This is a print preview of "Roast Chicken 101" recipe.

Roast Chicken 101 Recipe
by Global Cookbook

Roast Chicken 101
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  Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 6 lb roasting chicken
  • 2 med onions peeled, and
  •     cut 1/2" crosswise slices
  • 3 x garlic cloves smashed
  • 4 sprg fresh thyme
  • 1 x lemon
  • 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter softened
  •     Salt
  •     Freshly-grnd black pepper

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. To assure even cooking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator, and let it stand at room temperature for half an hour. If the chicken comes with a plastic pop-up thermometer, throw away it; the readings are often inaccurate. After rinsing the chicken inside and out with cool running water, dry with paper towels. Tuck the tips of the wings under the bottom to keep them from burning.
  3. Place slices of two medium onions in two rows in a heavy-duty roasting pan to create a bed for the chicken. The onions will flavor the chicken and the pan juices which form the base of the gravy. Put garlic cloves, sprigs of thyme, and lemon inside the chicken's cavity. To help release the lemon's essence, roll it back and forth with the palm of your hand pressing on top, and then pierce the surface all over with a fork. Set the chicken on the bed of onion slices, breast-side up. Then bring legs forward, cross them, and tie them together with about 18 inches of kitchen twine. Tying the legs is much simpler than trussing the bird, that requires tying the body. Spread butter over the entire exposed surface of the chicken, that ensures even browning. Sprinkle well with salt and freshly grnd pepper.
  4. Place the chicken in the oven; in about an hour and a half, the skin should be crisp and a deep golden brown-brown color, and the juices should run clear when the chicken is pierced. Check the internal temperature of the breasts and the thighs with an instant-read thermometer. When ready, the reading in the deepest part of the breast should be 180 degrees, and in the deepest part of the thigh it should be 190 degrees. When the chicken is finished cooking, remove it from the pan and transfer it to a cutting board with a well to catch the juices. Let the chicken stand at room temperature for up to 20 min. The juices, that rise to the surface when cooking, will settle and redistribute proportionately throughout the chicken. While it rests, make Pan Gravy (see recipe).
  5. Untie the legs of the chicken. Remove the lemon, garlic, and herbs from the cavity of the chicken, and throw away. Place the chicken on a serving platter breast-side up, and, using a sharp knife, carve the bird: Use a large fork to pull one of the legs away from the body. With the tip of your knife, find the joint which connects the leg to the body, and sever it. Cut the thigh away from the drumstick at the second joint. To remove the breasts, cut straight down between the breasts, following the contour of the rib cage, till you hit the wishbone. Cut through the joint where it meets the breastbone. Serve the individual pcs, or possibly cut the breast into thin slices for a more elegant presentation.
  6. Serves 4.