Roasting Chicken The Lazy Man Way

[weinoo]

I know what you're thinking: "lazy man roast chicken, who's he kidding?" Because, you know, roasting a whole chicken, if done properly, is a bit of a pain. There's the cleaning of the bird, the trussing (if you truss), the seasoning, the clean up, etc. etc. To say nothing about properly cooking the breast meat (i.e. not overcooked) at the same time as properly cooking the legs and thighs (i.e. cooked enough).

Don't kid yourself...it's the same with turkey. I remember a Thanksgiving a few years ago where I actually took the bird out of the oven and carved off the legs and thighs and put them back in the oven to roast some more. People looked at me like I was crazy, but then many claimed it was the juiciest turkey they'd ever had.

But lately I've come across a simple fix...let's call it the lazy man roast chicken. Simply roast the parts, many of which are already available cut-up at your local grocer. Sure, I know it's not the same...but really, other than the presentation, it is. I mean, unless you're telling me chicken thighs don't come from a chicken, it's the same. Now, you won't get to gnaw on the carcass, but I'm willing to bet a lot of you don't do that anyway - it's just me and a few heathens that do. But what you do get to do is pick the parts you like the best...and for me, that's legs and thighs, mostly.

Just like with anything you're cooking, the final "product" is only going to be as good as what you start with...so start with decent chicken, please. Purdue, Foster Farms, and that wan store brand chicken just aren't going to cut it; no matter how much you brine and cajole them, they still taste like cardboard. Fortunately for us, we live in a neighborhood that has a big Jewish and a big Chinese population, so other than the battles of the ancient cultures, some pretty decent chicken can be found.

In Chinatown, of course, you can buy freshly killed poultry, with the head and feet still on. And fresh = good. The weird thing is, my grandmother, who to the best of my knowledge was not Chinese, used to get her whole chickens the same way! She even bought chicken feet, which she used to great effect in her soup and fricassée.

Back to the parts - our local grocery carries Empire, and it's a pretty tasty chicken, so that's what I use. As a matter of fact, their thigh/leg combos cost less than whole birds, so it's practically a bargain. After rinsing the parts well (and disjointing the leg from the thigh), I toss the pieces with some olive oil, salt, pepper and lately I've been throwing in some quartered potatoes, lemon slices and fresh rosemary as well.

I've been roasting at around 400 F (your oven is preheated, right?), sometimes with convection, sometimes without...I'm trying to find out the best temp/time situation, but because they're legs and thighs, it takes a lot of work to screw it up. Figure about 50 minutes to an hour, and take the roasting pan out of the oven and give everything a good stir every 15 minutes or so.

Full blog post with pix is just a click away.

[Poivrot Farci]

...with the head and feet still on.

"Smitten Man’s Chicken."

Confucius style. Ginger brined and roasted.

With noble wheat berries, manicured asparagus, 8 month cured lardo di Mt. Pleasant soffritto,

a few tiny onions here and there and some obligatory fluted mushrooms for extra showmanship.

Chocolate truffles.

Rum & hazelnut ganache.

With fleur de sel de l'Île de Noirmoutier, and without.

[zoramargolis]

"Smitten Man’s Chicken."

a few tiny onions here and there and some obligatory fluted mushrooms for extra showmanship.

Well, you've certainly attracted this female's attention, although my being smitten may not be what you had in mind--me being no spring chicken, and all. But one look at your fluted mushroom cap, and I go all weak in the knees.

[Simul Parikh]

So, due to the excessive travels and eating and newfound lady friend, I've unfortunately gained weight and may be a touch on the hypertensive side, so will be spending a lot more time in these sections compared to the dining out section, since I'm cooking nearly most meals or getting healthy snacks from grocery store for lunch.

I just read the Kenji Lopez Alt book - The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. Very fun to read, especially if you like the "whys" and want to learn about "evidence based cooking". I've listened to him on podcasts and read some of his Food Lab stuff on Serious Eats. Anyway, he spends a lot of time on poultry and so I decided to try his roasted chicken. I got as good bird as I could find at Whole Foods, air chilled, organic, free range. Turns out "hormone free" is nonsense, because you aren't allowed to give American birds hormones. It was a 3.5 lb bird. His two big things are 1) drying out the bird is based on temperature, and if you have good technique, brining is unnecessary and possibly worse 2) Crispy skin is optimal, and best way to do that is dry it as much as you can with paper towels, rest it overnight in the refrigerator uncovered, and separate the skin from the meat. 

So, as far as technique, the basic issue is that you want the breast at a lower temperature than the legs/thighs. And if you just roast it whole, you'll either dry out the breast (white), or leave the legs/thighs undercooked (dark). Can roast in parts (as mentioned above), do it whole but with a pizza stone (so the high heat gets into the legs and you keep the temperature differential), or the way he prefers - spatchcocking (butterflying). It's easy to do, but you don't get the pretty whole bird. 

So, I spatchcocked it, separated the skin from the meat but left it on and rubbed it with this Chinese chili oil I've had in the cupboard. Put it on a baking pan and cooked at 450 for about 45 min. Skin turned out nice and crispy, breast was moist, and thigh was the best part. Very easy. Also roasted caulifower, and that turned out awesome (oil, salt, pepper, 500 degrees for about 30 minutes... brown and sweet... just like me). 

I think I'll definitely be eating more chicken... Where do you get the good birds in NOVA?

[dcs]

1 hour ago, Simul Parikh said:

I think I'll definitely be eating more chicken... Where do you get the good birds in NOVA?

You may want to swing by the Organic Butcher of McLean.

[DonRocks]

3 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

I think I'll definitely be eating more chicken... Where do you get the good birds in NOVA?

Since this thread is titled "The Lazy Man's Way," I'll chime in and say that 365 Brand packs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (the kind in plastic that stack on top of each other) have been serving me just fine. Wrap them in foil, bake at 450 for 60 minutes, throw some soy sauce on top, and you have your protein. Serve with yams (made the same way), and use cottage cheese instead of butter or sour cream, with as much soy sauce as you want to add. Don't criticize this meal until you try it - you might be surprised, and if you want to nix carbohydrates, just leave out the yams (but they really do add another dimension).

[DaveO]

I roast a fair number of chickens in a variety of ways....but I'm a true lazy man, and have noted that a fair number of folks I know are similarly lazy.  The real lazy man's /womans roasted chicken is to purchase a preroasted chicken at any of many many different sources.  Latin American roasted chickens are available throughout the region, super market roasted chickens are available, lets face it Boston Chicken has had them for ages.  My long time local favorite was Chicken Out...now very long gone.

The above version shown by Poivrot Farci is a beautiful specimen...but for a real lazy man/woman....there is always a supermarket or Chickn Pollo

[weezy]

My go-to for chicken thighs is to pull back the skin, splort some dijon on each thigh and spread it around, sprinkled with S&P, garlic powder and Herbes de Provence, pull the skin back over and sprinkle with another round of spices plus cayenne, and put into a hot oven (425) for about 40 minutes.  I do a multipack each time so I have leftovers for lunches.  But when it first comes out of the oven, I pick the most delectable, crunchiest piece of skin and pull it off and eat that one....and then I toss the rest of the skins because, well, it's just a spicy chicken potato chip of fat.  But very easy to do.  Steam some broccoli and squirt with lemon juice and it's a fine meal.