Chicken

Remembering Barbara Kafka, Whose Roast Chicken Changed Everything

June  5, 2018

Last Friday, the world awoke to news of Barbara Kafka’s passing. At 84 years old, the culinary legend leaves behind a legacy 11 books deep and an indelible impact whose far reaches are still difficult to map.

Take, for instance, her roast chicken. We uploaded it to our site around this time in 2012 as a Genius Recipe. Since, it’s accrued upwards of 2,000 saves and remains our most popular recipe for roast chicken. Hers is a simple consultation: Stuff the chicken's cavity with the optional lemon, garlic, and butter, then cook the chicken in an oven on a roasting pan for 40 to 50 minutes, roughly 10 minutes per pound. To prevent juice runoff from crackling and sputtering in the scorching heat of the oven, Cook's Illustrated advises upholstering the bottom of your roasting pan with sturdy vegetables.

In her revered ode to the oven, the 1995 cookbook Roasting, Barbara Kafka penned: “When in doubt, roast a chicken. When hurried, roast a chicken. Seeking simple pleasure? Roast a chicken.” Her aphorism centered the humble chicken, at its most simply prepared, as a worthy and all too possible pursuit. What one really needed, she insisted, was but a seasoned chicken and a very, very hot oven. Where Kafka, ever practical, ever persistent, defied convention was with her suggestion to roast the bird at 500° F.

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In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News in 1995, Kafka famously said: “People are afraid of high heat. It takes some nerve to say that other, long-recommended temperatures are wimpy, to say to do it this way. But people have been taught to be chicken about temperature!”

When in doubt, roast a chicken. When hurried, roast a chicken. Seeking simple pleasure? Roast a chicken.

Over the years, our community has revelled in the joy of her classic recipe. Our co-founder Merrill Stubbs unearths it once a year, astounded by its ease. “I use her roast chicken method to cook my Thanksgiving turkey every year," she says. "I first started doing this about five years ago, and it has changed the entire dynamic of Thanksgiving Day in my house: Because it cooks so quickly (and beautifully), it really simplifies the whole jockeying-for-oven-space conundrum, and I end up with much more time to bake my sides and desserts."

Another commenter had this to say: “I read all 87 comments before venturing into this. I went through the good and the bad, of which there was far more good. In my humble opinion, if you follow the directions, there is no way you can lose. I went with 10 minutes per pound on a 9 1/2 lb bird, set my convection oven at 450 and it worked like a Swiss watch. Exact. My husband is the de-boner of chickens in our house, and he was nearly through with the big boy when I stepped into the kitchen to taste the crispy skin; something not to be missed. The whole chicken was moist and flavorful. Try it, you will not be disappointed...if you follow the directions.”

This chicken is but one flower in the large bouquet of Kafka’s accomplishments. She sought out ease and ingenuity in unexpected places. Her 1987 book Microwave Gourmet introduced the microwave as a viable, even elevated, tool for kitchen success. Kafka also logged a successful stint consulting for some New York's premiere restaurants. In 2007, she received the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award for her decades-long commitment to American cooking.

What are your go-to Kafka recipes? Tell us what she taught you in the comments below.

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Valerio is a freelance food writer, editor, researcher and cook. He grew up in his parent's Italian restaurants covered in pizza flour and drinking a Shirley Temple a day. Since, he's worked as a cheesemonger in New York City and a paella instructor in Barcelona. He now lives in Berlin, Germany where he's most likely to be found eating shawarma.

8 Comments

[email protected] February 5, 2021
My bother-in-law still refuses to believe that Kafka's high heat turkey will be cooked, yet it always is and he always eats it. Going on 25 years now.
 
robinorig June 6, 2018
Sad to hear of her passing. I keep her microwave volumes handy and use them frequently to check times. The thing from those volumes I cook most often is the microwave risotto recipe. Great for parties, you can cook it while you are cooking other things in the regular oven and it's delicious.
 
JaneMiami June 6, 2018
I was fortunate to have worked & cooked with Barbara Kafka at her store, Star Spangled Foods, in Manhattan. She would walk into the kitchen with a can of Tab in one hand & a cigarette in another. Nothing bothered her! Well..except for lack of enthusiasm. We had foragers bringing in wild mushrooms & fiddle-head ferns from upstate NY, Truffles shipped in rice from Oregon, chevre from Laura Chenel in California, the list goes on...it was like the most fabulous American Food Treasure's Box & Barbara was pulling the ribbons that opened it.
 
Valerio F. June 6, 2018
This is a beautiful story! Love the tab can detail..
 
Lizard June 5, 2018
All her cookbooks are wonderful: direct, no nonsense or pretensions. My favorite: Party Food, a go-to for the best recipes and cocktail party menu ideas.
 
Lynda P. June 5, 2018
Barbara Kafka's Microwave Cooking was my introduction to her and my microwave. It was a marvel, an encyclopedia resource of hows and whats and marvels of recipes. In family and friends, I am the doyen of vegetable stews; Barbara made it all possible, beautiful and brilliant. I thank her and all who loved and took care of her. I hope she had a perfect stem of asparagus or perhaps a bit of garlic potatoes in her last days.
 
Nancy June 12, 2018
I also liked that she took the mw seriously for cooking, not just reheating. The Microwave Cooking and the Roasting book were the two most helpful to me. Learned much. Sad to see her go.
 
miamineymo June 5, 2018
I've long appreciated BK's common sense approach to cooking. Her microwave polenta was a revelation when I discovered it in the late 90s. R.I.P. to a true legend in my kitchen!