Roast Chicken
simple go to sort of recipe
sorryyyy i didn’t post on here for months. don’t give me money please i can’t promise this won’t happen again. but i’ve got a recipe for super cozy brothy fish and rice w a spicy herb sauce, and the tamarind butter sauce that is so so good it’s like pad thai and beurre blanc together. soon.
but for now i have this. i made this chicken for my friendsgiving dinner the other day and it was very good. super juicy and flavorful. so here’s the rough recipe!
ingredients
whole chicken/s
marinade/seasoning:
few cloves garlic
piece of ginger
one onion or more
chili flakes
paprika
garlic powder
black pepper
any other seasonings you like
glaze:
butter
chili flakes
pomegranate molasses
fish sauce
sugar
sherry vinegar
tons of black pepper
for roasting
butter
garlic
onion
instructions
day before:
i always wash chicken, rinsing a few times and then putting in a bowl of cold water w some vinegar or citrus, after like a minute i drain that liquid and its ready
salt generously, also getting under the skin. like sorta lift it off the meat without breaking it. it’s like running your hands along your legs under tights. (IMPORTANT! really best if you can do this a day (or two) before). kosher salt is best, since it’s got big flakes that are easy to pick up and throw around evenly.
set on a rack or in a pan uncovered in the fridge, so that the skin can ideally dry out a bit so it will get nice and crispy
at least 4 hours before roasting (i did this in the morning so like 8 hrs before or so):
blend marinade with just a little bit of water, spread everywhere possible under skin and in cavity. i try to keep the top of the skin dry so it gets crisp in the oven.
evening/2-3 hours before you wanna eat:
take out the chicken and leave it for about an hour to come closer to room temp for a more even cook
preheat oven to 220C/425F
put pieces of butter under and over the skin, throw some chopped onions and garlic in the pan and cavity, coat outside of bird with powder seasonings. truss it (aka tie the legs together, i didn’t have twine and used tinfoil which worked very well)
while it’s roasting, make the glaze by melting butter and cooking chili flakes in it over low-medium heat until butter is red and fragrant, then add in other ingredients and cook until sugar is dissolved.
roast at 220C for like 20-30 min until brown, then turn the heat down to 200C/400F
continue roasting for another 30-40 min, until done. throughout this time, spoon the juices in the pan over the bird a few times (i tend to take the whole thing out and pour them into a bowl and then pour from there instead of spooning it, its easier that way). after a few rounds of that, spoon the glaze over and return to the oven (you can do this in twice using half of it each time, if u want).
thermometer should read 160F, or when you cut into the leg joint, juices should be clear
take the chicken out and let it rest for 10 minutes, then carve. you basically want to cut off the legs and optionally separate the thighs and drumsticks, and then slice off both breasts which you can cut into smaller pieces. lots of tutorials for this online.
a full chicken on a platter is pretty and sorta what you will see when recipes are showing the finished product but its so much nicer to bring the chicken to the table all ready like this.
BONUS: GRAVY/PAN SAUCE
for thanksgiving i always make gravy the night before, from roasting up a bunch of chicken wings or a few turkey wings and making stock + scraping up all the flavor from the pan i used to roast them. i don’t like dealing with making gravy right at the last moment after the bird comes out. i save the drippings and make extra gravy for leftovers. so here’s the recipe for that, whenever you choose to do it. the bird needs to rest anyways so it’s always good to make a pan sauce if you do have the time and space.
the most important thing is you need to handle all the fat, as in you need to use it in the roux and bind it to some flour, otherwise it will separate in the gravy and make it greasy.
(this is why i like making it the day after actually, since the fat separates and hardens in the fridge.)
but here what you gotta do is skim off the fat from the drippings and throw it in a pot with an equal amount of flour, to make a roux. cook this at least until it bubbles up, i like to keep it going for about 10-15 minute until it smells toasty.
then add in your liquid. stock and/or whatever liquid was in the pan from roasting the chicken. then take some hot stock or boiling water and pour it in the pan to help you scrape up anything that’s still there, all the stuff stuck to the pan will have the most flavor. get that all mixed into the roux and cook it at a simmer for at least a few minutes, until it’s as thick as you’d like. if it’s too thin you can add make more roux in a separate pan, then add it in. be careful to avoid lumps—you can first stir some of your too-thin gravy into the new roux and then bring that mixture back into your original pot.
to season
most important to me is a fuckton of black pepper. and sherry vinegar. these make the best gravy. i also tend to add a good amount of fish sauce and/or msg, sometimes some soy sauce if i need color. i used some oxfond also, i don’t know if they have it in america but seems like a pretty normal thing here in sweden, like a bouillon concentrate. and salt ofc.