Off-Campus Kitchen: Roast Chicken
Roasting your first chicken is a culinary rite of passage — or at least it was for me. Roasting a chicken made me feel like an adult feeding a family, only the family in question was my motley group of friends. Once the fear of your first time is gone (make all the jokes you like), you suddenly feel capable of anything. Capable of roasting any kind of poultry, that is.
Chicken is the first step to the realm of ducks, geese and turkeys, but is also considerably less expensive than those gamier birds. Make this a meal by adding roasted root vegetables or stuffing; it’s a feast worthy of a Hanover winter dinner party.
You will need:
Optional:
3 tablespoons salted butter, softened.
Herbs (rosemary and thyme are good choices)
Diced root vegetables (potatoes, parsnips, carrots, beets, butternut squash—whatever suits your fancy)
Kitchen twine
Directions
2. Remove any innards remaining in chicken cavity. Place chicken in roasting pan, breast up.
3. Mash herbs and softened butter together. Lift the chicken skin and stuff herbed butter and/or salt underneath.
4. Peel and halve the onion and stuff it into the chicken cavity (a whole orange is an excellent substitute and provides a slightly different flavor). Optional: Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen twine (not plastic) to preserve its shape, and place cut root vegetables around chicken in roasting pan.
5. Put the chicken in the oven! Check on it every 20 minutes. Drizzle juices that have dripped into the pan back onto the chicken; this helps keep it moist. Cook for an hour and 20 minutes, or until juices run clear and the meat no longer looks pink. Undercooking presents a risk of food poisoning.
6. To carve, use a sharp knife to separate drumsticks from thighs at the joint. Slice or pull thighs off side of chicken. Cut one side of the breast along the breastbone, working from the tail end. Cut down along the wing end of the chicken to separate the breast. Repeat on the other side. If desired, cut wings from the body.