The ULTIMATE Chicken Roaster

My loyal readers will recall that I have – on several occasions – claimed to be able to roast a chicken with the best of them. They will also recall that everything I have cooked for B since we started dating a few months ago has not turned out all that good. In that time, I have roasted several chickens and they have come out great. Of course, B wasn’t around to eat them. It’s kind of like when a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it… How do we really know the chicken was great if there were no witnesses except for the chef herself? (Okay, the cook. I know I’m no chef!)

The time has come, my friends. This evening, B will be eating his first ever Beth Ryan prepared roast chicken.

I have done everything I can to ensure a perfect meal. I bought the expensive, all natural Bell & Evans fresh chicken, brushed up on my roasting techniques by reading cookbooks, browsing websites and watching the latest episode of America’s Test Kitchen on PBS. (Coincidentally, the subject was how to cook the perfect, crispy skinned, roast chicken.)

And the piece de resistance… I purchased the ULTIMATE chicken roaster. Yes, my Calphalon roasting pan is good enough. But I have learned that standing the bird up ensures a better roast. But my oven is just slightly too small for my stand-up rack. Granted, that hasn’t stopped me before but since B is here while I do this cooking, I did not want the whole house to fill up with smoke like it tends to do when I use that rack. A smoke filled kitchen does not do much to instill confidence that the meal will turn out fantastic. (Trust me, I speak from B-specific experience.)

What is the ULTIMATE chicken roaster, you ask? It’s an All-Clad, Williams-Sonoma exclusive, stainless steel, shallow roasting pan with an extension arm and reservoir for holding liquids to infuse the meat. Can’t picture it? Here it is:

We saw this in the Thanksgiving edition of the Williams-Sonoma catalog (one of my favorite reads). We talked about buying it, and never got around to it. After all, do I really need another roasting pan? Especially a $180 one?

But now it’s time for me to put up, or shut up. I can either roast a damn good chicken or I’m full of crap. So, off to Williams-Sonoma I go, armed with the gift card Lindsay gave me for Christmas to help mitigate some of the damage to the wallet. And let me tell you, this is a beautiful pan – almost too pretty to use.

After I got over the beauty of my new ULTIMATE chicken roaster (that’s literally what it’s called – but I did add the capitalization for color and excitement), I was ready to get to work. The menu for this evening was as follows: roast chicken, stuffing, roasted vegetables (potato, broccoli and mushrooms) and garden salad.

The vegetables were cut, dressed with olive oil, seasoned with fresh rosemary, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and adorned with lemon slices and a few mashed garlic cloves. For extra flavor, I splashed them with a little organic chicken broth. The salad was simple – fresh lettuce and tomatoes from the farmer’s market, red onion, celery, scallions, cucumber and Belgian endive. I used Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix (my old roommate Lova will be glad to learn that I have graduated from Stove Top – well, perhaps “moved on” is a better word than “graduated”), added the onion and celery, used garlic herb butter instead of regular, and finished it off with some of the chicken broth.

The chicken is where my handiwork needs to shine.

First, I rinsed the chicken and patted it dry. Then, I separated the skin from the meat, to allow some air to help with the crispiness. After that, I made a few incisions in the skin where there were fat deposits, and again on the back to allow the fat to drain (and help ensure that side gets crispy skin as well). I salt and peppered the bird inside and out, and then rubbed it generously with olive oil. In the reservoir, I added chicken broth, fresh squeezed lemon juice, a smashed garlic clove (also from the farmer’s market) and a sprig of rosemary. For good measure, I added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on the breast.

I would like to say that I did this all by myself, but once it came time to tie the chicken to the extension arm I did need an extra set of hands and had to ask B for a little help. But, the rest was all me. (I will regret these words if the chicken turns out awful.) Here is the before shot:

Now, it’s time to wait…

Ah, dinner’s ready. Here is the after shot:

While the chicken didn’t brown on all sides like I had hoped, it was delicious. The stand-up rack was better for that, but I think I can learn by trial and error (perhaps starting the bird breast side down, and rotating it halfway through cooking). The thing that mattered most was the meal was good. B thought so, and I thought so. The gravy was a little too lemony, and the vegetables had a distinct lemon favor as well (although for the most part, not too overwhelming).

But the overall verdict was positive. B said that the whole meal was good, the chicken was nice and moist, the potatoes were seasoned well (and the salad was just a salad – I’ll take that as a good thing since I know he likes salad). In the past, B has said some nice things about my food while I have been disappointed. Since I was pleased and he still said nice things, I have no choice but to believe that I FINALLY cooked him a good meal. Yea me!!

And now, there is some leftover Wally the Green Monster ice cream for dessert…