Whole Roast Chicken: Brined and Blasted

This chicken comes out moist and juicy, is fairly hands off, and we're starting to get good browning on the outside.

Roast chicken can be a challenge, getting the leg meat cooked without drying out the breast. This approach is pretty simple: brine it overnight, roast covered to cook through with steam, then blast on an elevated rack to brown. You can even marinade the chicken from frozen (just remove any giblets from the cavity before cooking). We've used a 3 pound bird and a 4 1/2 pound bird, both came out well. Get a good quality one, preferably organic since it's all about the chicken flavor.

This technique came from Greg Vernick's recipe in Food & Wine February 2019.

You can cook the chicken in the pot on top of veggies like potatoes and cabbage, but they will not be sufficiently cooked when the bird comes out of the pot. You can brown the bird on a rack over a baking sheet, and finish the veggies in the hot pot on the stove, with the rendered juices and anything else you like.

Brine

12 C Water

1/2 C Apple Cider (optional, could substitute orange mojo criollo etc)

1/3 C Kosher Salt

1/4 C Soy Sauce

2 Tbs Light Brown Sugar

5 large Garlic Cloves, halved

1 8x3-inch Kombu (seaweed, for umami), toasted

10 sprigs Thyme

2 sprigs Rosemary

1 leaf Fresh Bay

Boil all ingredients in 6 C of the Water to dissolve the Sugar and Salt. Add remaining 6 C Water to cool it, or add ice cubes to bring total volume to about 13 C. Cool completely.

Chicken

3 pound Chicken, whole, organic

1 Tbs Kosher Salt

2 sprigs Thyme

2 sprigs Rosemary

1 Lemon, halved, plus more for serving

2 Tbs Butter, unsalted, plus more for greasing

Cooking Spray

Remove giblets from Chicken; place in food grade bucket or Dutch Oven, cover with cooled brine; weigh it down with a plate so it stays submerged. Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight

Preheat oven to 275F Convection or 300F without.

Remove Chicken from brine, discard brine.

Season Chicken outside and in with 1 Tbs Salt.

Stuff cavity with Thyme, Rosemary, Lemons, 2 Tbs Butter.

Tie legs together, and tuck wing tips under.

Place Chicken in a Dutch oven breast side up, insert cooking thermometer in thickest part of leg or thigh, and cover with a tight fitting lid; alternately, place in cast iron pan, butter some foil and spritz with Cooking Spray, press foil down around Chicken and form a tight seal to the pan.

Bake in preheated oven until Chicken barely registers 150F, about 1 hour 50 minutes.

Remove Chicken from oven and turn oven up to it's highest temperature, with convection if you've got it. 

Place chicken on ventilated rack breast side up, and put rack over roasting pan, Dutch oven or sheet pan to catch drips; adjust oven shelves to accommodate. 

Once oven is up to temperature, return Chicken on rack to oven and blast it to brown evenly. (You may want to start breast side down, then flip it to finish it breast side up, but be careful not to tear the skin.)

Finishing and Pan Sauce

2 Tbs Butter, unsalted, for finishing

1 ounce Shallot, finely chopped (about 2 Tbs)

1 Tbs Parsley, fresh, flat-leaf, finely chopped

1 Tbs Thyme Leaves, fresh, finely chopped

1 Tbs Lemon Juice, fresh 

3/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Remove Chicken from pan, place on grooved cutting board, and let rest 10 minutes; internal temperature should rise to 165F.

Over medium heat, cook Shallot in remaining 2 Tbs Butter until butter begins to brown and Shallot is tender.

Remove from heat, add Parsley, Thyme, Lemon Juice, Pepper, remaining Salt; taste and adjust seasonings.

Carve Chicken and serve with pan sauce and uncooked Lemon slices.