the wings, thighs and legs for another day. It was supposed to get hot, and the leftovers would work well in a salad and give me an opportunity to put something together quickly for dinner without having to turn a burner or the oven on. Got to love roast chicken.