The juiciest, speediest, most bewitchingly golden
roast chicken also happens to be the one with the recipe you can remember
without googling. Just 10 minutes a pound at
Today, it seems we want most everything singed and
caramelized at 450°F (230°C) or higher, but in 1995 when Kafka wrote Roasting: A Simple Art, people were suspicious. Fewer foods
were roasted then, and when they were, the standard oven temperatures ran 100°F
(40°C) cooler.
Kafka changed that. For a while, her high-heat
roast chicken was all the rage, but inevitably other techniques caught our
attention—spatchcocking! vertical roasting! wet brining! dry brining!—and we
moved on. For our any-night roast chicken, I recommend we briefly return to
1995. Why? Because there’s no basting and no trussing. You needn’t remember to
turn the heat up or down after so many minutes; nor flip the creature awkwardly
halfway through. There’s no snipping of spines or slashing of limbs; no stuffing
butter deep into loose corners of skin.
Just be sure to put it in the oven bum-first, so
the slower-cooking legs are nearer the heat at the back of the oven. That’s
about it. As Kafka says: “If there is no lemon, garlic, or butter on hand, roast
the chicken without them. Or play.”
Serves 2 to 4
One 5- to 6-pound (2.3 to 2.7kg)
chicken, wing tips removed, brought to room temperature, if
possible
1 lemon, halved
(optional)
4 cloves garlic
(optional)
¼ cup (60g) unsalted butter
(optional)
Kosher salt and freshly ground
black pepper
1 cup (240ml) chicken stock, water,
fruit juice, or wine for optional deglazing
1 Preheat a regular oven to 500°F (260°C) or a
convection oven to 450°F (230°C). Place an oven rack on the second level from
the bottom of the oven.
2 Remove the fat from the tail and crop ends of the
chicken. Freeze the neck and giblets for stock. Reserve the chicken liver for
another use. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the lemon, garlic, and butter,
if using. Season the cavity and skin with salt and pepper.
3 Place the chicken in a 12 by 8 by 1½-inch (30 by 20
by 4cm) roasting pan breast side up. Put into the oven legs first and roast for
50 to 60 minutes, or until the juices run clear. After the first 10 minutes,
move the chicken with a wooden spoon or spatula to keep it from sticking.
4 Remove the chicken to a platter by placing a large
wooden spoon into the tail end and balancing the chicken with a kitchen spoon
pressed against the crop end. As you lift the chicken, carefully tilt it over
the roasting pan so that all the juices run out and into the pan.
5 To make a sauce from the pan juices, if
one is desired, pour off or spoon out excess fat from the roasting pan and put
the roasting pan on top of the stove. Add the stock or other liquid and bring
the contents of the pan to a boil while scraping the bottom vigorously with a
wooden spoon. Let reduce by half. Serve the sauce over the chicken or, for crisp
skin, in a sauceboat.
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