Dry Brined Roasted Chicken Recipes

DRY BRINED ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Thoroughly dry chicken inside and out, using paper towels.
• Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly all over chicken and inside the cavity.
• Place the chicken on a rack in a pan and place in the fridge overnight for 24 hours. Leave chicken uncovered, or cover lightly with plastic wrap, but do not seal.
• Remove chicken from fridge about an hour before roasting to bring to room temperature.
• Preheat oven 450 deg F (230 C).
• In roasting pan, toss together sliced onions, carrots, and unpeeled garlic cloves with olive oil.
• Place chicken, breast side up, on bed of vegetables.
• Put chicken in the oven and reduce heat immediately to 400 deg F (200 C).
• Roast for 1 hour 20 minutes. Check doneness of the chicken at 1 hour. Instant-read thermometer should register at 165 deg F (75C) when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, but not touching the bone.
• Remove chicken from oven and cover with foil. Let rest for 15-30 minutes before carving.
• Serve with the roasted vegetables and use the juices and chicken drippings as gravy.

DRY BRINED ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Trim excess fat from chicken; pat dry with paper towels.
• Combine salt and baking powder in a small bowl. Sprinkle on both sides of chicken; rub into skin with hands. Refrigerate uncovered for 6 hours.
• Remove chicken from refrigerator one hour before roasting.
• Stuff cavity with lemon and orange halves. Tie legs together with kitchen twine. Rub all over with vegetable oil. Insert temperature probe into thickest part of chicken breast, making sure that it is not touching any bone. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 425° F.
• Combine potatoes, carrots, and onions in a bowl. Add vegetable oil, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Spread on bottom of 12-inch or 14-inch cast iron pan.
• Place prepared chicken in center of vegetables.
• Roast chicken until breast temperature reaches 150° F, and thigh temperature reaches 170° F, about one hour. Remove from oven, and tent with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes.
• Yield: 6 servings.

DRY BRINED ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Remove chicken from packaging, remove giblet packet from cavity, and pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Place in a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Mix salt, orange zest, rosemary, and thyme together in a small bowl; rub 3/4 of the mixture all over outside of chicken; rub remaining mixture inside cavity. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 to 3 days.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove plastic wrap from chicken.
• Bake chicken in preheated oven until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, 2 to 2 1/2 hours depending on size. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh near the bone should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Remove chicken from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area for 20 minutes before carving.

DRY-BRINE ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Put all the dry-brine ingredients into a mortar and grind to a fine powder with a pestle, then add to a large bowl. Add the chicken and rub the brine in really well, ensuring it is well covered inside and out. Put a cooling rack over a tray and sit the chicken on top. Chill uncovered in the fridge for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight, but no longer than 24 hours.
• Heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 6. Pat the chicken all over with kitchen paper, removing as much moisture as possible.
• Put the butter, tarragon and garlic into a bowl with some seasoning and mix well. Carefully pry the skin on the chicken breasts and legs away from the meat with your hand, being careful not to tear the skin. Spread the butter underneath the skin, pushing right down and around the legs.
• Put the onion, carrot and celery into the bottom of the roasting tray and put the chicken on top. Cook for 15 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 180C/ fan 160C/gas 4 and cook for 1 hour, basting the bird with the butter every so often.
• Put the chicken onto a plate and, with several pieces of tin foil, cover the legs tightly, but don't cover the breasts. Leave for 20 minutes to rest, then carve. Squeeze the lemon into the roasting tin and serve these buttery veg and juices alongside the chicken

DRY-BRINED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• In a spice grinder, blitz the bay leaf pieces and peppercorns until finely ground. Transfer to a small bowl and add the salt, brown sugar and garlic powder, and rub it all together with your fingers.
• Cut each chicken breast in half crosswise into two pieces of equal weight, creating one shorter, thicker piece and one longer, thinner piece. Place the four chicken pieces on a large plate or sheet pan and sprinkle generously on all sides with the spice mixture, moving the chicken around to catch any fallen spices. Refrigerate, uncovered, to dry-brine for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour (any shorter and the osmotic brining process won't complete; any longer and you'll end up with deli meat).
• When ready to cook, take the chicken out of the fridge and heat a large skillet with a lid over high heat. Add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the skillet. Carefully add the chicken pieces, smooth sides down, and immediately reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the bottoms are browned but not burnt, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip the chicken, cover the pan and cook until the other sides are browned and the internal temperature at the thickest part of the meat reaches 155 degrees, another 5 to 7 minutes. You may want to pull the longer, thinner pieces off the heat a minute or two sooner, as they may cook faster.
• Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to rest for at least 10 minutes so the juices can redistribute. The meat will continue to cook as it sits and should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees. You can also check for doneness by cutting into the chicken; it should look white and juicy and no longer pink. Slice the chicken against the grain (that is, perpendicular to the parallel fibers that run within the breast) and serve with lime wedges if you'd like. You can also keep the meat whole and refrigerate it, covered, for up to 4 days.

ZUNI CAFé CHICKEN

Steps:

• Season the chicken 1 to 3 days before serving (for 3 1/4- to 3 1/2-pound chickens, at least 2 days): Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Pat the chicken very dry (a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown).
• Slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets, then use a fingertip to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Push an herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.
• Using about 3/4 teaspoon sea salt per pound of chicken and pepper to taste, season the chicken liberally all over with salt and the pepper. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity and on the backbone. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate.
• When you're ready to cook the chicken, heat the oven to 475 degrees. Depending on your oven and the size of your bird, you may need to adjust the heat to as high as 500 degrees or as low as 450 degrees during roasting to brown the chicken properly.
• Choose a shallow flameproof roasting pan or dish barely larger than the chicken, or use a 10-inch skillet with an all-metal handle. Preheat the pan over medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.
• Place in the center of the oven and watch for it to start sizzling and browning within 20 minutes. If it doesn't, raise the temperature progressively until it does. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoking, reduce the temperature by 25 degrees. After about 30 minutes, turn the bird over (drying the bird and preheating the pan should keep the skin from sticking). Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, then flip back over to re-crisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes. Total oven time will be 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate. Pour the clear fat from the pan, leaving the drippings. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl. Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken, then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings. As the chicken rests, tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape.
• Cut the chicken into pieces and pour the pan drippings over the chicken.