hurry-up-and-wait roast chicken {ffwd}
In Around My French Table (AMFT), Dorie Greenspan includes several different ways to roast a chicken. This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie, Hurry-up-and-Wait Roast Chicken, offers yet another technique. In this case, you cook the chicken in a very hot oven (the hurry up part) for just under an hour. Then, you allow the chicken to set in a yoga-like pose for about 15 minutes as it reabsorbs the juices (the wait part).
(I forgot to take photos after the initial shot, so I don’t have much visual on offer this week.)
I started with a layer of potato, sliced carrots, and fresh herbs in the bottom of my Le Creuset Dutch oven so the vegetables could roast in the chicken’s juices and provide the dinner’s side. The tricky part of this recipe is flipping the hot chicken from side to side, and later upside down, using various kitchen utensils. I started with the recommended pancake turners on the outside of the bird, switched to a large spoon stuck inside the bird, and finally settled on using paper towels for the best control. If I had silicon mitts, I am sure that would have worked better.
I had some trouble with the timing of cooking the chicken. After the 50 minute roast, the internal temperature was still 20 degrees cooler than the USDA recommended temperature, so I baked it for another 10 minutes. Also, this chicken didn’t seem to have the lovely browned skin that I prefer on roast chicken. Maybe it’s because I used a high-sided Dutch oven rather than a skillet or roasting pan, causing some steaming action. Yet when I make my all-time favorite recipe from AMFT, the Lazy Person’s Chicken, I use the same pot. Not sure what’s up with that.
I will say that the bird was extremely moist, more than most roast chickens I have made. I’ll chalk that up to the cooking technique. However, I still prefer the Lazy Person’s Chicken, which will remain my go-to roast chicken recipe for the foreseeable future.
In addition to the roasted vegetables in the pot, I also roasted dumpling squash slices on a separate pan. All in all, it was the perfect comfort food as fall settles in for a while. It was also the perfect sustenance for watching Game 6 of the World Series, which went way past my bedtime. It was worth staying up. The Red Sox clinched the championship at home, winning the title for the 3rd time in 10 years. Very exciting! (No apologies offered to the Yankee fans among my friends.)
To see what other Doristas thought of this recipe, check out their posts here.
Posted on 1 November 2013, in Autumn, French Fridays with Dorie and tagged French Fridays with Dorie, roast chicken. Bookmark the permalink. 14 Comments.
A Plateful of Happiness 
I also had some trouble with the timing ! When I first pulled it from the oven I was getting a pink juice running out, so I put it back in for another 20 minutes. I really did not enjoy the turning part! However, It did come out moist and delicious! Have a great weekend, Betsy! Congrats on the Boston win!!
I think the timing depends a lot on different ovens. I am finding a bit of a learning curve with my new oven and roast chicken has become a bit of a litmus test. I won’t be making it this way again – too fussy and messy!
Congrats to your Red Sox! And though we thought this chicken was lovely, not sure I’d go through all that turning again.
Although I’m a loyal Cubbie, for whatever that’s worth, I was glad to see the Red Sox win again this year……especially at home. I don’t own silicone gloves either so I used mitts and took some skin off (the chicken not me) when I flipped it from side to side. I used an old cast iron pan which seemed perfect for the chicken’s ordeal. I also got a good moist chicken and enjoyed it but probably won’t do this again. Lotta extra steps, me thinks.
Looks great Betsy. I enjoyed the moistness of this one too.
We enjoyed this, but if I’m going to the effort for roast chicken, I prefer Robuchon. Sous Chef actually likes his chicken boneless, skinless – so I have to do a lot of selling when I’m roasting. Congrats on the Red Sox win! Think we need to retry Lazy Chicken after reading your post.
Based on your recommendation, will give the lazy person recipe a go sometime!
You and me both! This was interesting, but I’m sticking with the lazy chicken too.
Betsy, what a wonderful fall meal – a perfectly roasted chicken – even if the required cooking method required the somewhat awkward turning of a hot chicken. I love that you also added all those sesonal vegetables!
Have a fabulous weekend!
I might be in the minority this week – I didn’t think it was that big of a deal turning the chicken around. I really enjoyed the results, even if I did lose some of the skin from the legs while turning.
Sweet Caroline… bapapa! Boston was definitely the place to be this weekend. My friends sent me pictures of the parade. It looked like so much fun!
Yum – I’ll bet the squash was good with this. Yes, good comfort food, but I like John’s rotisserie chicken the best.
Have a wonderful week!
The lazy chicken is still the best, but this was tasty.
Don’t worry Betsy – I still love you even if you are a Sox fan. Congrats on the win!
Congrats to the Sox! The lazy chicken is definitely hard to beat.
I loved how juicy this chicken was. I didn’t have too much trouble turning the bird, perhaps because I’d propped it up on so many vegetables. But, the lazy chicken is still my favourite, too.