The simple roast chicken

When I first began cooking a few years ago I found a recipe on Epicurious called “my favorite simple roast chicken” by Thomas Keller. My interest immediately peaked since Keller is probably the most celebrated chef in America and currently has two of the top ten restaurants in the world: The French Laundry and Per Se. He’s known for incredibly advanced cooking, now specializing in sous-vide, but this recipe seemed both basic and delicious so I tried it.

I know it’s hyperbolic to say what I’m going to say, but it was the best chicken I’d ever eaten. It was far and away the single best dish I’d ever made, and probably still is, which is both ironic and infuriating since I usually can’t stand chicken and for all the time I’ve spent working on elaborate, difficult and exciting dishes, the simplest one always wins.

But I’m telling you I was at a loss for words. It was beautifully crisp, moist, flavorful, scrumptious, and just as predicted in it’s description, I quickly eschewed my fork and knife for my hands. How often do you find yourself with a dish so fantastic you’re practically licking the plate clean at a restaurant, let alone at home? But this chicken is so soulfully good it happened here, and continues to do so. The best part? It’s idiot proof (example later). I’ve given this to both experienced cooks and complete novices and the reaction has uniformly been complete and utter ease and satisfaction.

Ok, enough fawning. Fast forward to two weeks ago when food writer Andreas Viestad wrote an article in the Washington Post about Keller, specifically his roast chicken (go figure), so it was time to write about it here. The piece explains how cooking imperfections actually help this chicken and of course it included the recipe. Their recipe is slightly different from mine which is also slightly different from Keller’s cookbook, but they are all easy and I’m sure end up with a fantastic final product.

Onto the cooking...

The recipe I use calls for a 2-3 pound whole chicken, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh thyme. Simple and (reasonably) cheap.

A small chicken is actually really important here because it’s cooked at an extremely high heat so the bird can only cook so long before drying out too much. Yes it’s hard to get chickens that small but you can usually find organic chickens at Harris Teeter and Whole Foods in that range (the non-organic are often much larger). I think the perfect bird is right around 3 pounds and you can use one up to 3.3 pounds with no problems. When purchasing, make sure there are no bruises etc., you want a healthy good-quality chicken.

Once at home you have to clean the bird. If there’s a gizzards packet inside, remove and discard it. Rinse the chicken under water, set aside, and then dry both the inside and outside very well with paper towels. If you don’t handle whole chickens much drying the inside cavity might feel gross, deal with it. It’s really not bad and the difference in the final product is enormous. Drying might be the single most important step since as Keller says, “the less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.”


The trussed chicken

Once cleaned, pre-heat the oven to 450-degrees and then rub salt and pepper inside and outside of the chicken. Use a generous amount of salt on the outside, about 1 tablespoon. The salt makes the skin both crispy and flavorful.

Next, truss the bird (if you wish). Trussing makes for a much prettier chicken but otherwise it won’t make a major difference. Don’t know how? I first learned from this simple video:



Now add the chicken to a skillet, breast side up, and add to the heated 450-degree oven. If you mess up and add the chicken the other way, don’t worry too much. Last time I made this I was already halfway through a bottle of wine and accidentally put it in upside down, and yet, the final product was still fantastic. If you don’t have a skillet, a saute pan or Au Gratin dish work as well.

Set the timer for 50 minutes and leave it alone.

The recipe calls for cooking between 50-60 minutes, depending on the chicken’s size. I’ve found that 55 minutes is reliable, go for 60 only if the chicken’s larger than 3 pounds.

Remove the chicken, the skin should be browned and crackly (pictures below and up top). Add the fresh thyme leaves to the juices in the pan and then spoon over the chicken. Move the chicken to a cutting board for about 15 minutes so the internal juices run back to the center.


The finished chicken in the skillet

Carve and serve.

I find the easiest way is to first cut the legs off and work from there, splitting the breast down the middle and serving it with the wing attached. Honestly though, the best parts aren’t here, but in the bits that remain. There are a few delicious bites in and around the backbone that are worth forking out, but none quite as good as the chicken butt (Final four worthy in the meat bracket last week). Don’t believe me? Here it from Keller: “I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards.”

If you’re looking for a more elegant presentation, put a breast on the bottom with a crispy leg on top, and garnish with a few dollops of various mustards around the side. If not, make a mound of juicy chicken and make sure to include all those delicious morsels still attached to it. Add more of the juices on top and leave fresh butter on the side.

Try it sometime, you'll be shocked just how good this simple roast chicken can be.


Crispy leg and chicken breast, once plated