* Thanks to my friend trying this recipe from Thomas Keller and proving it works. Can't do my roast chicken any other way now!!
Ingredients:
For the roast chicken:
1 whole fresh chicken
Clarified Butter
Lemon
Honey
Salt Flakes
For the brine:
5 Lemons halved
6 bay leaves
1/2 bunch (4oz) parsley
1/2 bunch (1oz) thyme
1/4 cup clover honey
1 head garlic, pressed
1/8 cup black peppercorns
1/2 cup (5oz) kosher salt
1 gallon water
Brine & Prepare:
- Combine all of the brine ingredients and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Pour brine into a container large enough to hold both the brine and the chicken. Chill brine in the refrigerator.
- While the brine is chilling, remove the chicken neck and innards from the cavity, if present. Using a paring knife, cut out the wishbone from the chicken—this will make it easier to carve the chicken. Submerge the chicken in the cold brine and chill in the refrigerator overnight (or for at least 8 to 12 hours).
- When done brining, pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Discard the brine.
Truss the Chicken:
- Cut a piece of kitchen twine about 3 feet long. Tuck the center of the string under the pope’s nose (the small bit of meat at the top of the chicken’s tail end), then wrap around and over the ends of the legs. Cross the twine and slide under each leg to create a figure 8. Pull across and back at the same time to plump the chicken breast and bring the twine all the way around the breasts. As you press into the breast meat with your thumbs at the neck, cross each side of the string under the cut neck bone. Tie a slipknot, then bring each end of the string around a wing to close them to the body. Tie off to finish. Place chicken in a baking sheet or dish and leave uncovered in the refrigerator for 2 days. Doing so dries out any excess moisture from the chicken skin, allowing it to crisp beautifully during roasting.
- After 2 days, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and allow to temper to room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours before roasting.
- Roasting:
- 1. Preheat oven to 230-240'C (best setting will be convectional with fan). Brush chicken with clarified butter and season all sides with salt (gently does it!! as chicken under brine is already salted). Place chicken on top of a grid in baking tray so any chicken oil or juice can be dripped to baking tray underneath the chicken for later use.
- 2. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 190-200°C, brush some more clarified butter to chicken skin and roast for an additional 20 to 25 minutes. Then brush honey all over chicken and roast for another 5-10 minutes, or until the temperature of the thickest part in the thigh area registers 71°C and the juices run clear. If necessary, return the chicken to the oven for more roasting; check it every 5 minutes.
- 3. Transfer the chicken to a carving board and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
- 4. Before carving the chicken, add a squeeze of lemon all over the chicken. Then carve the chicken into serving size, place them on top of chicken oiled rice (see below) or pasta.
- Rice
- Make use of the fat collected from the chicken skin as well as the liver and kidney to make yummy rice as follows:
- 1. fried the chicken fat in a pan until yellow oil comes out, add (uncooked but rinsed) rice to the pan and coat all over. Then put rice to rice cooker. Add 50:50 water and chicken stock to cook the rice and soak rice for 15 min first.
- 2. Use some more chicken fat to stir fry kidney (which are cut into small pieces) and add to the rice before cooking the rice.
- 3. For the liver, pan fry whole piece in same frying pan until all browned. Then cut into bite pieces. Add and mix to cooked rice later.
- 4. At the time you are in the step of brushing honey to the chicken, put the cooked rice at the cooking tray with chicken sitting on top, brush honey and roast for the last 10 mins. At this step, if the tray already filled with dripping butter and chicken oil, you can discard some or use all to mix with the rice.
- Enjoy with your fav white wine!
