One of the first classes on my culinary school schedule was devoted solely to the art of preparing poultry. I drove to class that day over the moon excited about tackling the preparation of poultry.
Finally, I was going to learn how to prepare a roasted chicken without mangling it with kitchen twine and drying it out to a tasteless plate of bones.
Sadly… my excitement faded shortly after class began.
Not only was half the chicken skin missing on the chicken legs, due to my wrangling the chicken with kitchen twine, my lovely chicken was terribly over cooked and nearly a platter of chicken bones. (The Thanksgiving dinner scene in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation came to mind)
After all my classmates roasted chickens had been presented, it was my turn to step up and talk about my very dark and dismal looking roasted chicken. Something I did NOT want to do.
My chef instructor was quite the perfectionist. A somewhat gruff and bigger than life demeanor – he was a wee bit intimidating. He appeared absolutely frustrated by my inability to roast a chicken to perfection and decided to make an example of my over cooked chicken.
“Bennett” he said, in his thick German accent. “Zee. cheeken. iz dead! No need to keel it again.” Yes, I’ve spelled and punctuated the words just the way I remember him saying this in the class. Although I could feel my face turning several shades of bright red, I knew then what he was trying to tell me. Stop over cooking the chicken!
The key to making a perfect roasted chicken? Don’t take it out of the oven until it’s reached an internal temperature of 165F. And, be sure to purchase a local, hopefully pasture raised, chicken. Chicken that has traveled across the country to rest in your local market’s refrigerated poultry bin is probably not going to yield a tasty or moist result. Finding a local farmer that sells fresh chicken to your local co-op or market or even to the public, is definitely the tastier and moister choice. And, you will be helping your local farmer stay in business, which supports the local community.
If you live in Western Washington, check out the online marketplace for local produce, poultry, eggs, meat and seafood called Farmstr. Coming soon to new locations in the Pacific Northwest and beyond!
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In honor of over-roasted chicken, I thought I’d share my grandma’s method for a moist and tasty chicken using mayonnaise. Yep, mayonnaise. Grandma used to massage mayonnaise all over her roasters before popping them in the oven. And when she ran out of mayo, she used butter.
I took this mayonnaise slathering technique a little further and incorporated fresh chopped herbs and garlic into the mayo and then added the step of placing some of that herb mayo under the skin of the chicken breast, legs and thighs. This creates not only flavor, but a tender, juicy roasted chicken.
Delicious Wishes and loads of love,
Karista
Fresh Herb and Mayonnaise Roasted Chicken
The key to creating a perfectly roasted chicken is making sure you remove the chicken from the oven when the internal temperature reaches 165F. Testing the meat temperature at the joint between the thigh and leg is best. Then take it out of the oven and tent the chicken with foil and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes. This will raise the internal temperature another 5 degrees and allow the juices to re-distribute. The final result should be a moist and perfectly roasted chicken.
Ingredients
1 4-5lb fresh, organic whole chicken
1/3 cup organic regular or homemade mayonnaise
Small handful of fresh herbs finely chopped. (thyme, oregano, Italian parsley, basil, chive, rosemary)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lemon, quartered
Salt and Pepper
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 400F.
Mix together the fresh herbs, garlic and mayonnaise. Add a few pinches of salt and pepper.
Salt and pepper the cavity of the chicken and stuff with the lemon quarters. And some extra garlic cloves if you like.
Next spread about half the herb mayonnaise under the skin of the chicken breast, leg and thighs. It’s typically fairly tough but if it breaks don’t worry… it’ll still be fabulous.
Slather the remaining mayonnaise over the outside of the chicken and then lightly season with some cracked black pepper and salt.
Place it in a roasting pan or baking dish, or even on a lined baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 1 hour or until the internal temperature reaches 165F.
Once the chicken has reached 165F, remove it from the oven and tent it with some aluminum foil. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes before carving or breaking down to serve.
I adore this roasted chicken all by itself but during the spring months I serve it with baby spring greens tossed with a simple balsamic vinaigrette. Or serve it with this lovely spring salad from Pink Patisserie. A lovely meal!
** Rarely do I truss my chicken unless I’m serving a roasted chicken for guests or a holiday meal. It does help seal the cavity and therefore technically keep the chicken from drying out. However, I’m typically in a time crunch to get the chicken in the oven and stuffing the cavity with extra herbs and lemon will usually achieve the same result. The chicken just won’t look quite so Julia Child. But it’ll still taste delicious. However, if you’d like to learn how to truss a chicken, click here. It’s a great technique to add to your culinary skills. Bon Appetit!
Mayonnaise!! That sounds like a really interesting idea. I am going to try this. Great tip, thanks !
You’re so welcome Anneli! I hope you like it. 🙂
mouth watering and i love the story behind it! yum! and funny 🙂
Thank you my dear friend! 🙂
Genius! I’ve always made chicken nuggets by using mayonnaise instead of the eggwash approach, but never thought to do it to a whole roast chook! Will definitely give this a go soon. Thanks for sharing!! xx
Meg I’ve done the same… use mayonnaise when I didn’t want the hassle of an eggwash and flour. We use the mayonnaise on our roasted turkey’s as well and of course plain ole chicken breasts and then topped with breadcrumbs. Love delicious shortcuts!
What a fantastic looking chicken!
Why thank you YummyChunklet!!
Unbelievable chicken! Looks fantastic – perfect for a light Sunday roast.
Thanks Frugal! Yes, I do love a good roasted chicken for a Sunday meal. With lots of roasted shallots, potatoes, carrots and any other root veggies I can squeeze on the tray. Lol!
Fabulous!
Thank you lovely Rosemary! I hope all is good in your part of the world 🙂
Beautiful! I actually only let chicken come to 155 degrees…
My roasters are fairly large and my family likes their chicken well-done, but not dry of course. Lol! I know many pull their roasters before 165F but that seems to be the magic number for me. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Friday!!
Beautiful. I never would’ve thought of using mayonnaise on a chicken but it looks like it must work brilliantly! Haha, that quote from your chef instructor made me laugh. I think it would apply to my father (who once roasted a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken again, then realized it was dried out so he covered it in pumpkin soup and placed it back in the oven to ‘rehydrate’. Needless to say I didn’t learn my cooking skills from him!). I normally butterfly my chicken to cook it quickly however I do love the ‘aesthetic’ of a trussed chicken. Yes to stuffing the cavity with herbs and lemon. Yum! xx
I love mayo like nothing else. Why have I never done this. Trust that the next chicken going in my oven will be slathered in mayo… and maybe a little mustard too. x
Wendy I am the same. I LOVE mayo! I slather it on crackers for a snack! Or on fresh summer tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt. I think the addition of mustard would be divine. 🙂 Hope you’re doing well!!
I made this the other night and it was a hit! My only changes were that I used about half a cup of mayo and two cloves of garlic. The leftover breast meat makes killer sandwiches. Thanks!
Hi Tom, Thank you so much for letting me know how much you liked this recipe! I love the addition of extra garlic, because one can never have to much garlic. 🙂 I agree, the leftover chicken makes great sandwiches. Thank you again for taking the time to comment. Delicious Wishes! Karista