“You’re going to question my method on this one,” I warned Brian. “My technique will seem strange, but I need you to just trust me, and not question my methods, okay?”

“Are you going to brine it?”

“Shhhhhhhhhhhh…” I said, tiptoeing and putting a a finger to his lips. 

Roast chicken is one of the easiest things to cook (and cook well) that for some reason always seems to impress people. It’s also fairly inexpensive. I mean, you can buy a pack of chicken breasts for roughly the same cost as a whole bird!

So what does it take to get a perfectly roasted chicken? Not much! 🙂

First, take the bird and rinse it. Now, there are people who say rinsing poultry is a waste of time and good way to get salmonella, but I disagree wholeheartedly (and think these people are kind of paranoid). Rinse the bird — both inside and out — and then pat it dry with paper towels.

Here’s the dealio: You want your chicken to cook in the dryest heat possible so the skin will crisp up quickly, which will  keep the moisture inside where it belongs.

 

Next, add salt and pepper to the cavity (about a teaspoon of each, and then rub salt and pepper on the outside as well. You want to have a decent coating of salt, as it’ll help your chicken get a nice crispy skin. I happened to have an extra lemon laying around so I cut it up and put it in the cavity as well, but this can be omitted.

Season the top of the chicken with thyme.

Now truss the chicken (tie the legs together). This helps keep the legs intact and preserves moisture in the breast.

Once your bird is all tied up, stick it in a 450 degree oven for 50-60 minutes.

Slather the outside of the chicken with butter, and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving. That’s it!

Now for the sides!

Brian whipped up some tasty sugared & buttered carrots, as well as a cauliflower puree!

We invited our good pal Erin over to share our tasty meal.

 

At the end of the meal, we asked Erin what she thought would be a fair restaurant price for our winner winner chicken dinner. She said about $15 seemed appropriate.

The total cost of ingredients was $10.67 (for the chicken, carrots, and cauliflower).

Let’s do some math!

$15 x 3 = $45

$45 – $10.67 = $34.33 saved!

Not too shabby!

Brian and I want to thank everyone who has reached out to let us know you like our new blog! The response has been wonderful and very appreciated. Starting a new project can be a little daunting, so we definitely appreciate your feedback!

Stay tuned for our next post, wherein we put our chicken leftovers to good use! 🙂

Cheers!