Recipe and Dedicated Video: While Roast Chicken (Patreon)

Prep time: 30-60min   Cook time: 2-3.5 hours

What you'll need:

-one whole chicken

-one half stick (4Tbsp or 56.8 grams) of butter

-one small onion

-one bulb of garlic

-several sprigs of fresh rosemary

-Spices and seasonings: Kosher salt, black pepper, parsley, and basil

-cooking twine (an arm-span's length will do)

-a cooling/drying rack

-one full-sized casserole dish)

-tinfoil

-paper towels

Prepping the bird:

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 176 degrees Celsius

-take your butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature or until soft enough to easily spread.

-remove your chicken from its packaging, take out any giblets or extra pieces like a neck, and thoroughly wash inside and out in a clean, empty sink. Be careful washing the inside as there are some very pointy bones in there.

-Pat the washed chicken dry with paper towels and transfer it to a paper towel-lined rack to dry. once paper towels are soaked through, remove them and liberally salt the chicken top and bottom with your kosher salt. Allow 15 to 30 minutes for the salt to remove excess moisture from the chicken (you can place the bird back in the fridge for this to keep it out of the temperate danger zone for longer periods of time.)

-after the salt has time to draw out excess water from the chicken, dab off any moisture with paper towels and them rub butter over the top and bottom, inside and out of the chicken. It'll be awkward at first but will get easier as the butter spreads thinner.

-(wash your hands first so that you don't slip with the knife) quarter your small onion and slice your while bulb of garlic in half. Place the cut pieces inside of the chicken's body cavity  then take an arm-span's length of cooking twine and use it to tie the legs together so that nothing falls out. Use the excess twine to go over and under the chicken before tying the ends together.

-Liberally sprinkle pepper, parsley, basil, and optionally more kosher salt if too much was dabbed off over the top and bottom of the chicken be tucking your sprigs of rosemary underneath the twine on the chicken. instead of trying to put the sprigs of rosemary on the twine under the chick, just place the remaining sprigs on the bottom of the casserole dish and then place the chicken on top of them.

-once the chicken is placed in the casserole dish, cover the entire dish with foil before using a knife to place 4-6 holes in the foil to allow excess steam to escape. Place the chicken into the over.

Cooking the chicken:

-Cooking times very by weight, but for the First round of cooking we're going to go for 20 minutes in the oven per pound (0.45Kg) of chicken. For mine, I went two hours for the first round as I had a bird that weighed 6lbs (2.7Kg) on the nose.

-After the first round of cooking is done, remove the bird from the oven and take off the foil. The bird is not done!!! It will be all pale and clammy and it won't come up to temp! Check to see that the butter the the bottom of the casserole dish is now clear before increasing your oven temperature to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (232 degrees Celsius) and returning the chicken into the oven for another 30 minutes (now would be a good time to start your sides)

-After the second round of cooking is done, remove the chicken from the oven and place a thermometer at the thickest point of the chicken. It should read at least 165F/73.8C and be a nice golden brown color. Remove it from the casserole dish and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before carving and serving.

(optional) take the remaining juices in your casserole dish and transfer them into a saucepan on medium heat. sift in a small amount of flour while constantly stirring to make a gravy for your chicken. Adding a bit of extra pepper and paprika helps too.

-Carve and serve your chicken with the sides of your choosing and put what's left of the bird in the refrigerator. After an hour or so, return to the rest of the chicken and carefully pick off all remaining meat to store in a container for future meals.