Help! Roasting a whole chicken .....

[ShellyCooks]

How do you roast a whole chicken? I have no problem roasting chicken parts, but when it comes to a whole chicken, I just can't get it right. Tonight the chicken is back in the oven for the third time. When I cut into the thigh, it was still pink around the bone. I have followed several recipes, but I still have problems. Tonight, I roasted a 4 pound chicken on a rack at 350 degrees F for
1 1/2 hours. Before I roasted it, I let it sit out to come to room temperature as one recipe suggested. I've checked my oven and the temperature is accurate. I am about to give up and just stick to chicken parts! Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Selkie]

Try this:

Baked Chicken Dinner Recipe : Food Network Kitchen : Food Network

 

[Andy M.]

...or, try this.

Barbara Kafka's Simplest Roast Chicken recipe on Food52.com

 

[Kayelle]

Or try beer butt chicken in a standing position in the oven. The dark meat cooks hotter than the white meat in both the oven or on a grill. As far as I'm concerned it's the most efficient way to roast chicken. You don't have to use beer, you can use wine or nothing at all with a standing rack for your chicken.

 

[Bookbrat]

I pre-salt our chickens with 3/4 tsp. kosher salt per pound...salt inside and out, using Judy Rodger's Zuni Cafe method. Stick it in the fridge for a day (I often salt it early in the morning for that night's dinner). You can stuff herbs under the skin, but I don't bother. Mostly I just roast it plain. Then roast as per Barbara Kafka (although I use 450F until thigh registers 160F on a meat thermometer...it doesn't take much longer...500F scares me, lol). It always comes out moist and perfect. Here's the recipe (I sort of) follow: Thibeault's Table The Recipe Collection: Simplest Roast Chicken.

I've done it this way using my pottery beer butt chicken cooker, too. With wine and herbs in the "can" part.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Or try beer butt chicken in a standing position in the oven. The dark meat cooks hotter than the white meat in both the oven or on a grill. As far as I'm concerned it's the most efficient way to roast chicken. You don't have to use beer, you can use wine or nothing at all with a standing rack for your chicken.

Absolutely!

Beer/soda can is the way to go!

I just love the all over tan and even cooking.

I use an empty can (wrapped in aluminum foil) and roast at 350 for approx. 20 minutes per pound.

 

[jennyema]

Use a meat thermometer

 

[puffin3]

Preheat oven to 200 F. Yes 200 F. NO higher.
Rub a slurry of Kosher salt and white vinegar all over the bird. Stick a halved lemon in the cavity with a sprig of fresh thyme. Into roasting pan. Middle rack in oven. Check deep internal temp. When the temp. reaches 155 F, which will take a couple of hours more or less depending on the type of bird/size remove from the oven. Lightly tent for about 15 minutes.
Crank up your broiler setting to screaming hot.
Apply another slurry of Kosher salt/white vinegar to the bird. The bird will at this point look pretty anemic.
Bird into oven with the oven light on. Watch as the skin turns a nice golden brown in a couple of minutes.
Remove bird. Lightly tent. Rest for 30 or so minutes. Carve.
This is referred to as the 'low and slow' method.
Ever had a chicken that has basically the texture of shoe leather on the surface? Yes?
That's b/c all protein strands basically turn into rubber bands when they are heated over 212 F. Same with fried eggs.
It takes some people a long time to try the 'low and slow' method but I have never met one person who has tried the method who would ever go back to using high heat to cook any bird.
Your problem is the high heat is roasting the exterior of the bird and leaving the interior uncooked.

 

[jennyema]

Cooking chicken at 200 can give you food poisoning.

Commercial poultry is already laden with bacteria and cooking it at such a low temperature encourages the bacteria to grow exponentially.

If one must cook chicken at a low temp, the chicken should start in a very hot oven to kill surface bacteria before turning the oven down.

I've always had great success with Barbara Kafka's high heat method. Never turns to shoe
leather. Also the Zuni chicken recipe is a bit fussier but always comes out great.

 

[puffin3]

Cooking chicken at 200 can give you food poisoning.

Commercial poultry is already laden with bacteria and cooking it at such a low temperature encourages the bacteria to grow exponentially.

If one must cook chicken at a low temp, the chicken should start in a very hot oven to kill surface bacteria before turning the oven down.

I've always had great success with Barbara Kafka's high heat method. Never turns to shoe
leather. Also the Zuni chicken recipe is a bit fussier but always comes out great.

Tell that to the tens of thousands of 'Sous Vide' fans.
The recommended cooking temp. of chicken for dark meat is 167 F.
You need to do some research on what temps. and times are used to kill bacteria.
Sous Vide Time and Temperature Guide | Science | ChefSteps

 

[CraigC]

Tell that to the tens of thousands of 'Sous Vide' fans.
The recommended cooking temp. of chicken for dark meat is 167 F.
You need to do some research on what temps. and times are used to kill bacteria.
Sous Vide Time and Temperature Guide | Science | ChefSteps

If you smoke a chuckie and want it to pull like pork, it will need to go between 210 and 215. It certainly will not be like rubber bands.

 

[puffin3]

If you smoke a chuckie and want it to pull like pork, it will need to go between 210 and 215. It certainly will not be like rubber bands.

And now you are going to address the issue of Sous Vide temps. visa vi chicken and bacteria .....right?

 

[jennyema]

Tell that to the tens of thousands of 'Sous Vide' fans.
The recommended cooking temp. of chicken for dark meat is 167 F.
You need to do some research on what temps. and times are used to kill bacteria.
Sous Vide Time and Temperature Guide | Science | ChefSteps

Sous Vide is an entirely different technique than oven roasting. You are comparing apples and oranges.

For a whole lot of us, the recommended cooking temperature for dark meat is 170 or higher. Below that temp the ample connective tissue in dark meat hasn't softened and the collagen hasn't dissolved so the meat has a texture that many people find very unappetizing.

 

[Katie H]

I've never really had any challenge roasting a whole chicken and have a number of recipes I use that I like, all for different reasons. However, last year I stumbled across a Better Homes & Gardens magazine recipe at the doctor's office that really intrigued me. I've made it several times, all with 100% success and all delicious.

You might be curious enough to try it. Check out this link for Classic Roast Chicken.

 

[RPCookin]

I've never had a problem with roasting a whole chicken. I don't do anything fancy. Oven at 350° F. Coat chicken with whatever herb and spices you like. You can put herb or spiced butter under the skin for more flavor if you like. It also works well to brine the bird for a day before cooking, although I rarely bother.

I roasted a nice sized bird (nearly 5 pounds) last night just using rosemary, thyme and marjoram mixed into a melted butter basting sauce. It took about 1 hour 45 minutes to get the thigh to about 165° (measured with my Thermapen starting at about one hour), basting 3 times during the cooking. I then remove it from the oven and tent it with foil and let it rest for 1/2 hour to finish cooking wile I get the rest of the meal ready. Came out quite nice, tender and full of flavor. We have 2/3 of it left for something else tonight and at least one other meal after that. As soon as the weather cooperates, I'll be doing it on my grill with some smoke to add even more flavor.

 

[salt and pepper]

Here is some that I use, you can also use a "V" shaped roasting rack. The large is used for turkey on an outdoor stove and cooked on top of the burner!

 

[puffin3]

Sous Vide is an entirely different technique than oven roasting. You are comparing apples and oranges.

For a whole lot of us, the recommended cooking temperature for dark meat is 170 or higher. Below that temp the ample connective tissue in dark meat hasn't softened and the collagen hasn't dissolved so the meat has a texture that many people find very unappetizing.

Yes it's a different technique but 167 F is 167 F any way you cook something. This was supposed to be about 'safe' cooking temperature.
Boiled/fried/roasted/grilled/ SV it's all the same basic principle.
Actually it's about how long a certain temp. is maintained to kill specific pathogens. There are thousands of sites explaining this on Google.

 

[CraigC]

And now you are going to address the issue of Sous Vide temps. visa vi chicken and bacteria .....right?

You have no clue what a chuckie is in low and slow smoking ....right?

 

[Aunt Bea]

Here is some that I use, you can also use a "V" shaped roasting rack. The large is used for turkey on an outdoor stove and cooked on top of the burner!

I like the looks of your turkey roasting pan!

Last Thanksgiving I did my turkey in the oven using a Foster's oil can and it was sort of unstable. I wonder if I could use the insert from an angel food cake pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Hmm...

 

[Kayelle]

I like the looks of your turkey roasting pan!

Last Thanksgiving I did my turkey in the oven using a Foster's oil can and it was sort of unstable. I wonder if I could use the insert from an angel food cake pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Hmm...

I don't know why not AB. You'll likely never be able to use it again for Angel Food cake though. I hardly ever bake and I have one I've used maybe five times in the last 40 years to bake an AF cake, so I'm definitely going to use your idea on my next turkey!