Roasting a chicken does not require the skills of a restaurant chef. You will get perfectly good results if you proceed as your grandmother did. Simply arrange the chicken breast side up on a rimmed baking sheet or in a shallow roasting pan (deep pans interfere with browning) and roast it until the thigh releases clear juices when pricked with a fork. This is our recipe for Roasted Chicken and it produces a bird that far surpasses the average take-out specimen.
If you are looking for perfection, you might consider trying the technique outlined in Turned Roasted Chicken. This recipe calls for arranging the chicken on a rack (preferably a V-rack) and roasting it first on one side, then on the other, and finally breast side up. When a chicken is roasted on its sides, the dark meat is exposed to the reflected glare of the hot oven roof while the sensitive breast is turned toward the cooler oven walls. This serves to cook the dark meat at a faster rate than the breast, which is precisely what one wants, as the dark meat is done at an internal temperature of 170┬░ to 180┬░F, while the white meat is cooked through at the much lower temperature of 160┬░F and begins to dry out and harden if heated much beyond 165┬░F. There is also gravity to consider. When a chicken sits breast side up throughout cooking, gravity inevitably draws the juices down toward the back and into the roasting pan. Flipping the chicken reverses the flow of the juices.
roasted chicken
poultry pan sauce or gravy
turned roasted chicken
roasted chicken with herbs and garlic
roasted chicken and vegetables
roasted stuffed chicken or capon
roasted rock cornish hens or poussins
glazed, stuffed, roasted rock cornish hens or poussins
roasted chicken stuffed under the skin
casserole-roasted chicken with forty cloves of garlic
