Roasted Chicken

I always try to watch the local grocery store ads for those rare occasions when they have a really good price on whole chickens. If I watch closely I can usually score some at between 69 and 79 cents a pound. My local store seems to always put a limit of 3 on them at this price so I make as many trips to the store as possible that week getting 3 each trip and looking for the biggest of the birds. Last time I was able to bring home 9 and put them all in the freezer. I pulled one out of the freezer yesterday to roast for dinner tonight. Granted, a roast chicken does take some planning especially if it is in the freezer but it is so worth it in the end. This morning I took the thawed bird out of his (or her, I didn't ask) and gave it the spa treatment this consists of a long soak in a wonderfully fragrant bath of brine.

Brine for Chicken
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of herbs and spices (this time I used crushed red pepper flakes, dry basil, dry rosemary,and fennel seeds)
I then add a  couple of cups of water to this and zap it in the microwave to dissolve the salt and sugar. After stirring to make sure they are dissolved I  add ice to make about   8 cups and stir to melt the ice and cool the mixture.

I have an old Tupperware pitcher that we never really liked to use for its intended function. I discovered a few  years back that a whole chicken fits perfectly in it. So I put the chicken in this pitcher breast first and pour the brine mixture over. The only real trick to make sure the brine covers the bird. Put this in the refrigerator for about 6 or 8 hours. At the end of this time pull out the chicken, dump the brine and pat the chicken dry with paper towels.


To Roast the Chicken

Rub some oil (vegetable or olive which ever you prefer) all over the outside of the chicken. Fill the cavity with some aromatic veggies and herbs (usually a carrot, celery, some fresh herbs, onion and some garlic) and a cut up lemon if you have one. Use some kitchen string to tie the bird into a compact package and place on a rack in a roasting pan to cook at 375 degrees for between 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on how big your bird is. Use a quick read thermometer to check the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh, it should read between 175 and 180 degrees when you remove it from the  oven.  Cover the chicken with a foil tent and allow to rest for about 15 minutes before you cut into it.

The brine not only helps to flavor the chicken  all the way through but adds a lot of moisture to the meat. Even the breast will be moist and juicy.