Cooking for the holidays - Roast Chicken

Jeff Green | Nov 25, 2020

This will not be the same holiday that many people are used to, but over the next 6 weeks there will be opportunities to celebrate in small gatherings with food. While there is a great celebratory feel to large family gatherings, they do bring limitations for food preparation. That is one reason why Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners tend to be uniform, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc. It is good food, if properly prepared, but something is sacrificed when a meal for 20-25 people is prepared in one go, and these meals should be prepared on the day, to get the full flavour from the turkey and the root vegetables that are at their core.

Smaller gatherings bring more options, which we will explore over the next four weeks. First things first, roast chicken. For gatherings of between 4 and 12 people, roast chicken could be the best thing to prepare. For lesser numbers, one chicken is enough. Two might be necessary when 8 or more people are gathered.

There are two things that are important when it comes to roast chicken. The most important thing is the preparation. The second most important thing is the quality of the bird. Preparation is most important because any bird can be ruined if it is not cooked right. But, a plump, farm raised chicken, properly prepared, is something to behold.

There is a basic challenge when roasting any fowl. The tender breast meat will dry out if overcooked, and the juicier, dark meat could kill you if it is undercooked. To make matters worse, it takes longer to cook the dark meat than it does to cook the white meat. Chicken, happily, is less sensitive to this problem than turkey is, because it cooks more quickly anyway, so there is less need to go to special lengths, such as deep frying the entire bird, or soaking it in brine for 4 days.

The simplest, and some say the best, way to roast a chicken is to rely on salt, skin, and heat, lots of heat.

Renowned chefs Jacques Pepin and Mark Bittman ascribe to this simple chicken idea. All you have to do is pat the chicken dry, try to fold the wings and the legs into the chicken so they are not sticking out, and then rub a fair bit of salt, some pepper and olive oil over the chicken. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 500 degrees fahrenheit (you read that right) and place an empty cast iron pan in the centre. When the oven reaches 500, place the bird in the middle of the pan, reduce the temperature to 400, and cook for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 350 and cook for another 30 minutes. When a meat thermometer, inserted between the leg and the thigh, shows a temperature of 155 to 160, the chicken is ready.

Let it sit for 15 minutes on the counter, covered with tin foil if you like, before cutting it up.

Jacques Pepin's technique differs in one respect. He places the chicken on its side in the pan, switching sides in 15 minutes, and then placing it on its back to finish cooking. The reason for this is to help the dark meat cook more quickly.

Samrit Nosrat, who's Netflix tv series, Salt Fat Acid Heat, culminates in a roast chicken dinner, adds one more ingredient to her roast chicken. She puts the chicken in a heavy plastic bag. She mixes 2 tablespoons kosher salt into two cups of buttermilk and pours the salty liquid into the bag to coat the chicken. After 12 to 24 hours in the fridge, she takes the chicken out of the bag and scrapes off the buttermilk. 

She places the chicken in a roasting pan, or cast iron pan, in a 425 degree oven. She likes to rotate the pan so that the legs are pointing toward the rear left corner and the breast is pointing toward the centre of the oven. The reason for this is that electric ovens tend to be hotter in the back corners than the centre. The oven temperature is lowered to 400, and in 15 minutes the chicken is rotated so the legs are facing the rear right corner. The temperature is lowered to 350 at 30 minutes. If the bird is becoming too brown, tin foil can be loosely draped over it. Check the temperature between the leg and thigh at 50 minutes.

When I cook a roast chicken, I tend to pile onions and garlic, and either fennel, carrots or celery or all three in the pan before placing the chicken over top of them and then cook it in much the same way as the chefs mentioned above.

While the chicken is resting, I make a gravy by removing the vegetables from the pan, adding about 1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable stock, a splash of white wine or some beer, salt and pepper. After scraping the bits from the pan with the liquid, I thoroughly mix some white flour with water and add some into the pan and stir with a whisk. As it comes to a simmer the liquid begins to thicken. If necessary I add some more of the flour/water mixture, making sure there aren't any lumps of flour in the gravy.

However you like your roast chicken, the ingredients are simple. Whether it is a roasting chicken from Foodland, Mike Deans or Glenburnie Grocery, a festive special from Perry Farm (Local Family Farms in Verona) The Rise Farm (Godfrey) or Tryon Farm (Parham) bird, or one from a farm in your corner of the world, there is no need to overthink the cooking. Salt, heat, and timing are all you need.