Yumiam recipe · Sunday classic
Roast chicken with herbs
Salted the day before, started breast-down, rested for fifteen minutes before carving. Three moves that separate a decent roast chicken from one you remember.
A roast chicken is salted the day before, roasted for an hour and fifteen at 200 °C and rested for a quarter of an hour before carving. It starts breast-down so the juices run into the breast, then is turned halfway through so the skin on top browns.
- Salted twelve hours ahead, uncovered in the fridge — the skin dries and crisps.
- Started breast-down, turned halfway through.
- Rested fifteen minutes before carving, or the juices end up in the dish.
Method
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Salt the day before
Rub the chicken with coarse salt inside and out, then leave it overnight in the fridge, uncovered, on a rack.
The detail that decides it: leaving it uncovered is what dries the skin. A chicken salted but wrapped in film will steam and never crisp.
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Get it ready
Take the chicken out an hour ahead. Slide the butter under the breast skin, put the halved lemon and the herbs inside. Heat the oven to 200 °C.
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Roast breast-down
Sit the chicken breast-down in the dish, resting on its legs, with the garlic cloves. Give it forty minutes.
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Turn it over
Turn the chicken breast-up and roast for another thirty-five minutes, basting twice with the juices from the dish.
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Rest
Take it out, cover it loosely and wait fifteen minutes before carving.