My first chicken roast (and post!)

[CurlySue]

Hello everyone,

New here and decided it was time to make my first post. I've been reading for weeks and must admit I'm in awe at the knowledge here. I'm a baker at heart, non-professional home baker of wedding cakes and the sort, but have taken a sudden interest in the rest of the cooking world in addition to developing a serious obsession with chocolate.

I roasted my first chicken last night. 35 years old and never roasted a whole chicken before. Hell, never roasted much of anything other than marshmallows. I read as much as I could on the subject of roasting a chicken and settled on starting simple. I stuffed the little guy with a lemon and some fresh thyme, then liberally seasoned and buttered under and over his skin (something I never would have done without reading it here first).

I cooked him at 425 for about 20 minutes and opened the over door to find him very nicely tanned. I was on my way. I lowered the oven temp to 375 and cooked him about another hour and 15 minutes, basting occasionally with a stock/butter/lemon mix.

I put him on the counter to rest and proceeded to deglaze the pan (my God, did I just say that?) with some white wine then added some stock and moved it to a saucepan to simmer a while. Admittedly I didn't really know what to do with this concoction, but it was good drizzled over the chicken after it was carved.

All in all I'd say it was pretty damn good, my husband agreed.

Now the questions. What more, if anything, should I have done with that "gravy"? Should it have been thickened? I actually saved the carcass (again, something I would have formerly pitched in the trash) to make stock in the future. The little guy's bones are in my freezer in a ziplock. Do I just boil him in water with some onions and seasoning? Obviously the stock could then be used for soup or risotto or something, right? The thyme, although good, didn't seem "right" with the lemon. Any other suggestions for a more compatible seasoning?

I plan on making chicken and noodles with the leftover chicken and "gravy" from last night. Have to figure out how to turn that gravy into something acceptable for chicken and noodles. Also have to find a source of fresh pasta rather than Mueller's boxed.

Thanks again for the wealth of information you all share here. I look forward to learning to cook! Better late than never!

[snowangel]

Welcome, CurlySue!

And, congrats on the roast chicken. I, for one, prefer either using lemon or thyme, but that's just my personal preference.

To make the rest of the sauce more gravy like, start by making a roux. Equal parts of butter and flour. Melt the butter, add the flour, and stir for a few minutes (over heat); what you are doing here is getting rid of the floury taste. Add the stock and stir, and it will thicken. Just like magic.

Yes, the bones. Keep collecting bones; one carcass won't make much stock. Then, add the bones and some pieces of raw chicken to a pot to make stock. If you haven't read the ECI class on stock-making , please do (it's here). It will be most helpful. In fact, if you are just embarking on cooking savory food, be sure and peruse all of the classes.

Edited February 18, 2005 by snowangel (log)

[TJHarris]

Welcome! It is always nice to have new voices heard, CurlySue.

It sounds like a lovely bird. Good Luck and Good eating on your next adventure!

[fou de Bassan]

Welcome Curly sue!

Next time try roasting your chicken with rosemary or tarragon. If you can get it, Old Bay Seasoning is one of the nicest things to sprinkle on your chicken before and after cooking.

[mrbigjas]

curlysue, i agree with fou de bassan--tarragon is a herb that makes for a great roast chicken. chervil too.

as far as thickening your gravy, you can make a roux with butter (or the chicken fat) as snowangel said, or else you can do like my grandmother and make a slurry from cornstarch or arrowroot or flour and water, and stir that in and cook and stir for 15 minutes or so till it thickens up. you have more of a chance of getting lumps with a slurry though--you know what, just go with the roux.

[CurlySue]

Thanks everyone. Maybe I got confused through all my reading over the past weeks and bought Thyme instead of Tarragon. Stupid "T" herbs. Live and learn. I'll remember that for next time. The Old Bay idea is interesting. For some reason I thought that was for fish only.

I've done the corn starch thing in the past with pretty good success but I wanted to try this gravy "pure" this time. We did like it, but I will probably try thickening it with the butter/flour option next time just for comparison sake.

Holy crap. Thanks for pointing me to the lessons. Somehow I've missed that whole section in my reading. Geez, now I'm going to have to spend the whole weekend on my computer! I've started in on the stock lesson and realize I'm probably going to get a lot of experience roasting chicken if I want to have enough bones for stock! Maybe I'll just boil the whole chicken as it states in the lesson... oh my. So much to do. I'll have to quit my job to make time for reading and cooking at this point!

[monavano]

Thyme is great for chicken. I made one last week, and place a small onion chopped, lemon halved, thyme and parsley in the cavity while it roasted.

[Behemoth]

How do people feel about basting? I generally avoid it because I think it keeps the skin from getting crispy enough. This means I have to do a few acrobatics to keep the breast from drying out -- so I start the thing on lower heat breast side down, then flip it over for a while and crank up the heat at the end. Maybe stuffing something under the breast eg butter or some sort of seasoning paste would work instead?

[Toliver]

Welcome to eGullet!

Here are some previous discussions on roasting chickens that may give you some more ideas:

"Roasting Chicken, The gospel according to e-gulleteers .. ."

"Roasting a chicken, Help"

"Best Chicken Ever, Well, to me anyway"

"Roasting a chicken, it's about time"

"Your FAVORITE roast chicken recipe, Me: 40 cloves of garlic. What's yours?"

"Roasted Chicken - What I did, And a question: Whole chickens vs parts"

And, of course, you should also look into "Spatchcocking" your bird as well as using the chopped knuckle (Frenching?) method, too, that Sam (slkinsey) has suggested in the past (I couldn't find that specific post, though).

edited to add:

Hell, never roasted much of anything other than marshmallows.

When you get around to roasting marshmallows, start by making your own :

"Homemade Marshmallows, anybody got a recipe?"

Edited February 18, 2005 by Toliver (log)

[CurlySue]

Funny you should mention that! :D That's on my agenda for tonight as a matter of fact! Tomorrow will be the chocolate caramels from that book that I can't remember the name of.

[Potter]

Rosemary is the BOMB!

[Curlz]

From one curly girl to another, welcome to eGullet, CS! I've been roasting chickens since I was about 10 years old (Mom went back to work so she'd talk me through it after school)...it's really not as hard as some people make it out to be, and it sounds like you're off to a great start!

I'd like to add another flavor to your list--Bell's Seasoning (note that the link is just for the visual). You'll find it in most supermarkets in the spice section--it's in a small yellow BOX. It's a blend of very finely ground spices and tastes great on roast chicken or turkey. An old family favorite of ours, but I think most people think it's only for use around Thanksgiving.

One of my most basic (and low fat) roast chicken recipes is made with all dry ingredients. Put the bird on a rack and liberally sprinkle both sides with garlic powder, s&p, Molly McButter, Bell's, and then paprika. I cook it breast side up, starting out at 400 degrees for about 30 mins, then take it down to 350 for another 45 or so (depending on the size of the bird). Take it out, let it rest with a foil tent for about 10 mins, and I promise it will be most and tasty!

I'd also suggest you try the lemon and FRESH rosemary combo some time; it's a wonderful, bright flavor combination. You can also cook some chunky cut potatoes with any of these.

And one other hint, 'tho I'm guessing you won't need it as a baker--get an oven thermometer! Doesn't have to be an expensive one. When I got one, I discovered my oven was off by 25 degrees!

Curlz

[NulloModo]

How funny is this, I cooked my first whole chicken ever last night too.

I ended up putting mine in the smoker for two hours with some hickory wood, then finishing it up in the oven at 450 degrees to crisp up the skin.

I just used a basic spice rub, cayenne, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, and paprika, but wow, what a flavorful bird. I have to say, I never got why people said that boneless skinless breasts were flavorless before, but now it makes a little more sense, the chicken just tasted so much more 'chickeny' when cooked whole.

Congrats on your first attempt, I might try one entirely in the oven with some rosemary sometime... I love rosemary. I just need to wait for the little beasties to go on sale again...