The Ultimate Roast Chicken

[Steve Irby]

I shed a tear ....

Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/dining/judy-rodgers-chef-of-refined-simplicity-dies-at-57.html

Thanks for the link. I teared up also.

[Robenco15]

Do you flip the bird like it says in the Judy recipe? Every time I used to flip the bird I would spatchock and put on the grill, the skin always tore a little and ruined its great look. I skipped that step the last time I did it on the grill and it kept its great, browned, crisp skin and not flipping it didn't make a single difference in the final product. I also just roasted a chicken in my toaster oven (don't have an oven) and it came out perfectly, without flipping it. That step seems weird.

I do however pre-salt everything when I have the time. That chicken in the toaster oven was salted 3 days in advance. Amazing. Definitely owe a lot to Judy just from her salting methods alone. Has to be one of the simplest and most significant difference between how my finished meats turn out vs. friends and family. First thing I recommend to anybody who asks.

[dcarch]

"----crisp skin and not flipping it didn't make a single difference in the final product.----"

​A lot has to do with the characteristics of the oven. Different ovens give you different results. Wood fire, electric, gas, convection, etc.

Judy's Zuni roasted chicken cannot be exactly duplicated even if you go with her exact recipe, unless you also have the same wood fired brick oven.

dcarch

[patrickamory]

My gut is that it has something to do with the sealing.

What sealing? What is "it?"

"It" is the perfectly moist, evenly cooked chicken. The sealing is the result of trussing both openings.

Edited December 7, 2013 by patrickamory (log)

[Steve Irby]

I guess this is my Judy Rogers tribute. Two chickens, both under three pounds, roasted using her recipe. Straight forward perfection. And the pan drippings are such a bonus.

[Shalmanese]

I have a question to add to the ideal roast chicken survey which is what color the skin should be at the end of roasting? A lot of the chicken photos posted in this thread as "ideal" roast chickens have a skin a lot more blonde than what I typically roast to.

[dcarch]

I have a question to add to the ideal roast chicken survey which is what color the skin should be at the end of roasting? A lot of the chicken photos posted in this thread as "ideal" roast chickens have a skin a lot more blonde than what I typically roast to.

Depends on the chicken also.

Chickens have different color skin.

dcarch

[patrickamory]

I also usually rub with paprika which roasts to a beautiful red-gold.

[Shel_B]

I've had Judy's roast chicken many times at the Zuni, and the skin has always been darker - and probably crisper - than these "blondies."

When I made the chicken at home, the skin was also darker.

Maybe fifteen years ago, Judy was on a local radio show, and described, in detail, how she made the chicken. The one thing she's always said, about every recipe, is that the recipe should not always be followed as written. The cook has to taste, test, and make adjustments for the vagaries of the ingredients and equipment.

[Shel_B]

Too much for me, but it sure looks delicious. What about you?  Would you take the time to make it?

 

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365380521/

Edited December 10, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[Martin Fisher]

I think it's great.

[scamhi]

i follow the Zuni method of dry brining and air drying on a rack in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Roast in a shallow sheet pan at 400 degrees convection for 40 min for a 3-3.25lb bird

[IndyRob]

The trussing seems a bit excessive.  Nice looking skin, though.

Edited December 11, 2014 by IndyRob (log)

[Martin Fisher]

The trussing seems a bit excessive.  Nice looking skin, though.

 

They truss that way to ensure the maximum amount of crisp skin.

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-roast-chicken

[dcarch]

Too much for me, but it sure looks delicious. What about you? Would you take the time to make it?

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365380521/

That is the only way to get tender juicy meat and true crispy skin at the same time.

Most other methods lie about crispy skin, or crispy skin and lie about tender juicy meat.

dcarch

[btbyrd]

I'd do it for sure if I had a combi oven. But since I don't have an extra $10,000 to blow on an oven...

[mmille24]

I'd cook it differently, but I'm down for everything up to that point.

[mgaretz]

I get similar results by cooking at 450f for 70 minutes in my pellet grill. Oil the skin first, no need for rests, etc.

[AAQuesada]

Wow, That is one sexxy roast chicken!!! Love the technique, glass shelves in the fridge but it might be fun to play around with some of the ideas from the video

[rotuts]

vertical chicken on the weber, w the grill grates : no flare ups, no fuss   excellent chicken

 

using these, no can in the hole :

 

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-0880-PDQ-Stainless-Steel-ChickCAN/dp/B0009JXYR8/ref=sr_1_8/192-7353134-4152536?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1418304364&sr=1-8&keywords=vertical+chicken+roaster

[NEPolarbear]

vertical chicken on the weber, w the grill grates : no flare ups, no fuss   excellent chicken

 

using these, no can in the hole :

 

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-0880-PDQ-Stainless-Steel-ChickCAN/dp/B0009JXYR8/ref=sr_1_8/192-7353134-4152536?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1418304364&sr=1-8&keywords=vertical+chicken+roaster

 

 

 

I dry brine chicken for two (2) days in the fridge.

Roast in my oven in the vertical position. (see above post)

Similar temp and process of roasting twice.

Can roast up to eight (8) chickens at once this way.

 

Will admit though, the skin in the video is better than mine.

Always afraid of burning the skin.

 

 

 

[paulraphael]

That looks like a good method in a lot of ways, but for all the work it makes compromises I doubt I'd be happy with.

 

It neglects—entirely—the real challenge of roasting a whole bird, which is that the dark meat ideally cooks to a higher temperature (5°–7°F) than the white meat. This is difficult to accomplish, especially considering geometry of a bird, which makes the white meat cook faster. Trussing exacerbates the problem, despite what some people write about it.

 

ChefSteps implicitly acknowledges that they're going to overcook the white meat, so they inject brine (so we won't notice). Brine denatures the proteins a bit so they don't don't expel as much liquid upon cooking. But most of what's going on is just adding water. This gives a juicy sensation in the mouth, but it also dilutes the flavors of the chicken juices. This is a problem I have with most brined poultry, fwiw ... it seems juicy, but is bland.

 

The cool thing about this method is the uniformly browned skin. I've never bothered trying for that, since I'm not serving the meat from the back. But it does look nice. This is a best-in-show chicken from an esthetic perspective.

 

In terms of cooking / flavor / texture, the method should be modified to slow the cooking of the white meat. Selective barding (with fat, or just with several layers of foil) is an ideal way to do this. You'd probably have to leave foil over the breasts for the entire low-temp portion of the cook. Getting this right would take some experimenting. You'd also need to invent an effective way to hold the foil in place on a vertically hanging bird.

 

I think if you did this, you could dispense with the brine. Get a good, air-dried chicken, salt it and leave it overnight in the fridge and it will brown up just fine. If you want to give the browning action a kick, brush the bird lightly with something containing a reducing sugar (honey, or just a tiny bit of dextrose).

[Shel_B]

ChefSteps implicitly acknowledges that they're going to overcook the white meat, so they inject brine (so we won't notice). Brine denatures the proteins a bit so they don't don't expel as much liquid upon cooking. But most of what's going on is just adding water. This gives a juicy sensation in the mouth, but it also dilutes the flavors of the chicken juices. This is a problem I have with most brined poultry, fwiw ... it seems juicy, but is bland.

 

 

 

How about injecting the breasts with chicken stock instead of water?

[btbyrd]

How about injecting the breasts with chicken stock instead of water?

 

I was just about to say that.

 

It neglects—entirely—the real challenge of roasting a whole bird, which is that the dark meat ideally cooks to a higher temperature (5°–7°F) than the white meat. This is difficult to accomplish, especially considering geometry of a bird, which makes the white meat cook faster. Trussing exacerbates the problem, despite what some people write about it.

 

Trussing only exacerbates the problem if you're tying the legs close to the bird. The technique in the video trusses the legs together, but the bird is hung by the legs while roasting, which spreads them out and allows them to cook faster than if they were snuggled up to the white meat. Given that the white meat is thicker than the legs, I wouldn't be surprised if the dark meat's core temperature was 5-7 degrees higher than the breasts.

Edited December 12, 2014 by btbyrd (log)

[paulraphael]

How about injecting the breasts with chicken stock instead of water?

 

How about just not overcooking them? Even broth isn't the same as jus.