ruhlmans twenty

Is this really the perfect roast chicken? I'm going with an overwhelming yes for a couple of reasons. It's the simplest roast chicken that's ever come out of my kitchen and as far as fantastic chicken flavor goes—juicy interior and cracklingly crisp skin—it's really spot on, and dare I say perfect.  Not overly fancy, but with a chicken that tastes this good, extra add-ins like herbs and aromatics aren't really necessary.

Perfect Roasted Chicken Recipe | Cook the Book

chicken

lemon onion,

Kosher salt

About 1 hour before cooking the chicken, remove it from the refrigerator, and rinse it. If you intend to make a pan sauce, cut off the wing tips and add them, along with the neck if you have it, to the pan in which you will roast the bird. Truss the chicken or stuff it with the lemon or onion, or both. Salt it and set it on a plate lined with paper towels/absorbent paper. 

Preheat the oven to 450°F to 425°F if you’re concerned about smoke. Set the oven on convection if that’s an option. Put the chicken in an oven-proof frying pan and slide it into the oven. 

After 1 hour, check the color of the juices. If they run red, return the chicken to the oven and check it again in 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 15 minutes before carving it. 

Yesterday we shared a recipe for Michael Ruhlman's dead simple and totally fantastic Perfect Roast Chicken  from his latest technique-based cookbook, Ruhlman's Twenty. We alluded to a particularly wonderful Pan Sauce for Roasted Chicken and today we're sharing that recipe with you.

Pan Sauce for Roasted Chicken Recipe | Cook the Book

Rustic Sauce

Spanish onion, thinly sliced

carrot, thinly sliced

white wine

Refined Sauce

butter

shallot, minced

tarragon

parsley

chives

lemon (optional)

Dijon mustard (optional)

For the Rustic Sauce: Put the pan in which you have just roasted a chicken over high heat and cook any remaining skin for 1 minute or so. The juices will cook down and stick to the bottom of the pan. Pour off all but 1 or 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat if you wish. Add the onion and carrot and stir with a flat-edged spoon to coat the vegetables with the fat. Cook until the onion is translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up the caramelized bits. Cook all the wine off (the fat will begin to crackle). Continue to cook until the onion and carrot are caramelized, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1 cup hot water, deglaze the pan again, and let the water cook down completely. When the crackling begins, stir the onion and carrot until they become nicely caramelized. Add another 1 cup hot water and cook until reduced by about two-thirds.  

For the Refined Sauce: While the wine and water are cooking down, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, adding the shallot as the butter melts. Cook the shallot gently until translucent. Remove the pan from the heat. Strain the sauce into the saucepan with the shallots and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the remaining butter and swirl it in the pan until completely incorporated into the sauce. Stir in the herbs. (While the sauce is reducing, separate the legs from the chicken. You can add any juices accumulated on the carving board to the pan sauce.)  

Add the lemon juice or mustard, if you wish. Arrange the chicken on plates. Holding back the solids in the pan, pour the sauce over the chicken, or spoon the sauce over the chicken.

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Perfect Roasted Chicken Recipe | Co...

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