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Whether you prefer white meat or dark, we can all agree that the best chicken has burnished, crackly skin that gives way to juicy, tender meat in every bite. Just one caveat: The feat of accomplishing such a thing at home turns our simple, reliable bird into something more intimidating. Leave it in the oven long enough to get the perfect drumsticks, and your white meat gets desiccated; cut into the chicken when the breasts are just right, and the dark meat is still gummy. Nobody wants a rare chicken thigh.
Yet there's nothing quite as rewarding and soul-satisfying as a roast chicken, for weeknights and dinner parties alike, and it's scientifically proven (or at least it should be) that nothing will make your house smell as good. With the right process, it's easy enough that you'll never again have to buy soggy-skinned rotisserie chickens from the grocery. QueenSashy put out a call for your best strategies, and you all jumped in to help with your favorite roasting methods:
Breast sideup
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Pegeen reports: "If I baste the chicken fairly often, breast up is usually fine." QueenSashy roasts a generously salted chicken at 475° F, breast side up, and cautions: "DO NOT open the door."
Breast side down
Breast side down is the wildcard, but QueenSashy explains that her Greek friend roasts his chicken breast side down at 375° F, "supported by the logic that it makes the breast meat juicier."
Spatchcocking
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Many of you are fans of spatchcocking — cutting out the bird's spine and flattening it for faster, more even cooking and guaranteed crispy skin. High heat is especially key here, and bigpan "pops a bit of compound butter under the breast skin" to make it that much better.
The flip
Most of you don't like to commit to roasting one side or the other, preferring instead to flip. Chocolate Be swears by Judy Rodgers' method: "Breast up, breast down, breast up for final crisping," and petitbleu, ChefJune, and healthierkitchen all use a similar process. Creamtea only flips once, about halfway through, and adds: "Sometimes I turn on the broiler at the very end to further brown the top."
No matter your approach, petitbleu says: "It pays to check the temperature in the legs and breasts, and adjust the position of the bird accordingly," since most supermarket chickens have far bigger breasts — and, by extension, different cooking times — than their farm-raised cousins.
