Roasting Chicken The Thomas Keller Way

Cold, rainy day... time for comfort food for me and my hubby. But after a long day of work I wanted comfort food that wasn't a pain in the arse to make. Inspiration hit and I pulled out my copy of Thomas Keller's Bouchon and there it was, probably the easiest way to roast a chicken I had ever seen. Now usually when I roast a chick I either go the brine route or spend time slathering it with butter and putting it on a bed of veggies but with dinner time rapidly approaching and my being too lazy to chop veggies and work the bird I decided to give this recipe a chance. Now the one part that some might find complicated is this recipe calls for the chicken to be trussed. If you're a little rusty on trussing a chicken or have never done it before one simple way to do it can be found here. OK, ready? Here we go:

Ingredients

1 farm raised chicken, about 2 - 3 pounds

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Now really that's it. Keller likes to add some minced thyme on his (and I did this to mine as well but it's optional and the chicken is still wonderful without it).

Equipment

Butcher's twine for trussing the bird (about 3 ft)

Roasting pan or saute pan

A cutting board on which the cooked chicken will rest.

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
   
2. Rinse the chicken, then pat it dry with paper towels, inside and out. The idea is to have the chicken cook in a dry heat so eliminating as much moisture as you possibly can is key.
   
3. Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. This a great technique for roasting poultry because you create a single mass to heat which helps prevent the chicken from drying out as well as having part of the chicken burned while other parts still pink.
   
4. Salt the chicken by simply "raining" about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt all over the chicken. The idea is that once it is roasted you should still taste a little salt in the crisp skin. Season to your own taste with freshly cracked pepper.
   
5. Put the trussed chicken in a roasting or saute pan and once the oven is up to 450 degrees put the chicken in the oven.
   
6. Roast until it's done (about 50 - 60 minutes, the juices should run clear). Don't baste, don't open the oven, just let it cook.
   
7. Remove the chicken from the oven. If you want to add thyme, add it to the juices in the pan and baste the chicken with the juices, then let the chicken rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.
   
8. Remove the twine and carve as desired.

And that's it. The chicken comes out with a beautifully crispy skin and in credibly juicy. The key points are to make the roasting environment dry and truss the chicken to create a mass that cooks more or less in a uniform manner. We had our chicken with a little side salad and a piece of buttered and toasted baguette. I paired this with a lovely little Pinot Noir and enjoyed dining with my hubby.