Perfectly Roasted Chicken Recipes

Steps:

• Let chicken and 1 tablespoon butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove and discard the plastic pop-up timer from chicken if there is one. Remove the giblets and excess fat from the chicken cavity. Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water. Dry chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Tuck the wing tips under the body. Sprinkle the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, and set aside.
• In the center of a heavy-duty roasting pan, place onion slices in two rows, touching. Place the palm of your hand on top of lemon and, pressing down, roll lemon back and forth several times. This softens the lemon and allows the juice to flow more freely. Pierce entire surface of lemon with a fork. Using the side of a large knife, gently press on garlic cloves to open slightly. Insert garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and lemon into cavity. Place chicken in pan, on onion slices. Cut about 18 inches of kitchen twine, bring chicken legs forward, cross them, and tie together.
• Spread the softened butter over entire surface of chicken, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place in the oven, and roast until skin is deep golden brown and crisp and the juices run clear when pierced, about 1 1/2 hours. When chicken seems done, insert an instant-read thermometer into the breast, then the thigh. The breast temperature should read 180 degrees and the thigh 190 degrees.
• Remove chicken from oven, and transfer to a cutting board with a well. Let chicken stand 10 to 15 minutes so the juices settle. Meanwhile, pour the pan drippings into a shallow bowl or fat separator, and leave onions in the pan. Leave any brown baked-on bits in the bottom of the roasting pan, and remove and discard any blackened bits. Using a large spoon or fat separator, skim off and discard as much fat as possible. Pour the remaining drippings and the juices that have collected under the resting chicken back into the roasting pan. Place on the stove over medium-high heat to cook, about 1 minute. Add chicken stock, raise heat to high, and, using a wooden spoon, stir up and combine the brown bits with the stock until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Strain the gravy into a small bowl, pressing on onions to extract any liquid. Discard onions, and stir in the remaining tablespoon of cold butter until melted and incorporated. Untie the legs, and remove and discard garlic, thyme, and lemon. Carve, and serve gravy on the side.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Rinse and pat chicken thoroughly dry with paper towels. Mix margarine, garlic salt, black pepper, thyme, parsley, and rosemary in a bowl and rub the outside of the chicken thoroughly with the margarine mixture. Place any remaining margarine mixture into the cavity of the chicken. Place chicken into a glass baking dish.
• Bake chicken in the preheated oven until browned and the juices run clear, about 2 hours. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh, not touching bone, should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
• In a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan, add the carrots, celery and onions. Season the chicken both inside and out with the kosher salt and white pepper. Squeeze the lemon halves over the chicken and place the rinds inside the cavity. Place the bay leaves inside the cavity. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, olive oil and butter. Rub the chicken both inside and out with the garlic rosemary blend and place in the roasting pan.
• Place the pan in the oven and roast the chicken for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the juices run clear. To test this, insert a thermometer in the thickest part of a leg. It should register at 160 degrees internal temperature. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.
• Pour off excess fat from pan and return to heat. Whisk in chicken stock, roasted garlic, white wine and chopped rosemary, scraping up the bits on the bottom of pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Reduce gravy by half, until thickened.
• Serve chicken with gravy on the side.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• After removing giblets (discard or save for another recipe), salt and pepper inside of chicken.
• Stuff the cavity with thyme, lemon quarters and garlic halves.
• Brush the outside of the chicken with melted butter.
• Salt and pepper outside of chicken.
• Tie the legs together with string (good idea to soak string in water prior so it won't burn in the oven) and tuck the wings under the body.
• Cook in oven for 1 1/2 hours or until done.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place chicken on work surface with the legs facing away from you. Using a boning knife, score the wings where they meet the body of the chicken. Hyperextend the wing bones to remove the wing but not the airline bones. Repeat this step on the other wing.
• Lay the chicken on it back with it legs facing away from you. De-bone the chicken starting with an incision along one side of the breast bone separating the meat from the rib cage until you reach where the hip meets the back of the chicken. Bring the knife down to just above the hip bone and cut, taking care not to rip the back skin of the bird.
• Remove the bones from the leg and thigh. Following the leg and thigh bone on either side, carefully scrape down the leg bone and then the thigh bone to remove meat from bones. Trim off any excess fat and discard. Repeat process with remaining half of chicken.
• Heat an ovenproof skillet, large enough to fit both pieces of chicken without crowding, over high heat and drizzle with oil. Lay the chicken flat on work surface. Season both sides with salt and the flesh side only with white pepper. When the oil in the skillet just begins to smoke, add chicken, skin side down. Transfer to oven and cook until skin becomes golden brown, and flesh just begins to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately.