Go to the Recipe: Ultimate Roast Chicken
If I want to cook this after work and I don't have the time to brine for 3 days, is it worth it to brine for like an hour?
I would just skip the brining. Without the air-drying of the skin, however, it won't get as crisp as we show. It will still be a very good roast chicken.
I've tried a very similar approach with turkey, I didn't go as far as 3 days of fridge dyring which could be interesting. In order to get the skin cript and not over cook the meat for those who don't have a really hot oven (like me) what about returning the cooked chicken to the fridge, let it get to 5 C and then place the chicken back in the oven at 260 C until the skin is golden and crispy? I think that would prevent the undelying meat to over cook and allow the skin to crsip up in say... 15 mins instead or 7?
- originally posted by thatothercook
Hmmm, that could work. Can't say we've tried it. But if you do, we would love to hear about it in our forum (and photos would be awesome). Thanks for the ideas.
Chicken went out very good, even I had only 1 day to dry it. Smoke was everywhere .
Having a tall combi-oven sure makes life easier on this one.
Best options for a combi-oven at home? Have you looked into any steam injecting ovens as possible replacements for a combi-oven?
- originally posted by *TT*
Could you use dry ice to dry the chicken faster?
- originally posted by JayBird
I just tried this recipe and it came out amazing. I have a conventional oven so I cooked the chicken @ 170'F because that is the lowest it could go till it reached an internal temp of 144'F. I then removed the chicken and placed it in the fridge to cool as someone on the forum mentioned. After cooling, I placed it back in the oven @ 500'F till it got crisp. The end result was amazing. It turned out just as the video. The 3 days of drying in the fridge definitely helped. P.S. I added some pics for you all to see.
Really awesome job, and thanks for sharing the photos.
What kind I oven do you have? That looks really amazing.
- originally posted by Grant Lee Crilly
Thanks guys! I have a Whirlpool RF365PXMTO. I live in an apartment complex and thats what was supplied. But it's amazing the results you can get with proper technique and a little thinking. I love site and the books. Looking forward to working on some other dishes and sharing!
Hi Geeks.Any Particular reason Why you set your oven at 74°c when you want to achieve 62°c at food core ? increased the drying ?Cannot you set the oven at 62 °c and extend cooking time until pasteurization?Many thanksfroggiechef
- originally posted by froggiechef
The reason you need to set the oven temperature higher than the desired core temperature is because of humidity. You're oven is relatively dry, and so water sweats and evaporates from the surface of the food. This causes evaporative cooling, which means the surface temperature of your food will always be lower than the temperature of your oven (unless you're oven is 100% humidity, which means no evaporation is occurring). Clearly, the core temperature of the food can never get hotter than the surface temperature, so we adjust the oven temperature upward until the surface temperature is just slightly above the core temperature we want, and then we wait for the core to reach temperature.
Merci Chris.I am so please and proud to get a direct answer from an author of modernist cuisine, I am a newbie in food science but a long time food lover. So I cannot wait to be able to put my hands on that work of art of yours.Meanwhile, I will follow great interest in sharing our passion for food on Chefsteps.Regards, Davidfroggiechef ,
- originally posted by David
David, you're welcome. Always happy to answer questions.
Hi ChefsI Tried ultimate roasted Chicken at work yesterday.Over all ; Very, Very good moist chickens.After torture hanging my chickens for for 72 hours and giving them daily extra syringe re-injectionof escaping precious brine.The birds begged me to stop the torture and cook them.It surprisingly took me about 4 hours to reach 62°C at core.(staff was Really starving by the time)Then the Hell roasting took place which took me about 9 minutes to get a satisfying brownness.the result:Very good over all.Seasoning was just heavenly perfect.To be honest ,A tiny bit disappointed by Crispiness of the skin, I was expecting greater crunch of the skin after all those effort ( Nota: Before the 3 days brining ,drying, I did detach the skin from the meat of the breast of one of the 2 chickens, which didn't really improved crispness at the end but accentuated the leaking out of the brine)Temperatures were also quite high after carving (72°C on the closer to bones/carved side of the supreme) Did i messed up somewhere ?Therefore I am supporting "Thatothercook " post below and suggesting the idea of chilling the cooked chicken after to lower down temperatures before high roasting ? Any body tried that? and maybe achieved guidance for chilling temperature target and recalculation of High roasting time to achieve palatable temperature ?So, in conclusionas I said before,I was fairly happy because Chicken was very moist but not as moist as a SOUSVIDE cooking style.Staff was happy to try taste at the end after convincing them to Not call R.S.P.C.A.Only our Kitchen porter was doubting the slight pinkness of the flesh . Why does every body think you have to overcook chicken to be on the safe side,(( which brings more questions to my mind to deal with later (i.e @moderator), like ,how does my health officer is going to react if I show on my CCP record of a 62°C/ 4 hours cooked chicken ? Do they accept low temperature cooking pasteurization ? sousvide temperatures well below HACCP targets,etc,etc...) )Kp is today mooning because he has to scrub the 300°C oven now!VoilaJust wanted to share experience of my first trial of the heaven Roasted Chicken and hope I will do better next time hoping to get the "perfect roast"froggiechefPs: I almost forgot to say that if you guys having a go at this one ,Make sure you use a very thick cooking twine because my chickens ended up doing sky diving from the top of the Rationnal oven when the string burnt out during hell roasting.froggiechef@netscape.net
How dry did the skin feel after they hung in the fridge? It's possible that the skin was still a bit too wet if the result wasn't glass like.
I think that t you got the point Chris,Far off Glass like when cooked! The Skin was Not "that" dry after 72 hours hanging ( Spent last 4 hours in blast chiller to amplify effect), few scattered dark patches on the breast and clear dry skin where leg connect to the upper body. I had a feeling it wasn't dry enough but I wanted to stick to recipe as I didn't really know what i was supposed to get. I should have follow my instinct.What do you think of the idea of partially of fully chilling the chicken before high roasting to stay close to 62°c ? Would it go against drying purpose and bring moisture back to the skin ?David
You could actually go back into the fridge before the final roasting step. You'll overcook the meat beneath the flesh beneath the skin less this way. If your skin didn't feel entirely dry after 72 hrs in the fridge, that was the problem. Did you have them in a walk in? Lot's of fresh produce in the fridge (or pots of stock?). Our fridge is pretty dry, but that's because we don't have a lot of moist foods stored unsealed in it.
Any tips on adjusting this for a turkey in a HOME environment. A big ass turkey is not going to fit hanging in my fridge. will it be okay on a rack for three days on its back? Would you still cook to 144F? How much more brine should I pump into the breast and thighs? Add other seasonings to the brine?
I wouldn't recommend that you experiment with your guests dinner on this one. If you don't get proper air flow during refrigeration and cooking the meat can quickly spoil. Laying the turkey on its back would most likely yield a funky chicken. I would inject brine and let it rest overnight. Then roast as usual if it where me. Or cook it slow in oil then fry it hot.
What conditions would be necessary for this recipe to be safe in a home refrigerator/oven? Would the bird still be likely to spoil if elevated above a sheet pan on a wire rack?
It should work fine in a domestic refrigerator if spaced above a sheet pan with a wire rack. A domestic oven will work, although much better if you have forced convection. The biggest drawback is that most domestic ovens don't exceed 550 °F / 290 °C, while our professional oven gets a bit hotter, which speeds the final searing step.
I have tried just what you are suggesting and I have found that sometimes it works ok and sometimes the bird spoils even where there is limited contact with the wire rack.
Hi .i am planning to invest in rational combi for my new restaurant.I like your recipe ,just wonder can i roast more bird in the last step ??or is it possible to use rational superspike ??thank you ..
I have roasted up to 4 at a time in our oven.
thank you .how about using the superspike ?did the skin get moist and become less crispy after certain period of time ?
At the pizzeria where I work there are very few cooking implements available during service. There is one induction burner, which is typically used only for prep, and the roaring hot, thermally massive, gas fired, dome pizza oven. I would love to offer a quickly prepared protein or two in addition to pizza, and I think this recipe may offer one solution. The temperature on the floor ranges from about 750 in the hotspot to 450 right by the door (read with IR). There is excellent circulation of air, but there is not a lot of room (the pizza cooking is very active), so I would hang the birds off to the side. Would using a small bird like a cornish game hen (to reduce sear time and avoid burning) be adaptable here? Or do you think the intensity of the radiant heat would necessarily overcook the protein/burn skin if we attempted a sear in the pizza oven during service?
I'm wondering if using 50/50 salt/cornstarch would accelerate the skin drying. I've seen this technique from Cook's Illustrated when making steaks. They add the 50/50 mixture and then place in the fridge for a short time for EXTRA drying. My worry with my home kitchen is the possible bacteria build-up by not being able to hand the chicken for 3-days. A wire rack might work, and direct brining might make the skin too wet. I like to typically salt my chicken 2-days before cooking, and this "pseudo brine" is great, so I think I'll try that with the combo low oven then high blast after resting. Results to be posted. Cheers, and thanks again for the recipe!
Could the same drying technique be applied to duck to make the skin extra crispy? Would the different fat content change the outcome?
I just want to know what made the skin go translucent. Is it due to the fact that there's brine or.. just the cause of drying.
I dry brine my chicken for a day then dry in the fridge for at least half a day with one or two rotations. Then apply a rub and cook on this thing: www.pitbarrelcooker.com... best chicken I've ever had. Once the chicken hits 140 or so, I crack the lid and the fire gets hot which finishes the skin perfectly. The Pit Barrel Cooker is a chicken cooking machine, just awesome.
This is how they would roast chicken at the chinese restaurant I used to work for. For thanksgiving they were able to hang turkeys in the oven.
another way to dry the chicken skin quickly is to direct a table fan at the chicken instead of drying it in the fridge. Many chefs/cooks in asia use this method in chinese cooking. when serving 50 - 100 birds a day, speed is essential. crude but effective.
I tried this recipe today with a 1,2 kg chicken. The skin didn't dry out as much as I would have liked, but the end result was great nevertheless. The meat of the chicken was actually too tender for my liking, it literally was melt in your mouth tender. I prefered it when it had cooled down a bit and the meat firmed up.
Followed this as best I could, without great oven. The injection method was real winner, and the skin was crispy. Not as beautiful as yours yet, but very happy with the result for first attempt.
Hey Patrick, did you ever get a reply on this or try it out?
Just wondering if anyone else is getting very red (blood?) juices when carving after it has reached the 74ºC and rested for 20 minutes? Is this normal / safe?
Thanks,
Steve
Please specify make/model of the oven used for the preparation of this bird.
Thanks
Why in the video says 10 g. salt and in the recipe 25 g. salt per 500 g. water?.
Tried with 10g of salt and i felt it needed more, so i tried another with 20g and it was perfect.
Nope, checked on the post for a while then tried Youtube, no answer there either. Haven't tried it myself. Do you have any info on this?
what probe thermometer do you guys use in the vid?
thanks.
Is the chicken just cooked to 144F on the first pass or does it need to be held at that temperature for 2.5 hours? Is it safe to eat at that point?
How would you keep this bird for restaurant service if i would like to serve it whole?, If it is refrigerated i am afraid it will not reheat to the core while searing. Thanks!
Run a test to see if you have an issue with the core not coming up to temp if you sear after removing the bird from the fridge. If you do run into that problem, then the best solution would be to throw it in an oven at 165˚F before searing. You will have to test times to see how long it needs to stay in the warming oven before the inside is nice and warm after searing, but that should be a pretty easy thing to figure out if you make these in a batch.
will my results be affected if i'm not able to cook my chicken (or turkey) hanged in the oven? have anyone tried this way?
If you don't get proper air flow during refrigeration and cooking the meat can quickly spoil. Laying the turkey on its back would most likely yield a funky chicken. I would inject brine and let it rest overnight. Then roast as usual if it where me. Or cook it slow in oil then fry it hot.
I applied this idea with extreme modifications to a whole frozen duck and served it last night. It was exceptional. The duck came out of my freezer at -6F and went immediately into a 137F sous vide bath. After 1 hour I removed it from the water and removed the giblets and did the saline injection. I returned it to the water and cooked it for another 10 hours. I then put it on a roasting pan rack in the fridge it for 3 days. For serving I put it in a convection oven for 30 minutes at 160F (as low as my oven would go) and then removed the duck to heat the oven to 500F. 14 minutes in that hot convection oven removed almost all of the subcutaneous fat, and after letting the bird rest for 10 minutes I carved it. There was not a trace of blood but all of the meat was at most medium, with the breast and thighs nicely pink. The initial 9 hours of sous vide had tenderized the duck to the point that no one used knives to cut the meat. The skin was crackling.
Anyway that is my take on the recipe.
I replied to a question about applying this idea to a whole duck below, but thought that the idea should not be buried down 20 comments. So here it is, and it should be applicable to goose or turkey, adjusting upwards the initial amount of time it spends in a sous vide water bath.
I applied this idea with extreme modifications to a whole frozen duck and served it last night. It was exceptional. The duck came out of my freezer at -6F and went immediately into a 137F sous vide bath. After 1 hour I removed it from the water and removed the giblets and did the saline injection. I returned it to the water and cooked it for another 10 hours. I then put it on a roasting pan rack in the fridge it for 3 days. For serving I put it in a convection oven for 30 minutes at 160F (as low as my oven would go) and then removed the duck to heat the oven to 500F. 14 minutes in that hot convection oven removed almost all of the subcutaneous fat, and after letting the bird rest for 10 minutes I carved it. There was not a trace of blood but all of the meat was at most medium, with the breast and thighs nicely pink. The initial 10 hours of sous vide had tenderized the duck to the point that no one used knives to cut the meat. The skin was crackling.Anyway that is my take on the recipe.
Having just done a full duck it works if you put it on a roasting pan rack in the fridge. Of course the duck at that point was fully cooked, so there might be problems with an uncooked poultry.
Getting fantastic insight reading this thread. So that oven in the video is a 10 rack? and you have done 4 birds? did they all come out the uniform? If so I would assume you could do 8 birds in a 20 rack? Unless someone has experience of not achieving uniformity in a larger oven?
