Tell me how you roast your chicken.

[Shoobydoo]

So, for the last year or so I have been searching for the Perfect Roast Chicken. I love a good roast chicken and it's a great way to make a cheap meal since I can get a whole chicken cheap at the store and it'll last at least two or three meals between me and my BF. However, I just can't seem to find the PERFECT recipe. I tried an herb butter one once that was really delicious, but I don't really want that to be my go-to recipe because it called for a stick and a half of butter. :shock: That's a bit much for something I'd wind up making once or twice a month.

So please-- tell me how you like to roast your chicken. I would really love to get some ideas from all you lovely FJers. :)

[1004srs]

I put big aluminum foil balls in the bottom of my crockpot. Throw the chicken in on top with whatever spices I'm in the mood for. Let it cook all day while I am at work.

Voila - roast chicken with very little grease when I get home.

I do the same with pork tenderloin and beef roast.

[Fallgirl30]

I stuff mine with lemon, garlic and onion, rub outside with olive oil, then salt and pepper, lots of both. I blast with heat, usually around 500 degrees for about 15 minutes, then lower to 350 and roast until it reaches 155 degrees. Take it out, let it rest so it reaches 165. I followed the recipe by Fabio Viviani, he is from Top Chef. It's really very good.

[Arete]

About 30 minutes before I want to roast I get the chicken out of the fridge and let it get closer to room temp. Wash and dry with paper towels inside and out. Coat outside of chicken with olive oil, then salt and pepper. Salt the inside of a chicken. I take either a lemon or an orange (just depends which I have on hand), stab it a few times with the tines of a fork and stuff it into the cavity of the bird. I cut an onion into thick slices and 2 carrots into chunks and put them in the roasting pan in a mass. Bird get plonked on top. About a cup of water in the pan.

Oven is preheated to 475 degrees F. As soon as the bird goes in I lower the heat to 400 degrees F. For a three pound bird, it takes about 80 minutes. I can tell when it's done but its easy enough to stick in a meat thermometer to be sure.

If I'm really feeling the spirit, I'll make a pan gravy out of the veggies and bits in the pan. Once meat has been eaten I will freeze the carcass until my next day off. Out carcass goes into about 5 quarts of water, I cut up 1 carrot, one onion with skin, a few garlic cloves with peel, and 1-2 bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then bring down to a bare simmer for about 3 hours. Bring the volume back up with water in the last 10 minutes. Strain and portion in freezer bags.

[Bethella]

We use a beer can roaster. Sometimes we use beer, other times we use soda (cola, sprite, and root beer)- it all depends on the mood we're in.

[sparkles]

A few years ago, a friend of ours gifted us with a Ronco Showtime Rotisserie (the "Set It and Forget It! thing). Of course, there was much mocking all around because of the goofy infomercial but honestly? It makes AWESOME chicken. I've done everything from simple seasoning with salt, pepper and paprika to fresh herb pastes rubbed under the skin and it's always perfect. I mock no more.

[Frumpalicious]

I take one whole chicken and let thaw completely in fridge. Rinse and pat completely dry, inside and out. Cut off tail and wingtips. Rub the chicken all over with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put a few pats of butter between breast and skin. Yummy. I stuff the cavity with one sliced lemon, half of an onion, a few peeled garlic cloves, and sprigs of rosemary. Then I put whole branches of rosemary and slices of lemon over the top of the chicken and cover in foil. Cook, covered, at 500 degrees for 15-20 minutes, lower temp to 350 and cook for another hour. Take out, remove rosemary and lemons from the top and put back in, uncovered, for another half-hour, to get nice and crisp. Try not to eat the skin. Fail miserably. Blame the dog.

[OkToBeTakei]

I take one whole chicken and let thaw completely in fridge. Rinse and pat completely dry, inside and out. Cut off tail and wingtips. Rub the chicken all over with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put a few pats of butter between breast and skin. Yummy. I stuff the cavity with one sliced lemon, half of an onion, a few peeled garlic cloves, and sprigs of rosemary. Then I put whole branches of rosemary and slices of lemon over the top of the chicken and cover in foil. Cook, covered, at 500 degrees for 15-20 minutes, lower temp to 350 and cook for another hour. Take out, remove rosemary and lemons from the top and put back in, uncovered, for another half-hour, to get nice and crisp. Try not to eat the skin. Fail miserably. Blame the dog.

Same here. Makes all the difference. I use a wooden spoon handle to separate the skin from the flesh. I detest lemon chicken in any shape or form, personal taste. I put many things up it's bum though. Whole unpeeled onion. Same with garlic, unpeeled, if it is not a plain Sunday dinner. I'm not a fan of rosemary either, too strong, same with tarragon, strange really as they supposedly compliment chicken. I do use thyme very occasionally.

To be honest some butter under the skin and some salt and pepper does me. I baste every 10 minutes or so. I also sometimes cook the bird upside down as the fat in the brown meat then works it way up.

I make my own stuffing if it's a Sunday dinner dinner chicken. Putting it in the cavity is nice but if I use a meat based stuffing the extra time it takes to cook can overcook the chicken. My personal opinion about chicken is that people overcook it through fear.

I tend to use the carcass, skin and assorted bits for stock hence my reticence for strong herbs or flavours. Not all soups or sauces I make lend well to lemon or strong herbs and I can add them when making whatever I am making. My stock simmers away for hours.

This time of year I tend to spatchcock whole chicken and throw it on the BBQ. I use loads of different herbs flavours for that as I serve it with salads etc.

[Mela99]

I get two lemons. Squeeze one and rub the skin with it. Take the other, poke a few holes in it and stuff it up the bird's behind. Then I use FRESH rosemary, a little salt and pepper. It comes out amazingly juicy and tender and flavorful.

[NewOrleansLady]

Good Grief!! I thought it said "Tell me how you roast your CHILDREN." Reading about the Duggars a little too much. :cracking-up:

[SamE]

I do the crockpot chicken, too. Easy and tasty. Nice cooked meal when you get home from work!

[RosyDaisy]

I mix olive oil, butter, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper, rub it all over the chicken, place the chicken in a cooking bag, and cook it slowly in the oven. That's how my mama taught me to cook it.

[Coco]

This is the recipe they were talking about i think:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... ken-231348

It's very easy. The only problem is that with a little bigger bird you need to tent some foil over it at the end to keep it from scorching. i use beer can chicken seasoning with a little added pepper.

Once meat has been eaten I will freeze the carcass until my next day off. Out carcass goes into about 5 quarts of water, I cut up 1 carrot, one onion with skin, a few garlic cloves with peel, and 1-2 bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then bring down to a bare simmer for about 3 hours. Bring the volume back up with water in the last 10 minutes. Strain and portion in freezer bags.

I love this idea! No more deboning after all the work of making the supper. :D