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Roast Chicken

Source of Recipe

From "See You on Sunday" by Sam Sifton


Recipe Introduction

"There are probably as many recipes for roast chicken as there are people who roast them. You can make a roast chicken pretty fancy if you like, with brines and butters, aromatics, varying oven temperatures, glazes of sweetness and fire. You can roast a chicken on top of sliced onions or potatoes or both. You could stuff quartered lemons into the bird's cavity or rub harissa beneath its skin. And someday, perhaps, you will do all of these things. But start with a simple roast chicken; serve it with a salad, some warm bread, and plenty of butter; and you'll maybe do that quite a lot: a dinner for friends, easily made. The key is a hot oven to start, a 15-minute blast of heat that helps seize tight the bird's skin, followed by a run of 45 minutes to an hour of even cooking at 350° F to arrive at a golden, burnished skin above tender, juicy meat. A single chicken serves four or five people. For a crowd, I generally double this recipe, using two cast-iron pans or a large roasting pan to hold the birds. It takes a little longer to finish, but not a great deal longer."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 3 tablespoons olive oil
â—¦ 1 whole chicken, in the neighborhood of 3 ½ to 4 pounds, patted dry
â—¦ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper


Recipe

Put a cast-iron pan that will comfortably fit the bird into the oven and heat to 500° F. (Or two pans for two birds, or a stainless steel roasting pan for same.) Rub the oil all over the chicken and season aggressively with salt and pepper.

When both the oven and the pan are hot, about 25 minutes, remove the pan from the oven, carefully put the bird on its hot surface, breast side up, and place it in the oven. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the skin has started to turn pale gold.

Turn down the heat to 350° F and allow the bird to cook until it is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the meaty part of the thigh registers between 155° and 160° F. (No thermometer? Wiggle the drumsticks. The chicken is done when the drumstick is loose in the socket of the thigh.)

Remove the chicken from the pan, tipping it to allow the juices to drain, then place it on a carving board to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Carve and serve, drizzled with the hot juices from the pan.