Thursday, June 28, 2007

A New "Spin" on Roast Chicken!

It's like this: No matter who is coming over, I know that my roast chicken is one that will always draw raves. A fall back recipe that kills. Is it the best roast chicken ever? Well, I have to say yes. I had this bird dialed. Not an everyday oven roast either. This is a smoky, Weber 'que-fired fowl. Always satisfied, couldn't be better. Until this little piece of joy came into my life.......
I was reading one of my favorite food books, Jeffrey Steingarten's brilliant "It Must Have Been Something I Ate", a hilarious and information filled collection of his essays from his days as Vogue Magazine's food columnist that if you haven't read, you must! In one essay he wrote about his obsessive search for the perfect roast chicken. He posited that nothing beats rotisserie roasted bird, and then mentioned that he had purchased the Weber rotisserie extension. Weber rotisserie extension?? I had no idea there was such a thing. I of course had to have one, and it was promptly delivered via my friendly UPS driver. Two nights ago I gave it a test spin, as it were, and....oh-my-fucking-god...it's like I had never roasted a chicken before! This wasn't my old standby bird. This was something different. Chicken from another planet where all is good and delicious. Insanely, perfectly crisp and browned skin. Juicy breast and thigh meat that was out of this world. Succulent doesn't begin to describe it. I can hardly wait to conduct further experiments on other pieces of animal to see what edible wonders can be coaxed from this new life enhancement tool. If you have a 22" Weber and you're not cooking with this, all I can say is you are living a life half lived. Take it from someone who's kicking himself for going so long without!

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Weber Rotisserie Chicken
Time- about 90 minutes

Prepare the grill by filling the starter chimney to almost overflowing with briquettes (I'm a Kingsford guy). Lots of heat is the key here.

Ingredients
1 Free Range Chicken 5-6#
1 lemon
Sprigs of rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, tarragon in any combination
Olive Oil
Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper

1-Rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry.
2-Mix together 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper and rub inside of chicken.
3-Stuff fresh herbs inside of chicken along with 1/2 lemon. Tie legs together with kitchen twine.
4-Drizzle olive oil lightly over outside of chicken and salt and pepper all over (breast side and back side).
5-Bank coals to the sides of the charcoal rack on grill. Set a foil pan in between coals to catch chicken drippings.
6-Thread chicken onto rotisserie spit and connect to motor, turn on, cover, open top and bottom vents all the way and walk away. Check back in 30 minutes (chicken won't be done, but you can't help yourself). After about an hour or so, check bird. It is done when you wiggle the leg and it is very loose and moves easily. Skin should be very crisp and browned.
7-When done, bring chicken inside, let rest for 10 minutes, then carve away and prepare for lavish praise from your guests.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay now I want a "Weber Extension". I am all about the perfect chicken. This one looks great and you seem... quite certain about it!

Thanks for the tip and for the book recommendation. Love good books about food.

bb said...

The perfect chicken is much to be admired. Get on it FAST! You'll be very happy, I promise!
I love food books as well. Seems to be all I read these days. Have to keep "feeding" the addiction!

Anonymous said...

you forgot to shove about 20 cloves of garlic between the breast/leg meat and the skin - adds to the yumminess of it all.

now i'm off to buy a weber and a rotisserie. geez, i just wanted to kill a few minutes and read something for fun. thanks so much. :)

SteamyKitchen said...

I want a bite!!!

bb said...

D- When isn't garlic a good thing? Make that Option A!

J- I was gonna say the same thing about yours...that looked so good!! Let's trade someday!
For the rest of you, check out Steamy Kitchen's chix deluxe @ http://steamykitchen.wordpress.com/?s=peppercorn+roast+chicken