What is the best way to roast chicken?
Nicola, by e-mail
“Basically, people overdo it,” says Ed Smith, who has written a new book about chicken, peckish, very conveniently. “Yes, you can cook it at different temperatures, use different fats, wet salt or dry brine, but, in the end, if you roast a good chicken in the oven, you have a good meal.”
To describe Smith’s carelessness, he has three main rules: “One, start with a good chicken: free-range, raised very slowly and under 2kg – small birds will roast better, I think.” Second, it doesn’t take as long in the oven as you might think. “Whatever the packet says is too long,” says Smith, who roasts her chicken in a 210C (190C fan) oven for about 50 minutes. And, finally, give it a rest: “Your chicken will be good to sit for 15-20 minutes and still be hot when you cut it.”
An extension of those rules is to salt the bird well inside and out, Smith adds: “If you refrigerate it for an hour to a day, fantastic!” For Mike Davies, chef director of The Camberwell Arms in south London, soaking the bird overnight in a solution of water, salt, sugar and spices (lemon, bay and pepper are natural bedfellows): “The food is good, but it’s really quite simple. You just need a big enough container.”
Fat-wise, Anna Tobias of London’s Cafe Deco recommends basting her chicken in a neutral vegetable oil (say, rapeseed or sunflower), season, then squeeze half a lemon and a sprig of rosemary into the cavity and fry the bird upside down. “That might be a little random, but Margot [Henderson] I always did that when I worked for her, so that’s what I do. This is because it smoothes the bottom of the thigh. “For a 1.75-2kg chicken, roast upside down at 200C (180C fan) for half an hour, then flip it the right way and give it another half hour.” Tobias never rests, the mind – “the skin becomes dull.” Davis, meanwhile, was taught by his mom to put butter under the skin, which he still does to this day. “It soaks the chicken through the cook, and if you rub the fat into the skin, it helps moisturize. The key to giving you crispy skin is that the skin is dry in the first place.
A slight variation would be chicken spatchcock. “It then cooks a bit faster, so there’s less chance of overcooking the breast, and more chance of nice crispy skin and juicy legs,” says Smith. It’s a simple matter: “If you’re in doubt, the scissors take it with minimal effort; you cut both sides of the spine, and that’s it.”
You can mix or rub your meat. “Anything you can think of to put on a chicken thigh or leg will taste delicious in fried chicken,” says Smith, whether you’re headed to the Deep South, India or Thailand. He returns to the OG time and time again, but varies how it’s eaten: “Salad on Monday, then leftovers with pasta or potato wedges.” Basically, fried chicken goes well with many things, although Tobias Roast Potatoes tops. “Anything else is negotiable.”
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