Crisp-Skin High-Roast Butterflied Chicken with Potatoes
(from Cook’s Illustrated with some additional comments from me)
Ingredients
1/2 c table salt
1/2 c sugar
1 whole chicken (3 1/2-4 lbs - I get Young Chickens from Costco and they are the perfect size for two people plus a little extra for chicken salad the next day., Trimmed of fat, giblets removed)
Vegetable oil spray
2 1/2 lbs. Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 to 1/4 in thick
1 1/2 T olive oil
3/4 t. salt (for potatoes)
Ground black pepper
Tools:
A really big bowl or a stock pot
Foil
Kitchen shears
Instant read thermometer
Potholders
Broiler pan with rack or wire rack and roasting pan
Cutting board
paper towels
Spatula
Notes:
- Start 2-3 hours before you plan to eat. I usually make on Sundays and watch football in between activities.
- If you don’t have an oven thermometer, you should get one. The oven needs to be the right temperature for this recipe to work.
- If you can, buy the chicken from a butcher or meat counter and ask them to butterfly it for you. Avoid saying “wink, wink, nudge, nudge”.
- The potatoes are there to keep the chicken fat from scorching. It’s ok if they turn brown and crispy–that’s the good stuff anyway.
1. Get out a container big enough to hold the chicken completely submerged in water. Dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 quarts (or as much as you can) cold water. Immerse the chicken in the brine, cover, and refrigerate about 1 hour. If you bought a kosher chicken, you can skip this step.
Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the lower middle position and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Make sure that oven thermometer actually says 500 degrees.
Line the bottom of the broiler pan/roasting pan with foil and spray with vegetable cooking spray. You can skip this step if you don’t mind scrubbing pans.
Remove the chicken from the brine and rinse thoroughly under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Butterfly the chicken (see below for instructions) - this is crucial! Don’t skip! Otherwise the chicken cooks unevenly. Put on broiler pan/wire rack.
2. Toss the potatoes with 1 T of the olive oil, the salt, and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Spread the potatoes in an even layer in the foil lined broiler/roasting pan bottom. Sometimes I add baby carrots. You can too.
Place the broiler pan/wire rack with the chicken on top. Rub the chicken with the remaining 1/2 T. and sprinkle with pepper to taste.
3. Roast chicken until spotty brown, about 20 minutes. Rotate pan and continue to roast until the skin has crisped and turned deep brown and an instant read thermometer reads 160 degrees in the deepest part of the breast, 20-25 minutes longer (or more if you kept opening the oven door to check on the chicken).
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board when done. With potholders, remove the broiler pan/wire rack; soak up the extra grease from the potatoes with several sheets of paper towels. Remove the foil liner with the potatoes from the broiler/roasting pan bottom and invert the foil and potatoes onto a baking sheet or second cutting board. Carefully peel back the foil, using a metal spatula to help scrape off the potatoes as needed. With additional paper towels, pat off the remaining grease. Cut the chicken into serving pieces (make one vertical slice along the breastbone and one diagonal slice between the breast and the wing and you should have the bulk of the breast meat) and serve with the potatoes.
How to butterfly a chicken:
- Use kitchen shears to cut through the bones on either side of the backbone, removing the backbone.
- Flip the chicken over and use the heel of your hand to flatten the breastbone.
- When you put the chicken on the pan, push the legs up to rest between the thigh and the breast and tuck the tips of the wings under.
Serve with a salad and some wine.