[Modernist Cuisine at Home] Roast Chicken

[Anonymous Modernist 2882]

Dear team, just a quick question. In MC I recall reading that the best way to cook a chicken was via rotisserie. Yet in MC@Home's recipe for roast chicken, the authors recommend roasting on a rack at 95C, then 45 minute rest, then crank the oven to brown the surfaces, turning the chicken halfway.

I have my injection brined roast chicken air drying in the fridge right now. I am thinking of cooking it on a rotisserie at low heat (95C) to the target temperature, and then crank it to the max to brown the skin, also on the rotisserie. Do you think this would be superior to the method described in the book?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous Modernist 7083]

The best way to roast a chicken in MC is by using our combination oven technique (2·178)--not a rotisserie.

I would suggest using whichever appliance will drop down to the lowest temperature. If your conventional oven will go as low as 76 °C / 170 °F, then we suggest using that. This low temperature, in our opinion, is much more critical than whether or not you are using a rotisserie oven or conventional one.

With that said, the MCAH recipe calls for you to blanch and chill the bird three times and brush with soy sauce before drying. If this wass the recipe that you followed, then we suggest following it through. If not, we can‚’t say that the skin will be as crisp or brown when using the broiler technique from MCAH.

The MC recipe calls to hang dry for three days while the MCAH recipe is only a 24hr maximum drying period. Depending on what was chosen, the technique will vary. With whichever appliance you choose, a 45-minute resting period before roasting at the increased temperature is a very crucial step indeed. This step allows the bird to rest and retain juices much more efficiently, which will allow you to carve the bird immediately after the high-heat browning step. Despite what exact parameters were taken prior to roasting the bird, I cannot recommend the rotisserie method at 95 °C in confidence, for at that temperature you may not achieve the desired texture we aimed for in either book.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Aaron Verzosa

Research & Development Chef

Modernist Cuisine

[Anonymous Modernist 2882]

Thank you for your reply, Aaron. Unfortunately I cooked my chicken before I saw your reply!

I did indeed follow the recipe by injection brining, then the blanch/chill process three times, and then brushed the skin with the soy sauce and paprika mixture. I varied from the recipe by injecting the chicken with a roast chicken stock instead of the simple brine as recommended in the recipe. The chicken was unbelievably plump after this step. This is what it looked like before it went into the fridge:

I air dried it in the fridge for 24 hours and then rotisseried it at 95C to a temperature of 60C, and then gave it a 45 minute rest. I then rotisseried it again at 250C to crisp up the skin. This was what it looked like afterwards:

It was a nice looking bird, but the skin didn't crisp up as much as I hoped. I think next time I will closely stick to your recipe and not deviate!

[Anonymous Modernist 7083]

Looks delicious!

Brushing the skin with clarified butter or neutral vegetable oil before the high temperature roasting should help with the crispness.

Cheers,

Aaron Verzosa

[paulraphael]

I think the most critical issue in roasting a chicken is getting the temperatures right on both the white and dark meat. It's hard ... the white meat cooks lower but is thinner and more directly exposed to the heat. Smart spit roasters back in the day would selectively bard the bird. They'd cover the torso with strips of fat for part of the cooking, but leave the legs exposed. Aside from cooking bird parts separately, this still works better than anything I've tried. Instead of fat you can just use foil. 

 

I haven't found improvements with chickens from long cooking, so I roast hot. YMMV. At any rate, I cover the breasts with a doubled layer of foil for the first part of the cooking, and then uncover. It browns quickly. My ideal would be to get the breasts to 60°C and the thighs to 63°C. I have yet to achieve this on a perfectly browned bird, but I come pretty close. Usually after rising the meat is a few degrees higher than this in places. Not ideal, but still a lot juicier than I've had from other whole-bird techniques.