LTH ChickIndex

There has been discussion of various methods of roasting chicken. There have been discussions of types and, well, sources for roast chicken.

This is a completely unnecessary additional thread that will chronicle a personal project: a winter full of roast chicken. Others are welcome to join in.

The way I see it, Fall is here and Winter is coming and both are very good for roast chicken. Topics I expect to discus include size; fresh vs. frozen; factory versus farm; air chilled versus not; brining, salting, and other pre-cooking preparations; different cooking methods; etc.

Chickens will be chronicled in pictures and words. Evaluation of deliciousness is entirely subjective.

First subject: an organic vac-packed chicken from neighborhood grocery store Strack Van Til. Size was about 2.7 lbs and price was $2.99/lb. No indication of air chilled versus injected solution or anything else.

First impressions: The chicken looks in fairly good shape. I found what looked to be the stumps of a couple of feathers. Giblets removed. Skin was in good shape.

Preparation: Used the Zuni approach. Early salt and paper. I put sprigs of oregano and thyme under the skin in the 4 corners. I put it in on a rack in the fridge overnight and left it uncovered.

Day of: I took it out about 40 minutes before I put it in the oven. Oven temp was preheated to 475 degrees, but the thermometer consistently registered 450. There was a pizza stone below the rack and a terra cotta disk above it.

Ready to go

Bird was inserted breast side up into a cast iron skillet which had been preheated on the stovetop. The skin sizzled as I put the bird to rest.

After about 15 minutes, I turned up the heat so the thermometer registered 475. After a total of 30 minutes, I flipped. Some of the skin on the back stuck and ripped. These became a cook's snack.

15 minutes later, I flipped again. and let the skin on the breast crisp up again. Probably about 5 minutes.

I took it out, drained the fat, slashed the skin near between the legs and carcass and let the juices drain (a la the recipe).



I deglazed with water and made a quick jus. After about a 15-20 minute rest later, I ate:

The skin was terrifically crispy. There was little to no herbal note, though. The meat was tender throughout, including the breast. The flavor? Middling at best. This was the disappointing aspect. Everything else about the chicken was really delicious, but it didn't even taste much like chicken. This is definitely a very good method for roasting, though.

There will be more poultry to come. In the meantime, feel free to roast and share your fowl!

I'm a huge fan of the Zuni method. I cook chicken very similar to what you describe. High temp, cast iron pan (preheated). I use a smallish chicken. I usually salt 2-3 days in advance. I prefer thyme or sage as herbs. I wonder if the lack of flavor was intrinsic to the chicken itself...I feel like the flavor is usually great with this method.

thaiobsessed wrote: I wonder if the lack of flavor was intrinsic to the chicken itself.

With the preparation as simple as it is, I can't imagine it being anything else, except perhaps a lack of salt. I also use the high-heat method (although Thomas Keller's even less fussy approach) and if there's a lack of flavor, it has to do with the chickens I use. A simple method like this is great for comparing various sources of your chicken.

gastro gnome wrote:First impressions: The chicken looks in fairly good shape. I found what looked to be the stumps of a couple of feathers. Giblets removed. Skin was in good shape.

You left your chicken's butt intact for the cooking.

Why do instinctively cut my chicken butts off previous to cooking? Not sure where I learned that?

Good question kenji--I do too. Maybe bcz it's called "the pope's nose"?? But it's not like there are nasty glands there or anything, or are there?

Somebody will know why we do it...

Geo

I thought this thread was going in an entirely different direction (answer to the woman hater's club or something like that!!!) In any case, this is infinitely more useful and I look forward to the reports

Funny this topic just came up here. Last night I was falling to sleep reading the Cook's Illustrated "weeknight chicken recipe" from the October 2011 issue of their magazine. It calls for high heat roasting to a certain point, then cutting off the oven and letting the chicken rest in the oven while it comes up to temp. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm intrigued -- they claim it beats their regular brining method and shaves an hour off of prep time. Still takes over an hour to roast and rest so I'm not sure it's super speedy. There is a simple and monotone video showing the method here --> http://www.cooksillustrated.com/byissue/default.asp?docId=31548&selDate=164&currentVideo=y (available online for 4 months)

My preferred method is the Zuni but sometimes I can't plan 24 hours in advance to let the salt do the work and the bird properly air dry. In this case I default to the Bell & Evans air-dried chickens and a method I learned from watching Martha Stewart, which I still love and is my go-to.

Using the best chicken available to you, slip sliced garlic and herbs de provence in between the breast skin and meat. Stuff the cavity with more herbs, garlic cloves, half a lemon. Slather with butter and plenty of salt and pepper and roast on a bed of sliced onions (which you can strain out later to make the pan jus). She recommends a constant roasting temp of 425 for 1 1/2 hours (small chicken) but I sometimes experiment with a high hot blast then low cook method and I find that it makes the skin even more delectable. Of course it's never the same twice.

Next time I make this bird I will document and post.

I once took some flack for saying that people with lives do not remove the seeds from tomatoes for sauce. I know that gastro gnome has a life, so I will resist saying the same thing about people who flip their roasting chickens multiple times.

So, kenny, we're spozed to flip only oncet??



Geo

Heck, I don't flip a roasting chicken at all. Goes into a 450 degree oven breast side up and stays that way for an hour, comes out wonderful.

what chuck said, except 45-50 minutes. that's for a 3lb chicken, so an hour might be right for 3.5-4.

porklet wrote:I was falling to sleep reading the Cook's Illustrated "weeknight chicken recipe"

You know you're an LTHer when...

I love Cooks Illustrated. Almost everything I have ever made from their recipies has turned out well.

It is interesting to see the "evolution" of their recipies over time. Having been a subscriber to Cook's Illustrated almost since the beginning in around '93 (I think), you can look back at some of the classic recipies and see the changes.

A good example of this is to look at the methods and recipies for Roast Turkey. Over the years the methods for Brining, resting, roasting, turning, etc. have all been tweaked. They do an excellent job of testing and explaining what works and why, and also why certain things are just a waste of time/effort.

I roasted a chicken last week: 7.8 lbs, unstuffed, 4 hours in the oven at 300 degrees, breast down. The skin was wonderfully crisp on top and the breast meat was very juicy. (Perdue chicken, so probably "juice" added? I forgot to check the label.)

7.8 LBS??? Good grief, that was no *chicken*, that was a small turkey, no?! Honestly, I don't think I've seen a chicken that large in years. And then it was just a 'stewing' hen.... Amazing!

Geo

I was attracted to the store by the $.99/lb. price, then amazed and a little frightened by size of it myself. My sister-in-law cooked me a 12-lber last year, low and slow, all night. It was still pretty chewy and the skin was nearly impenetrable. Thinking it over, I'm half-convinced that Perdue did something to my chicken for it to stay as tender as it did.

I'm glad there's been some interest in the LTHCI.

To answer a few points:

- There was flavor in the bird, but not much bird in the flavor if that makes any sense. When I encounter a well-fried bland food (like zucchini), I say it tastes like fried. To me, this means the texture is right and most of the taste comes from the texture, the salt, and any other seasoning not intrinsic to the ingredient in question (like an addition of garlic). The chicken was properly salted (to my taste), with crispy enjoyable skin, moist and juicy meat, but just meat without a lot of chicken of flavor. I also think I may not have added enough herbs looking at thaiobsessed's picture.

- I did not snip off the butt. I saw no reason to. I see no reason to next time. It is interesting that there is a group who does this every time. It would have never even occurred to me.

- I did think it a bit fussy to flip multiple times, but was following the recipe for the sake of the project. I think early flipping helped me to lose some skin. On the other hand, that skin was very tasty while the bird was roasting.

- To avoid grave injustice, I demand equal treatment on LTH, including Kennyz's assessment of my social life.

- When I re-try this method with another bird, I'd be interested to add an extra day or two to the refrigerated early salting, as thaiobsessed says she did. Although, I'm not sure how the skin could have been any crisper or better seasoned. Still, I'm interested to see if it has an effect on how much chicken I taste. And, as I said, I would add more herbs. And flip less so I have time to seed tomatoes for sauce

Some may chide gastro gnome for flipping his chicken, but there is no better way (that I've found) for achieving perfect, evenly crisped, lacquered skin as with the Zuni method. (I say this even though I have a "v" from an oven-hot all-clad skillet handle seared into my wrist from doing so.) I think salting draws out the moisture in the chicken skin -- but it's more an insurance policy against crispy skin than anything else. If I don't feel like the fussiness of the Zuni chicken, I'll do Marcella Hazan's chicken with two lemons (which you flip only once; even Kenny can manage that in between seeding tomatoes). It's more of an old-fashioned roast, which to me means slightly less crispy skin due to lower heat roast, but the bird is incredibly moist and aromatic from the lemons. As far as flavor, I think there is some sacrifice made in the flavor of the bird in the quest for crispy chicken skin. When you roast at a high heat, the bird itself loses moisture, as well as flavor and texture.