I roasted a turkey back in December, and I’m wondering if the process is pretty much the same for a chicken or if there are significant temperature differences.
I used Alton’s excellent roast turkey recipe, the cooking portion of which boils down to this: roast at 500[sup]o[/sup] for 30 minutes then lower the temperature to 350[sup]o[/sup] and roast until it reaches an internal temp of 151[sup]o[/sup]. Rest for 15 minutes.
The USDA sez I need the chicken’s internal temp to get to 165[sup]o[/sup], but that’s the same temp they recommend for turkey. But a chicken doesn’t have nearly as much mass as a turkey, so I’m planning on cooking it until it reaches an internal temp of 160[sup]o[/sup] before resting.
I guess the numbers I’m mostly worried about are the 500 and the 350. Are those too high for a li’l ol’ chicken?
I am a good cook and have what I think is a good answer based on my general cooking experience, but I haven’t ever roasted a chicken, so take this with that grain of salt.
I would skip the high heat portion of the program. The bird is too small to handle it. With a smaller bird like that I would go with gentle low heat the whole way through and MAYBE blast it under a broiler for 5 minutes at the end just to crisp up the skin.
What NAF1138 said. I’ve roasted a lot of chickens. The skin browns nicely without the high heat, especially if you slather some oil or butter on the breast. Yummy!
While we’re here, a friend shared a new recipe for chicken breasts. She dips them in beaten egg and then coats them in crushed French’s canned fried onions. She says the breasts are nice and juicy, and there’s just enough onion flavor.
Yeah, I was worried about that 500[sup]o[/sup]. I once slow-cooked a chicken and then tossed it in the oven to finish it and got a beautiful golden bird, but it was completely dumb luck and I have no idea what I cooked it at.
Damn. Beat me to it. Thomas Keller’s roast chicken recipe is hands down the best roast chicken recipe I’ve ever tried, and I doubt I will ever roast a chicken in any other manner. It makes a juicy bird and the crispiest, most scrumptious skin. Make sure you keep the kitchen fan on, as it tends to produce a bit of smoke.
Well far be it from me to disagree with Thomas Keller. If I ever roast a chicken in reality rather than in theory, I will be doing it at 450 for about 50 minutes.
…and remember to include any stuffing in the weight calculation, and then you can safely ignore anyone who tells you not to stuff it for fear of undercooked juices.
I think a pretty wide range of temperatures will work. I give it 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then 375 for 20 minutes per pound. One tip I found useful is to make sure that the skin is really dry, then brush some oil onto it before you put it in the oven - it comes out nice and brown and crisp that way.
Not if you’re doing it Keller’s way. You want as little extra moisture as possible. The bird has enough if you cook it right. I generally find that chicken does not require any brining. The only time I brine chicken is when I’m grilling breasts and I want a little insurance, in case I overshoot.
First off, it isn’t just salting the bones. Secondly, you’ve obviously never roasted a chicken in a kitchen full of chefs, many of whom stand over the cutting board with a handfull of chicken ribs at the end of the meal.
Of course, you can continue to crusade against the 4 seconds of lost time, and .25 cents worth of kosher salt if you’d like. Some people just don’t go nuts over a chicken carcass. Those of us who grew up on fried chicken however…
ETA: Sorry, Chefguy. Didn’t mean that to be as snarky as it reads.
I basically do what I read in Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything”, with one slight temperature decrease. He has the first heat at 500F, and that always sets off my smoke alarm, no matter the house. The chicken was always tasty, though.
So, I heat the oven to 450F, put the chicken breast side down on a roasting rack and roast for 20 minutes. After that, I drizzle on some olive oil with whatever spices I feel like that night, and flip the bird over, drizzle oil and cook for 8 or so minutes. If the breast isn’t quite brown enough at 8 minutes, back in (after basting with more oil) for no more than 5 minutes. Drop the temperature to 350F, put the last of the oil over the breast and legs, and cook until done, starting to check it at 20 minutes or so past putting it back in.
I’ve had a lot of success with this recipe, but I know some people don’t like flipping a bird like that over.