So, I roasted a chicken this past weekend, and have a few tips I picked up.
1) When roasting a chicken on a horizontal rack at 400 (rather than 350, my previous standard temperature) makes for better browning of the skin.
2) Basting the chicken with butter or oil flavored with deliciousness (e.g., garlic, pepper, and fresh herbs) makes the skin taste a ton better. Try basting once every 15 minutes.
3) Do NOT under any circumstances, after removing the chicken, let the crispy skin sit on a wet surface or any surface at all - this makes the skin not crispy in about five seconds. Instead, let the chicken rest raised on a cooling rack.
4) Test the doneness by thermometer - checking to see if "the juices run clear" is simply not a reliable test - I did it this past weekend and it failed. Miserably. I had to microwave the chicken to get it done. NOT cool!
5) Cook the chicken breast side up until the skin is thoroughly browned.
6) If you stuff the chicken, brine it as well. Stuffing the chicken makes it cook much slower, which at a higher heat makes the chicken dry out. So, brine the chicken in a salt-water mixture. This makes the chicken have a more seasoned taste and prevents it from drying out.
7) Make sure the chicken's skin is thoroughly dry before roasting. If you put a even mildly wet-skinned chicken into the oven, it won't brown or crisp up nearly as well as a dry one.
And that's it! Roast chicken is delicious - I highly recommend it!
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2 comments:
I gotta say, I'm not a fan of the brine. I think the key is rather in making sure that your stuffing isn't to dry. I always cook the chicken stuffed and the meat still stays tender as long as the stuffing isn't too dry and bread-y.
I like the 400 idea to brown the skin. You might even consider turning it up to that for the final half hour or so. That way you're probably going to brown it up, but you're less at risk of drying the turkey out. I don't know, maybe that's not how it works...
Flipping a turkey over is definitely key... turkeys, due to their large size and inordinate amount of stuffing, require slightly different procedures.
I've never had a dry stuffing in a chicken, so I can't really comment. But that does make sense.
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