roast chicken
roasting a whole chicken in a cast iron pan is ideal for a few reasons:
- vegetables cook in the same pan as a built in side dish
- cast iron pan catches the sauce in a non-annoying way (i.e. doesn't involve scraping it off a sheet pan)
- you can make a sauce with drippings in the same pan.
very generally, i do as follows. preheat the oven to [temperature], take the chicken out of the fridge, salt it generously, and put it on a cutting board and let sit for 30 minutes. via osmosis this will pull salt into the chicken as well as draw water out, so pat the skin dry after the 30 minutes are up. Rub olive oil onto all exposed parts of the skin and then rub on the [seasoning], ensuring there's seasoning on the inside and all the way around the wings and the thighs and drumsticks. put [chopped vegetables] tossed in salt and oil in the cast iron. place the chicken on top of [chopped vegetables] and place a split onion or lemon in the cavity. cook until thickest part of breast measures 155F, then pull it out and let it rest for an absolute minimum of 20 minutes. if desired, remove the chicken and vegetables with a spatula that will leave the liquid behind and make a sauce out of the drippings.
How long do I cook the chicken for?
The stupid answer is 'until the breast registers 155 degrees Fahrenheit', but sometimes you are in another person's, or even your own kitchen, without a thermometer. A very general rule of thumb is to cook the chicken at 425 for 10 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 350 and cook the chicken for 20 minutes per pound. This + a 20 minute resting period recently worked well for a 5.5 lb chicken.
Should I spatchcock the chicken?
A spatchcocked (or butterflied) chicken has had the spine removed and the breastbone cracked so that it lays flat on a sheet tray. This remedies a typical problem with a roasted chicken as is: the chicken cooks fairly evenly, but the breast meat (usually cooked to 155F) is done earlier than leg meat (done around 170F). So correctly cooked chicken legs leave the breast meat dry.
Spatchcocking takes advantage of how heat disperses over a sheet pan: the area near the edges of the pan are hotter than the center. The spatchcocked chicken keeps the breast close to the middle of a sheet tray and splays the legs closer to the edge, and the difference in temperature means the breast and leg meat hit their target temps at about the same time. It also cooks a little faster than a typical chicken, the skin gets crispier, and I find it easier to carve.
You do need room on a sheet pan to do it as I'd imagine this doesn't really work in a cast iron, and you need to be more careful about burning the skin (cooking vegetables under the bird can remedy this by introducing steam to the oven). You can brown the spine and make a sauce with it, or you can save it for stock.
Variations
Normal Sunday Roast Chicken
- a whole chicken around here is ~3 lbs, and I cook it at 425. takes about an 50-65 minutes
- put a bunch of different herbs and spices for the seasoning: paprika, black pepper, herbs de provence, rosemary, thyme, sage, etc. I'd guess I aim to have 3 tbsps total.
- chopped vegetables are usually potatoes, carrots, and some other root vegetables. i also put in a head of garlic split around the equator, which is then squeezed out after it's done.
Gochujang Chicken
This is Molly Baz's Recipe from Bon Appetit
- cook much lower: at 325 (to not burn the rub). takes about 2.5 hours for a 3.5-4.5 lb chicken.
- seasoning is 2-3 tbsp gochujang, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 grated garlic cloves, grated ginger, all whisked together.
- inside cavity is a yellow onion, and chopped potatoes + garlic head around and under the bird.
- for a sauce, take chicken and vegetables out of the pan. squeeze out some of the garlic into the pan, and add in honey. whisk together while cooking on a burner until it's reduced a bit.
- serve with lime slices and a bunch of chopped scallions