Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken

The other day, I wanted to roast a chicken, and I wanted to do it differently from the way I always do it.  So I googled "best ever roast chicken" because the Internet wouldn't lie to me by labeling something THE BEST, right?  Which makes me think of that scene from "Elf" when Will Ferrell congratulates that crappy diner on the World's Best Cup of Coffee, bahaha.  I digress.    

What I found was this article on how to make the best roast chicken of all time.  Of ALL TIME!  Apparently BuzzFeed tried out 8 famous roast chickens and the winning recipe sounded so interesting, I had to try it.  Three ingredients: a chicken, salt and pepper.  No butter.  No oil.  No aromatics.  One hour of cooking with no basting.  Incredibly simple and foolproof.  So I followed the method exactly, and the Internet didn't lie - it was up there with the best.  Especially when you consider how pure the dish is!  Thomas Keller claims that butter and oil end up steaming the chicken, and what you really want is for the dry skin to trap all the moisture inside.  Which is exactly what happened.  The skin was perfectly crispy, and the inside perfectly juicy.  The trick is to make sure the bird is extremely dry prior to cooking, to apply a generous amount of salt and pepper, to leave it alone while it's in the oven (no peaking!) and to baste it when all is said and done.  Thanks Internet!          

Chicagomom72 - you won the Takeya Giveaway!  Please see contact info (at top) and email me.

Have great weekends : )