How to Roast a Chicken (or Turkey)

Years ago in graduate school the department in which I was studying held all kinds of student-organized events so we could socialize and get to know each other. There was a Friday afternoon happy hour. We had an international dinner, when everyone brought food from their country or culture. Since many students were far away from home and couldn’t travel, we had a Thanksgiving celebration. It was during one of these Thanksgiving meals that I first roasted a turkey. I knew it wouldn’t be difficult, so when the organizers were looking for multiple volunteers to cook the meal’s centerpieces, I raised my hand.

The turkey I cooked was fine. The breast meat was probably overcooked (it almost always is – that’s why the Lord invented gravy), but the skin was crispy and good. It looked great. But when we carved the bird, sitting in the cavity was a bag of turkey parts that I never knew existed. Giblets: the neck, heart, gizzard, and liver. As a novice, how was I supposed to know that they left this stuff inside a turkey? Fortunately, my rookie mistake caused no real harm. The giblets cooked along with the rest of the bird, perhaps even enhancing the flavor.

My children have now left the house for college and are starting to call home for recipes when they need a break from cafeteria food. Nothing makes me happier. My son in particular has moved from a dorm to an apartment, and so he is learning the basics of cooking and how to manage a meal. I have encouraged him to start with simple dishes for dinner, with enough for leftovers. Breaded chicken cutlets, fried rice, Thai chicken curry, and anything with bacon have become part of his repertoire. He also needs to know how to roast a chicken.

A roast chicken – just like a roast turkey – is easy to cook, and there are endless variations. At its simplest, you put it in the oven to cook. It will come out delicious, and there’s the added benefit of leftovers. You can pick at the meat whenever you look in the refrigerator for a quick bite or put slices on a sandwich. I love barbeque chicken sliders with chicken pulled from the bone. And it makes great chicken salad, as well as filling for tacos or a topping for nachos. Plus the picked clean carcass is the basis for delicious chicken soup. Roasting a turkey is the same, just bigger and longer. But remember, whether cooking a chicken or turkey, remove the bag of giblets before your roast the bird.

Roast Chicken

Makes 1 chicken, 1½ – 3 hours, depending on the size of the bird

1 chicken

2-3 Tbsp. butter or oil

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

dried herbs (such as sage, rosemary, and thyme, or others), optional

fresh herbs (such as parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, or others), optional

1. Buy a chicken. Roasters can be six to eight pounds. Fryers are usually four pounds or less. It doesn’t really matter which size you buy; there’s no difference between a roaster and a fryer, except for size and how long you will cook it. Some roasters from the supermarket have a handy thermometer that pops when the chicken is done. A fryer won’t have that. If you buy a roaster, there may be directions on the package, including timing. You can follow them, or what I suggest below.
2. Look in your oven and adjust or remove racks so the chicken will fit. Pre-heat the oven to 400 ^o
3. If you have a roasting pan or other pan (like a lasagna pan) use that. If not, you can use a cast iron skillet or anything else that will fit the chicken and can withstand the high heat of an oven. If you have a roasting rack that fits in the pan, put it in the pan. If not, fashion one out of a thick tube of aluminum foil. It doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to hold the chicken an inch or so above the floor of the pan so air can circulate underneath. That way the chicken doesn’t sit in its own juices and get soggy; this makes it more likely that the lower skin will crisp up.
4. Unwrap the chicken in the sink and dry it off with paper towels. Remove the package of giblets from the cavity. (I save [freeze] the neck for soup and the liver for chopped liver.) Put it in the roasting pan on the rack with the breast side up. Wash up well – including your hands and all surfaces – before you touch anything. All that raw chicken juice is gross, plus…salmonella.
5. Put a few pieces of butter on the chicken or smear some oil over the skin, and then season the chicken. There are a million ways to season a chicken. Using salt and pepper (a sprinkling of each) at a minimum is perfectly fine, but if you’ve got other seasonings, it just gets better. I like dried sage, rosemary, and thyme. Some people squeeze the juice of a lemon over it before putting the dried herbs on top. Sometimes I stuff fresh herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme) or a half a lemon in the cavity if I have them, but none of this is necessary. If there are other spices you like, they’ll probably work fine too. If you want to get fancy, cut up some potatoes and onions and other root vegetables, and put the chunks into the bottom of the pan to cook in the chicken’s schmaltzy juices.
6. Put the chicken in the pre-heated oven uncovered and let it roast. After about 20 minutes, turn the temperature down to 350 ^oF. You could baste the bird with some of the juices from time to time if you want, but stop basting at least a half hour before it’s done. That way the skin gets all brown and crispy and beautiful. If it looks like the bird is getting too brown before the meat inside is cooked to proper temperature, put a piece of aluminum foil over it so the skin doesn’t burn.
7. How long to cook it? It depends on the size. A small chicken might only take an hour and 15 minutes, while a 7 pound bird might take two and a half hours or a little more. If it has a pop up timer, wait for it to pop. If it doesn’t, then give it something like 15 minutes, plus 20 minutes per pound. To test for doneness, prick the thigh with a sharp knife. If it is done, the juices will run clear. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should reach 165 ^oF inserted into the thickest part of the thigh – but not touching bone.
8. Let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes (preferably a lot longer) out of the oven before carving to let the juices redistribute. Carve the chicken and put on a plate (search online for a video to show you how to carve a bird) or just rip pieces off and eat them.

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