COOKING NYTIMES HENS SKIN
COOKING NYTIMES HENS FREE

Place the chicken breast side up in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven.

When it’s cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin.

COOKING NYTIMES HENS SKIN

Now, salt the chicken-I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 Tbsp.). Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing is not difficult, and if you roast chicken often, it’s a good technique to feel comfortable with. Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out.

COOKING NYTIMES HENS FREE

Get a heavy-duty cutting board (the kind that catches the meat’s juices when you cut into the bird) ready for carving-feel free to decorate it with a few pretty thyme sprigs. Dark meat is safe when the meat thermometer reads 165°, but more tender between 175° and 190°.

You can take the chicken out of the oven when the breast is around 155☏-the temperature will go up about 10° as it rests. Instead of relying on just the suggested cook time, you’ll want to use a reliable instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature of both the thickest part of the meat (the thigh) and the breast. It’s such a simple meal that you can make it on a weeknight with some quick veggies or a salad.Ī good roasting pan (or even a large cast-iron skillet) will help make this easy roast chicken recipe even simpler to execute.

Instead, it gets its wonderful flavor and crispy skin from a few simple but essential steps: using a pasture-raised whole chicken (which will have more flavorful meat than a conventionally raised bird), drying the skin thoroughly, salting both the skin and the cavity of the chicken, trussing the chicken so that the breast meat doesn’t dry out, and roasting at a pretty high temperature without basting. For Keller, the perfect roast chicken doesn’t require a lot of extra ingredients-just some kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and fresh thyme (and the thyme is optional). Chef Thomas Keller’s food is known for fine dining finesse, but his recipe for simple roast chicken is about as easy as it gets.

Cooking nytimes hens