March 2016

Cooking a whole chicken is a rite of passage.

Do you remember cooking your first chicken? Not those fresh or frozen boneless-skinless chicken breasts. We’re talking the whole bird — skin, giblets, and all. For some of us, there’s no going back once we’ve had the singular delight and satisfaction of pulling a golden-roasted chicken from the oven. There’s the fragrance. The herbs. The leftovers.

Of course you have a roast chicken recipe.

These things get passed down in families as treasured heirlooms. But those of us not blessed with a culinary heritage find ourselves at an unfortunate disadvantage. So please humor us. How is someone supposed to feed a family without a go-to chicken-roasting recipe? It’s possible that of our  residents are among those who have only experienced whole-chicken goodness of the rotisserie variety. For that reason, and in case your chicken recipe takes too long (and that’s why you never make it), we offer this incredible variation courtesy of Lucky Peach. Should you become instantly enamored, you can buy their recipe book, “101 Easy Asian Recipes,” here. This is the most delicious, reliable, and simple roast chicken recipe we’ve ever seen. And if you need a second opinion, read about how this chicken is changing lives.

Lucky Peach’s Lacquered Roast Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 3-to-4-pound whole chicken
• 2 Tablespoons Honey
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt

Directions

• Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set a rack inside it and place the chicken on the rack. Stir honey into soy sauce until it dissolves. Use a pastry brush to coat the chicken with a thin, even layer of the mixture. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes to let the skin dry slightly, then brush again with left-over lacquer. Sprinkle with salt and refrigerate, uncovered, for 12 to 48 hours.
• Between 30 minutes and one hour before you want to roast the chicken, take it out of the refrigerator. Heat oven to 400 F. Roast chicken for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast is 165 F. If during the roasting process the skin darkens too quickly, tent with foil and continue roasting. Let rest for 15 minutes before carving.

If you didn’t have a go-to roast chicken recipe, now you do. But if you already had a hands-down favorite, and it’s better than this, we want to know about it. Please share your tips and tricks with other members of our community on Facebook.