Brined Roast Chicken!

      So I woke up Tuesday morning with an idea of brining a whole chicken. The advantage of brining is that at the end of the process you have a really tender, moist and flavorful meat. Since I've started this blog, I have oftentimes caught myself waking up in the middle of the night with some weird idea and almost every time its related to food. Bizarre! And so, for the sake of self satisfaction, right after work last Tuesday I drove myself to the store and bought a good looking chicken. The next day early in the morning on Wednesday, I brined my chicken. I made my brine with ½ cup of sea salt (you can use normal table salt but I prefer to use sea salt for the extra flavor), 1/3 cup of granulated sugar dissolved in about 3 liters of water and 1 quartered onion. Make sure to use a non-reactive container while brining your bird. This time I let my bird sit for 2 days in the brine and I rinsed it after with cold running water, then I place it inside the fridge for a few hours, this will help crisp the skin when roasting.

 Ingredients: 

1 whole chicken (about 5 lbs)

½ lemon

1 onion (quartered)

1 head garlic (cut end cross-wise)

1 tbsp kosher salt

½ tsp peppercorn

3 bay leaves

 Seasoning:

2 tbsp Butter (room temperature)

1 tbsp Kosher Salt
½ tbsp freshly ground pepper

1/3 tbsp cayenne pepper

Preheat over 450 degrees F

1. Pat dry chicken and place lemon, onion, garlic, 1 tbsp salt, peppercorn and bay leaves in chicken cavity.
2. In a small bowl mix in pepper, salt and cayenne pepper.
3. Brush melted butter all over chicken and sprinkle the cayenne mixture.
4. Tie chicken using cotton twine.
5. Place it on rack chicken breast up for 15 minutes for browning.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, pull out chicken and flip up-side down.
7. Bake chicken for 1 hour.
8. Flip the chicken again, right side up, and bake for 25 more minutes.
9. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.
10. Enjoy!

Gravy!

3 tbsp flour

1 cup chicken stock

salt and pepper

     Using the chicken drippings, mix in flour until it looks like a paste in a medium high heat. Pour in the chicken stock. Keep whisking continuously until reaching your desired texture. Salt and pepper if needed.

-Love-