Noble House Salt Baked Chicken Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S SALT ROASTED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• Dry the outside of chicken with paper towels. Tuck the wing tips underneath the chicken and place into a large oven-safe skillet. Use scissors to snip off the tail, if desired.
• Generously sprinkle kosher salt into the cavity and over the back and sides of chicken. Tie chicken legs together with kitchen twine. Sprinkle salt generously over the breasts, coating them thoroughly. Wipe excess salt out of skillet with paper towels.
• Bake chicken in the preheated oven until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into a thigh, not touching bone, reads 160 degrees C (70 degrees C), 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from skillet to a serving platter and let rest 5 to 10 minutes.
• Blot about 90 percent of the chicken fat from the skillet with a paper towel held with tongs, leaving the browned bits of food in the skillet. Place skillet over medium-high heat and add thyme leaves. Cook and stir until thyme is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour lemon juice, chicken broth, and water into skillet, stirring until the browned bits dissolve and the sauce has reduced by about half, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Reduce heat to low, add cold butter, and stir until butter has begun to melt. Add any accumulated juices from the chicken to sauce and continue to stir until butter is incorporated and sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Spoon sauce over chicken to serve.

FULLY SALTED ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Pat dry chicken with paper towels. Holding a 5-finger pinch of salt and positioning your hand at least 10" above chicken, evenly rain salt down over chicken. Repeat with several more pinches of salt until both inside and outside of chicken are covered with salt (be generous and make sure to get inside all the nooks and crannies). Place chicken on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet and chill uncovered at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
• Let sit at room temperature 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425°F. Roast chicken until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of chicken thigh registers 165°F, 40-55 minutes. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest 15 minutes before carving.

SALT-BAKED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Place tangerine skin in a small bowl. Add enough hot water to cover. In a large bowl, place lotus leaves. Add enough hot water to cover, and place a second bowl over leaves to keep them submerged. Let tangerine skin and lotus leaves soak for 30 minutes. Drain; set aside.
• Meanwhile; preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 3 pounds salt in a large Dutch oven, and 3 pounds salt in a roasting pan. Place Dutch oven and roasting pan in oven until very hot, about 30 minutes
• Rub chicken all over with the Shao-Hsing. Stuff scallions, ginger, and soaked tangerine skin into the cavity of the chicken. Wrap chicken with overlapping lotus leaves, or cheesecloth, to enclose.
• Remove salt from oven, and increase temperature to 450 degrees. Make a shallow well in salt in the Dutch oven. Place chicken, breast-side up, in the well. Spoon salt from the roasting pan over chicken to cover completely. Roast for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove chicken from oven, and let stand for 15 minutes.
• Brush away salt, and transfer chicken to a cutting board. Unwrap it, and discard lotus leaves. Chop chicken into bite-size pieces. Serve immediately with salt-baked chicken dip on the side.

SALT-AND-PEPPER ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Season the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. If you have time, refrigerate the chicken, uncovered, for an hour, or overnight.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place chicken breast-side up in a roasting pan or large ovenproof skillet. Stuff cavity with herbs and tie the legs together with kitchen twine. (If you don't have twine, leave the legs as they are.)
• Roast 50 minutes, then baste chicken with pan juices. Continue roasting until chicken's juices run clear when skin is pierced with a knife, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before carving.

NOBLE HOUSE SALT-BAKED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine boiling water and tangerine peel in a bowl. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid and peel.
• Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Trim excess fat. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.
• Rub 1 tablespoon salt under skin and let stand 5 minutes. Rinse chicken under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
• Place chicken on the rack of a roasting pan and let stand 1 hour at room temperature, covered with saran wrap.
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Remove saran wrap and transfer chicken to a work surface. Combine remaining salt, shallots, ginger, wine, soy sauce, oil, and honey in a small bowl. Rub 3 tablespoons shallot mixture inside cavity of chicken. Place onions and tangerine peel inside cavity. Rub remaining shallot mixture under loosened skin.
• Place chicken, breast side up, on the rack of a roasting pan which has been coated with cooking spray. Pour reserved tangerine soaking liquid into a shallow roasting pan and place rack in same pan. Bake at 425F for 1 hour or until a meat thermometer registers 165F and skin has turned a dark golden brown color. Let stand 15 minutes.
• You may discard skin or not. Slice and serve. Garlic chives make a wonderful garnish.