This cookbook tastes like chicken!

    I have a lot of cookbooks, well over 100 if I had to guess.  I read them all the time, cover to cover, much like a novel.  I also subscribe to all the big food magazines as well.  Needless to say, there's a great deal of paper in the house.  I love having all of these recipes at my disposal because they serve me as more of a suggestion on how to cook, rather than a strict guideline.  One thing I have noticed over the years is that many recipes don't work.  Either the portions are off, the publisher left something out, temperatures are wrong, or other failures that can turn a dish awry.  The only real way of figuring this out is to have made a lot of crappy dishes, and then learn from your mistakes.  When I come across an error, I'll sometimes jot a little note in the margin to remind me not to make the same mistake again.  If you like going to used bookstores, check out the cookbooks and see the notes left by the previous owners.  They can really save your ass.  But none of this has anything to do with what I want to talk about, and that is chicken.

   Nowadays, we are overrun by a number of celebrity chefs who have these incredible restaurants all over the world in which you can easily drop a mortgage payment on a dinner for four.  While I don't get many chances to eat in these places, I'm really interested in getting inside the heads of these guys.  I find them fascinating.  Many of the food mags interview these folks about their favorite foods, what they cook at home for family and friends, and especially what they would like to eat for their last meal on Earth.  Most of the time, probably 90%, they mention a very simple dish, usually something from their childhood.  Think of the movie 'Ratatouille' ( if you haven't seen it, put it on your Netflix after you finish my column; if you don't have Netflix, what do you live in a cave? ;) where the dreaded food critic Anton Ego went batshit (in a good way)over a simple ratatouille that was prepared for him like his dear, sweet mother used to make, but I digress.  Most of the time the dish that is mentioned by these chefs is a simple roast chicken.  In fact, most of these guys would agree that the true mark of a great chef is how well they make a roast chicken.  I'm no great chef, but I can cook a damn good chicken.
   There are probably a 100 variations of how to roast a chicken, from different oven temps, timing, tenting, basting, seasoning, compound butters, the list goes on and on.  I am of the belief that simple is best.  Here's my basic method, the same method that my wife says swept her off her feet, (and this whole time I thought it was my dashing good looks, but again, I digress.)  I preheat my oven to 425, with the rack set right in the middle, while I then proceed to butterfly that yardbird, which means to open up the bird so that it lays mostly flat in the roasting pan.  This too is important, spend some bucks and get a good... no, great roasting pan. It will last a lifetime.  I use a pair of really heavy duty kitchen shears to cut out the backbone.  Just start at it's butt and cut up along the back bone on both sides.  You can either chuck this part or put it in a bag and freeze it until you want to make some chicken stock later in the week.  Now press out the bird so it lays flat, breast down.  From here I use a little trick taught to me (I saw it on her show) by Ina Gartin, the Barefoot Contessa.  I take my knife and cut the wishbone which is just below the neck and then run my knife along side of the breastbone cartilage just to score the membrane around it.  From here, I press on both sides of the flesh on the outside of breastbone with my thumbs to pop loose the bone.  Then with a little flanagling I can pull out the breastbone and cartilage intact.  Now the chicken will really lay flat and makes it much easier to cut when it's done cooking.
    Now all I do is rub a little softened butter or olive oil on both sides of my birdy and sprinkle the little darling with salt and pepper.  That's all.  I like to cut up a whole onion into thick slices and build a small platform in my pan on which to place my chicken as it roasts instead of using the rack that comes with the pan.  This is also a good time to use up any fading celery, carrots, and/or fresh herbs that may be lingering in the fridge.  All of this adds flavor.  Then all I do then is throw that badboy in the oven for one hour.  When that hour is up, I stick it with a thermometer to see that it's up to temp (170 in the thickest part of the thigh, but temp the breast too because your oven might not heat evenly.)  Also, you don't want to see any blood or any pink meat.  If I'm good to go, I'll take it out of the pan, put it on a plate and loosely place a piece of foil on top and let it hang out on the counter for about 10 minutes.  You may be tempted to cut into it before those 10 minutes are up; resist this urge, trust me.  Once it has rested, and those juices are settled back in the meat, cut it up and chow it down.  It works for me.  This does take a little practice, but all in all, it's really easy.  You should be able to get the bird in the pan, ready to cook, well before the oven preheats.
    The cool thing is that the prep is quick and the oven does all the work.  You can do it pretty much any weeknight with little hassle.  In fact, I'm hungry, I think I'll make one tonight.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Oh yeah, I like to drink a simple Spanish, French, and/or Italian red wine with this.  Works great!

Cool runnings and Jah love,
Pennington