[0 - 1] - Hi, I'm Ann Ziata.
[1 - 3] Professional chef and culinary instructor.
[3 - 5] And today, I'm gonna show you the best way to roast chicken.
[5 - 7] We'll be going over techniques the pros use
[7 - 9] to get perfect, juicy, crispy chicken.
[9 - 12] This is Roast Chicken 101.
[14 - 16] Common pitfalls when it comes to roasting chicken
[16 - 18] is that the breast gets dried out,
[18 - 22] the skin gets too soggy, and the thighs are undercooked.
[22 - 24] Flipping the chicken halfway through
[24 - 27] is gonna allow for a juicier chicken breast.
[27 - 29] It's going to allow for everything
[29 - 30] to get nice and brown and crispy.
[30 - 32] So, you're really getting the best
[32 - 34] of all the different techniques when you flip it.
[34 - 37] [lively upbeat music]
[37 - 39] What we're gonna do is dry brine the chicken.
[39 - 42] And it's not as intimidating as it sounds.
[42 - 44] So, I'm gonna start by drying the chicken.
[44 - 46] I wanna pat it very well dry.
[46 - 48] Get all this moisture off the skin
[48 - 51] so that the skin can get really nice and crispy.
[51 - 53] And you can see it looks less glossy too.
[53 - 55] I'm just checking inside the cavity.
[55 - 58] Sometimes there's little giblets or something to take out,
[58 - 59] a little piece of fat.
[59 - 60] Also gonna dry inside the cavity
[60 - 64] to get rid of any excess water that will also make it steam.
[64 - 66] So, the night before you plan on cooking it,
[66 - 69] take it out, dry it off, season it,
[69 - 71] and then put it back in the fridge overnight.
[71 - 72] This will give enough time for the salt
[72 - 75] to permeate through the chicken while drying up the skin
[75 - 77] and retaining the moisture inside the bird.
[77 - 78] Salting the chicken.
[78 - 80] I'm gonna be pretty generous with it.
[80 - 83] As much as you can remember or plan ahead
[83 - 84] to do it the night before.
[84 - 86] It's gonna make the world of a difference.
[86 - 87] Season the back.
[87 - 90] If you only have time to let it rest for eight hours
[90 - 93] or four hours or even an hour, do what you can.
[93 - 94] It's gonna make a difference.
[94 - 96] We're gonna get inside the cavity too.
[96 - 99] Nice little sprinkle of salt and some pepper too.
[99 - 101] Now we're gonna add some herbs.
[101 - 102] This is the breast side up.
[102 - 105] You can see it kind of looks like a heart shape.
[105 - 106] The wings will be on the top,
[106 - 108] and then the legs are on the bottom.
[108 - 110] That's how you know you have the right side facing.
[110 - 113] I'm gonna create a little pocket with my fingers.
[113 - 117] So, I'm gonna push my finger between the skin and the meat
[117 - 118] on both sides of the breast.
[118 - 122] So, I've created a little pocket here for our herbs to go.
[122 - 123] Today we're just gonna use thyme.
[123 - 125] Take a few sprigs.
[125 - 129] I'm gonna stuff it inside between the skin and the breast.
[129 - 131] I like to just use thyme
[131 - 133] instead of thyme and butter or olive oil.
[133 - 135] There's enough fat in the skin
[135 - 136] that it will get really nice and crispy.
[137 - 138] We're also gonna add
[138 - 140] a little olive oil later when we cook it.
[140 - 141] But this way we just get
[141 - 144] a really beautiful fresh herb flavor.
[144 - 146] I'm not gonna stuff anything inside the cavity.
[146 - 147] At the end of the day,
[147 - 149] if we're adding ingredients inside the chicken,
[149 - 151] we're really adding moisture inside the chicken,
[151 - 153] and then it's gonna steam.
[153 - 154] They add a lot of aroma.
[154 - 156] Your kitchen's gonna smell lovely,
[156 - 158] but it's gonna create a soggier chicken.
[158 - 161] As this cooks, the fat in the skin
[161 - 163] is going to heat up the herbs as well,
[163 - 165] and that's gonna drip over,
[165 - 167] and it's going to infuse flavor all around.
[167 - 170] Tuck the wings right behind the neck bone.
[170 - 173] Otherwise you have this small piece sticking out in the oven
[173 - 175] and this is what's gonna burn out very quickly.
[175 - 177] And we want it to cook nice and evenly.
[177 - 180] So now, he's laying lounged out comfortably.
[180 - 182] I have this on a wire rack on a sheet pan.
[182 - 185] It's gonna allow more air to circulate under the bird,
[185 - 186] which is gonna allow it
[186 - 188] to dry out nice and evenly overnight.
[188 - 191] Just gonna arrange it so it fits on the tray evenly.
[191 - 192] And we're gonna go in the fridge.
[192 - 196] [lively upbeat music]
[196 - 199] The bird has been in the fridge for 24 hours, dry brining.
[199 - 202] And I'm gonna start by preheating my oven to 475.
[202 - 204] And I'm gonna preheat the cast iron pan
[204 - 207] that we're cooking it into in the oven for a few minutes.
[207 - 209] This is our chicken. Just took it out of the fridge.
[209 - 212] You can see it already looks quite different from yesterday.
[212 - 215] The skin is tauter and it's more dried out.
[215 - 217] It also looks a little cooked,
[217 - 219] even though it still looks very raw.
[219 - 221] So, let's get the preheated cast iron outta the oven.
[221 - 224] I wanna be very careful because it is very hot.
[224 - 226] So, keeping that on the handle for now.
[226 - 227] We're preheating it
[227 - 229] so the moment that the bird hits the pan,
[229 - 232] it's gonna start to sear, it's gonna start cooking.
[232 - 235] If the pan is not hot and you put the chicken in directly,
[235 - 237] it's gonna start to get wet and steam
[237 - 239] rather than have a nice sear to it.
[239 - 240] So, it's gonna get a little softer.
[240 - 242] It's not gonna cook as evenly.
[242 - 245] Do a little bit of oil on the bottom of the pan.
[245 - 247] Let's get the bird in.
[247 - 248] We're gonna do breast side up.
[248 - 250] Put it in the oven for about 30 minutes
[250 - 251] and then take it out and flip it
[251 - 253] when we start to see some caramelization occur.
[253 - 255] So, it's been about 30 minutes,
[255 - 257] so we can do our first flip for the chicken.
[257 - 259] Every bird is gonna be a little different
[259 - 260] as far as the size goes,
[260 - 263] and the temperature of your ovens might vary.
[263 - 264] So, we always give a range for times,
[264 - 266] but you really wanna look for indicators.
[266 - 269] So, it looks like it's nice and golden along the top.
[269 - 271] It's not fully cooked, but that's totally fine.
[271 - 273] We're gonna flip it
[273 - 275] so this way the bottom will cook as well,
[275 - 278] and it will prevent the breast from drying out.
[278 - 280] So, there's gonna be a lot more moisture
[280 - 282] in the thighs and in the legs.
[282 - 285] And it's going to drip down into the breast
[285 - 288] so it cooks evenly and it stays nice and moist.
[288 - 289] And then, we're also gonna flip it again
[289 - 292] for the last 5 or 10 minutes of cooking,
[292 - 294] so the breast gets a little bit crispy at the end.
[294 - 295] Let's check our bird.
[295 - 300] So, it cooked an additional 20 minutes on breast side down.
[300 - 302] And then for the last five minutes, I flipped it over
[302 - 305] so the breast can get a little bit more coloring again.
[305 - 306] So, we flipped it twice.
[306 - 308] And now, this looks beautiful.
[308 - 310] It should look nice and golden brown.
[310 - 312] And the internal temperature checked around the fattest part
[312 - 316] of the breast should be around 155 degrees.
[316 - 317] We're gonna let it rest about 10 minutes.
[317 - 320] What this is gonna do is any residual heat
[320 - 321] is gonna carry over cooking,
[321 - 323] so it's gonna reach the temperature we want.
[323 - 326] Also, it's going to allow the time for the muscles
[327 - 328] to absorb more moisture.
[328 - 330] If we try to cut through it right now,
[330 - 332] it's hot and all the juices are going to flow out.
[332 - 336] [lively upbeat music]
[336 - 337] So first, to carve our chicken,
[337 - 340] we're gonna remove the drumsticks.
[340 - 341] We wanna find where the joint is.
[341 - 343] It's gonna be pretty close to the leg.
[343 - 346] I use my knife and you can see the skin breaks here.
[346 - 348] The leg is right here, the breast is over here.
[348 - 351] And right before it starts to turn into the thigh
[351 - 352] is where we're gonna cut.
[352 - 353] And that's our first drumstick,
[353 - 355] and we'll do the same thing on the other side.
[355 - 357] Now, we wanna cut the thigh.
[357 - 360] So, the thigh is right underneath the breast on the bottom
[360 - 362] and connects to the spine.
[362 - 364] So, I'm gonna cut down right where this meat
[364 - 366] hits the spine right here.
[366 - 368] It looks so good, it looks so caramelized.
[368 - 370] And now, the same thing on the other side.
[370 - 372] Right where the wing meets the neck and the shoulder,
[372 - 373] we're gonna cut.
[373 - 375] And then the other side slides right off.
[375 - 378] So, I'm using a nice eight-inch chef's knife here.
[378 - 379] It's nice 'cause it's big
[379 - 381] and it's gonna fit the size of the chicken,
[381 - 383] but also I wanna make sure I'm using a sharp knife.
[383 - 385] It might feel scarier to use a sharp knife,
[385 - 386] but it's much more safe than a dull knife
[386 - 387] because the dull knife
[387 - 389] is more likely to miss cutting through the food
[389 - 391] and slide around and create some danger.
[391 - 393] Whereas a sharp knife is going to glide right through.
[393 - 394] So, there's two breasts along here.
[394 - 396] I'm just gonna cut right through them,
[396 - 398] down the center to separate them.
[398 - 400] I'm gonna saw my way through,
[400 - 402] and then we're gonna find eventually the breast bone,
[402 - 404] which is right behind them.
[404 - 407] So, I'm sawing and I can cut pretty much through the bone.
[407 - 410] This breast here is attached to the backbone.
[410 - 411] Let it cut the backbone off.
[411 - 413] This part, there's not much delicious meat on it,
[413 - 415] but it still has a lot of flavor,
[415 - 416] so we're gonna save it for stock.
[416 - 419] Now, let's slice the breast into smaller pieces.
[419 - 421] So, I'm just gonna cut this little breastbone off
[421 - 423] before I slice it.
[423 - 425] And again, this can also be saved for stock.
[425 - 427] I think carving a smaller chicken
[427 - 430] is much more difficult than carving a larger one.
[430 - 431] A larger one, you can get the drumstick
[431 - 433] and the thigh still intact,
[433 - 435] and it's just gonna be a little bit easier
[435 - 436] to work with in general.
[436 - 439] And then, I can see the breastbone on the other breast here.
[439 - 440] Get rid of this.
[440 - 441] We cut across the grain.
[441 - 444] You can see it's really nice and juicy.
[444 - 446] Looks really tender and delicious.
[446 - 448] Let's put everything together.
[448 - 449] There's really no rules.
[449 - 453] So, I'm just gonna decorate the plate with some fresh thyme.
[453 - 456] Just tuck them right underneath so it looks very natural.
[456 - 458] Add some fresh lemon slices too.
[458 - 461] And that's how you make the perfect roast chicken.
[461 - 462] So, hopefully this takes away
[462 - 465] some of the intimidation of getting a big bird.
[465 - 466] It's so easy to do
[466 - 468] and it can be part of your weekly rotation.
[468 - 469] I'm showing you one way to do it,
[469 - 472] but it's so versatile as far as what flavors you wanna use,
[472 - 475] and you can use it for so many different other applications.
[475 - 477] Chicken is such a nice blank canvas.
[477 - 479] So really, feel free to use
[479 - 481] your own personal thumbprint on it.