Friday FUNdamentals: Roast Chicken

One of our loyal readers came to the Cool Dads Team a few months ago with a suggestion: break cooking down, and teach some of the other cool dads (and soon to be dads) how to make some easy recipes. We liked the idea so much we came up with Friday FUNdamentals: every Friday (until football season returns) we'll teach you how to prepare a simple recipe with step-by-step instructions.

We're starting with a staple in the Wisconsin Test Kitchen: roast chicken and vegetables. The idea of cooking a whole chicken can be overwhelming, but once you try it; it's pretty easy and will feed your family for a few days. We'll hold your hand through this one. Pinky promise.

Cool Dads Roast Chicken & Vegetables Tutorial

Here's the thing about making roast chicken. It can't be a game day decision. You need at least 24 hours to let the chicken defrost completely. This means no ice- the chicken has to be completely thawed out. Take it out the day before you want to make it, and let the bird sit in the fridge for 24-ish hours. It's tempting to let the chicken sit out on the kitchen counter until it's defrosted, but this is a big no-no: you'll end up with a chicken brimming with bacteria. Letting the chicken defrost in the fridge is just a safer idea.

The day you're ready to make the chicken, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.


Get a roasting pan. It's a large baking pan with an elevated rack. It should look something like this:

Take your chicken out of the fridge, remove the plastic wrapping, and rinse it off. This is the  potentially gross part. Reach inside the cavity of the chicken, and remove anything that doesn't belong there. This could be the heart, neck or other organs. Just scoop 'em out. It's going to look like this:

You can throw these pieces out. Or, you can keep the heart and fry it in butter. Sawyer in the Wisconsin Test Kitchen loves fried chicken hearts. We're not even making that up. #gross

Take the chicken and place it on the roasting pan. Take a piece of paper towel and pat it dry.

 

Take a basting brush, and brush olive oil all over the bird. You don't need to soak the chicken in it, just a light brushing. Then, take a seasoning of your choice (salt-free seasoning salt is an excellent choice) and sprinkle it on the bird. We got this awesome seasoning for Christmas, and have been putting it on everything.

Once you're done oiling and seasoning your bird, it should look something like this:

By now, your oven should be pre-heated. Go ahead and pop the roasting pan in the oven. Based on the size of your chicken, you're looking at approximately an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half for the bird to cook. Start with an hour and fifteen minutes.


While your bird is cooking, you can prep roasted potatoes. Take five or six potatoes and dice them up. They should look like this:

Yes, my potatoes are purple. They come in all different colors, these were just the ones we happened to get from the farmers market.

Once the potatoes are diced, add a drizzle of olive oil and seasonings of your choice (you can totally use the same seasonings you used on the chicken. Keep it simple). Stir until the potatoes are well coated.

Spread the potatoes in a 9"x13" glass baking dish:

Once your kitchen timer reads 45 minutes; put the potatoes in the oven and let them cook along with the chicken. Half way through the cooking time, take them out and give them a good stir, so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Once your timer goes off, it's important to check to make sure your chicken is completely cooked. Insert a meat thermometer into the breast and wait for it to reach a temperature of 175 degrees. Don't stick your thermometer too close to the bone- make sure you're getting the temperature of the meat and not the bones. Also, make sure you get an accurate reading from the thickest, meatiest part of the chicken. If the thermometer hits 175 degrees- your chicken is officially done! If not, pop the chicken back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Repeat until your hit 175 degrees.

It's a lot easier to check if the potatoes are done. They'll be tender and not crunchy. Crunchy potatoes are a bad thing.

Your finished products should look something like this:

Now, once your chicken is done; you need to carve it. Deep breath, you're almost done, we promise. Transfer the chicken to a plate (leg side up) and get an extra plate to put the meat on once you carve it. Get your electric carving knife plugged in, and start by cutting the legs off.

Next come the chicken wings, and then the breasts and thighs. Easy, right? It's ok if you hack it up a little bit, just try to get as much meat off the carcass as possible, and try not to splinter any of the bones in the meat. That's going to get messy. This is what your finished product should look like:

Congratulations! You just cooked, and carved your first chicken! Once you try it once or twice, you'll find it's an easy, delicious dinner. It's simple; but sometimes it's the simple things that are the most delicious.


Notes from the Test Kitchen:
Raw chicken and raw chicken juice will spread salmonella germs all over your kitchen. Make sure you are constantly washing your hands (every time you touch the chicken), and once the chicken goes into the oven, wash the counters down well. A happy kitchen is one without salmonella.

You can roast other vegetables like carrots or turnips instead of/along with the potatoes. Same rules apply.

We hope you enjoyed our first Friday FUNdamentals post! Please email or comment if you have any questions; we want your first roast chicken to be a success!

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew