Classic French Roast Chicken Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
• Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Put the flour in a shallow pan, and lightly dredge the chicken in it, shaking the pieces to remove excess flour.
• Swirl the oil in a large roasting pan, and place the floured chicken in it. Season the chicken with the herbes de Provence. Arrange the lemon, garlic cloves and shallots around the chicken, then add the vermouth to the pan.
• Put the pan in the oven, and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, then baste it with the pan juices. Continue roasting for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken is very crisp and the meat cooked through.
• Serve in the pan or on a warmed platter, garnished with the thyme.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and then smear in 1 tablespoon of the butter.
• Truss and dry the chicken, and rub the skin with the other half of the butter.
• Baste: Melt butter in a small saucepan with cooking oil.
• Leave on stovetop with a basting brush for later use.
• Back to the chicken: Place the chicken, breast side up, in a shallow small roasting pan.
• Scatter the veggies around it, and set it on the rack in the preheated oven.
• Allow the chicken to brown slightly for 15 minutes, turning on the left side after 5 minutes, then onto the right side for the last 5 minutes.
• Baste with butter quickly after each turn so that the oven does not lose a lot of heat.
• Reduce heat to 350.
• Leave chicken on its side, baste every 8 to 10 minutes, using the butter in the bottom of the roasting pan once you have used up all of the baste in your bowl.
• Watch and adjust oven heat so that the chicken is noisy, but fat is not burning.
• Halfway through estimated roasting time (which is 70-80 minutes; so after about 35 minutes), salt the chicken and turn it onto its other side.
• Continue to baste regularly.
• 15 minutes before end of estimated roasting time, salt again and flip chicken breast side up.
• Continue to baste regularly.
• Chicken will be done when drumstick moves easily in socket and juices run a clear yellow.
• Let sit on a platter 5 to 10 minutes before carving.
• Remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the roasting pan.
• Stir in shallot or onion and cook slowly for 1 minute.
• Add stock and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping up bits that are stuck in the pan witha wooden spoon.
• reduce to about 1/2 cup.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Off heat just before serving, swirl in the last 1 to 2 tablespoons butter by bits until it is absorbed.
• Pour a spoon of the sauce onto the chicken, then pour the rest into a gravy boat and serve with the chicken.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with the salt and pepper and fold the wings akimbo to position them closer to the body. Place the chicken on its side in an oven-safe skillet, preferably cast-iron.
• Place the chicken in the skillet in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, then turn the chicken over and cook another 20 minutes. (By cooking the chicken on its sides, the juices stay in the breast and, since only the back is exposed, the chicken does not need constant basting.) Finally, turn the chicken onto its back, baste it with the cooking juices and continue to cook 10 minutes. It should be golden in color.
• When the chicken is cooked, cut it into pieces and serve, with the drippings on the side.