Adam has been quietly, patiently requesting roast chicken in my kitchen experiments pretty much since the day I met him. I had a fear of roasting things that I concquered after a few colorful attempts at Christmas turkeys. I finally got the turkey thing down cold, so this weekend I decided to do a proper Sunday roast. I used my never-fails-me America’s Test Kitchen cookbook (seriously, everything I make from this book is golden) for the recipe. Adam made his famous mashed potatoes (no matter how hard I try, I just can’t make them as good as his), and we grilled some asparagus on the stove. I’m very excited to learn that the asparagus comes out just as awesome inside with a grill pan as it did outside on the grill.
The book suggests brining the chicken first, which I did. Two quarts of cold water mixed with 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 sugar in a big bowl. I totally immersed the chicken, covered it, and refrigerated it for about 40 minutes. And the chicken was unbelievably moist.
Simple Roast Chicken (from America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook)