THE PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN RECIPE HAS CRISPY GOLDEN SKIN AND INCREDIBLE FLAVOR.

For years now, I have spent a lot of time preparing chickens to roast.  I would go through the "not fun" process of separating the skin from the bird. Sometimes I would use my hands. Other times I would use a spoon because my hands were too big to get under the skin without tearing it.  I would load those birds up with butter, lemon, herbs and other aromatics.  Roasting a chicken was an event... and not a pleasant one.

About six months ago, I learned about a different method for cooking chicken. No need to maul the bird like an angry bear to get delicious results.  This method is so easy that I'm almost embarrassed to be posting this recipe up.  The big difference is the fat used to cook the chicken.  Let's dig in deeper.

TRADITIONAL ROAST CHICKEN

I was taught to use butter to make the perfect roast chicken.  It seems like the most common ingredient I have read about and enjoyed on a chicken myself.  Butter with a mix of citrus, fresh herbs, aromatics, salt and pepper. Sounds like most of the recipes you've seen or have cooked, right?  Some recipes have the cavity stuffed with citrus and herbs as well.

After the chicken is thoroughly seasoned, most recipes call for the bird to be trussed (tied up).  Trussing is supposed to ensure even cooking by securing the legs and covering the cavity.  Supposedly this prevents the breast from drying out from the inside. Additionally, by trussing the bird you will have a lovely looking roast chicken. I love being in the kitchen, but I hate trussing a bird. It's just another step in a process that is already too long.

The result of all this work?  Sometimes the butter roast chicken would be delicious and other times it would be dry.  There seemed to be no rhyme nor reason behind it.  To me it felt like a huge gamble.  Lots of work and time spent for a hit-or-miss result.

THE DUCK FAT METHOD

Now let's talk about roasting a chicken in duck fat.  Oh I love duck fat.  Just about any recipe cooked with this silky substance will have unparalleled depth and flavor. The reason for this is straightforward: duck fat is both stable and has a high smoke point.  As a stable fat, it will not have an altered flavor profile as it heats like butter or olive oil can tend to do.  With a high smoke point we will be able to develop beautiful browning without even thinking about it.

For the perfect roast chicken, we need to make sure that our ingredients are going to behave the same way, every time we cook this recipe.  Duck fat always acts the same.  Unlike butter, there are no milk solids that can burn and we will not be taking it to a temperature where it will start to smoke.  The duck fat method for cooking chicken is reliable, which I like.

Not only is it reliable, it is really easy.  Are you ready for this?  Just rub the duck fat all over the bird and apply a liberal coating of salt and pepper.  That's it.  Nothing else needed.  We put the bird in a cast iron dutch oven (about 10" in diameter is what I used) and roast it for 1 hour.

We enjoy this perfect roast chicken recipe about once a week at our house.  It always turns out juicy and the skin is just so crisp.

QUICK COOKING TIP: My suggestion is to not truss the chicken at all.  Here's why: we are going to roast the chicken breast side up for the first 15 minutes.  After that, we are going to rotate the chicken.  We'll use tongs and pick up the bird by inserting one side of the tong into the cavity and the other on the breast meat.  We need to be able to get into the cavity to make this process easy and safe.   When we rotate the chicken, we'll let it cook breast side down for the remaining 45 minutes. Not only will this make super crispy skin, but the juice from the dark meat will keep the breast meet tender and juicy.

Wow.  What a lot of information about roasting a chicken.  Let's get into the meat of this perfect roast chicken recipe.