James Beard's Perfect Roasted Chicken?

[AlwaysCookin']

I caught the tail end of a cooking show today which featured James Beard's perfect roasted chicken. It was roasted barded with bacon. Does anyone have some more detailed instructions, cooking time and temp, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[W.DeBord]

I saw that show too. Details I remembered: he washes it well, then rubs the inside with fresh lemon, then places a handful of his favorite herb (tarragon) but they say 'use any you like, that goes well', inside the bird. Salt and Peper well.....I don't recall them saying what temp. the oven was on but I was supprised by the time. I thought it was like 40 min. with the bird placed uside down on a rack, then flip over and bake another 1 hour 40 min. , that's a BIG bird I must have been distracted cause the times seemed excessive. The oven temp. must have been pretty low, sorry I missed what it was.


He bakes the bird on a rack, placing the giblets under the rack to keep the flavor for sauce/gravy (although they didn't talk about it after the bird was done?).

But I recall them mentioning that this recipe was in the book on him. So that's a lead if no one has the info. here.

[Suzanne]

Here's the recipe as printed in James Beard's American Cookery:

Basic Roast Chicken: Wipe a 3 1/2 to 4 pound chicken well with a damp cloth and rub the interior with a half lemon. Place a large piece of butter inside the bird with a sprinkling of salt. Rub the bird lavishly with butter on all sides. Place on its side on a rack in a shallow roasting pan -- I often use the rack of a broiling pan. Roast 25 minutes at 375 degrees, baste with melted butter, turn onto the other side, and roast another 25 minutes. Baste well with the fat in the pan. Turn the chicken on its back and baste again. Roast 15 minutes, baste well with pan juices, sprinkle with salt, and continue roasting another 10 to 20 minutes, or until the juice at the joint runs pink. Transfer from the oven to a hot platter and keep warm for about 10 minutes before carving. Serve with the pan juices.

Chicken Roasted with Bacon: Drape the chicken with rashers of bacon instead of buttering it, and move them to the uppermost side of the bird as you turn it. Baste with butter and bacon drippings. This gives a rather delightful and different flavor.

Roast Capon: ... Roast at 375 degrees as you would a chicken, allowing about 20 to 25 minutes a pound. Place on its side on a rack in a shallow pan, basting well with butter or bacon fat, and turning it after 30 to 35 minutes to the other side. After another 30 to 35 minutes turn it on its back and continue to baste. When the juice at the joint runs rather pink, it is done to my taste. If you must, cook till the juice runs lcear, and overcook the lovely white meat. ...

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My comment: Personally, I'd risk overcooked white meat -- pink juices, raw chix as far as I'm concerned. Yuck.


Anyway, hope this helps. I realize the timing is completely different -- maybe the guy on the show was making a capon and agrees that "rare" chicken is an abomination and cooks it longer. But then it's not James Beard's, is it?

[W.DeBord]

Thanks for posting that Suzanne. I sure missed a few points...to say the least! Hubby was de-assembling and trying to re-assemble my garbage disposal and all the under the sink plumbing yesterday. It's his weird contribution to holiday dinners (about every other holiday the plumbing under the sink leaks and needs replacing and every third x-mas the igniter in my furnace dies), best I could do was watch foodtv to calm myself.