-
Prep time
12 hours
-
Cook time
1 hour
-
Serves
4 to 6
Author Notes
As I was slicing into this chicken, I suddenly remembered this story: one day my daughter excitedly said to her preschool teacher “Guess what? Chickens have a game inside them and it’s called a wishbone! Wishbones are good because you can make wishes on them.” The teacher said “I’ve played the wishbone game before with my mom. Did you cook the wishbone first?” My daughter replied “Yeah, we had to cook the wishbone and then the game is better … way better!”
To cook those wishbone chickens, I use the tube insert of my tube pan, which settles neatly inside my 9 inch cake pan. Cooking it standing up means I don’t have to turn the bird this way and that during the roasting to get a nice crispy skin. The chicken itself is inspired by a restaurant in Carmel (now replaced by a chain restaurant) that served a succulent rotisserie chicken with a flavorful herb butter. Does a perfectly roasted bird need such an embellishment? Some may argue not, but all I can say is that I have never forgotten that dish and often long for that butter while eating other perfectly fine roasted chickens. - monkeymom
You can vary the herbs to what you prefer. Chervil, thyme, lemon zest, cayenne, etc. One bird, many options for flavoring.
—monkeymom
Test Kitchen Notes
This recipe with its unassuming 5 ingredients caught our eye for its use of simple techniques to achieve a flavorful bird with crisp skin. Monkeymom has thought a lot about roasting chicken: she has you tuck shallots and butter under the skin, season the bird and then let it rest in the fridge, uncovered, for 8 hours. The butter keeps the meat moist and the air-drying in the fridge ensures a crackly skin. She also came up with an ingenious way to replicate the verticle roasting in "beer can chicken," in which the chicken sits on top of a beer can while it grills. For her brilliant adaptation, she sets the chicken on the tube part of a tube pan. The verticle positioning allows the fat to drip off the bird while it cooks, and we think it does a great job of helping to cook the bird evenly, as every part is equally exposed to the oven heat. And did we mention that the finished bird is then served with an herb butter? Herb butter gets us every time. —The Editors
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
- For the wishbone chicken
-
3 1/2 pounds
chicken
-
2 tablespoons
softened butter
-
1
shallot, sliced thinly
-
1 tablespoon
salt and pepper
- For the herb butter
-
1/4 cup
softened butter
-
1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
-
1 teaspoon
finely minced parsley
-
1 teaspoon
finely minced chives
Directions
-
Wash and dry chicken. Using your hand, spread softened butter under skin on breasts, especially the part near the neck. Put shallots under skin all around. Sprinkle pepper, then salt the bird very generously all over. The key to a crispy skin is a dry bird, plenty of salt, and a hot oven. Place in refrigerator, uncovered, for 8 hours to overnight.
-
For herb butter, soften the butter and add the other ingredients. Mash with fork to mix thoroughly, then scrape into saran wrap. Wrap up the butter to form a tube and chill in refrigerator.
-
To roast chicken, preheat oven to 400° F. Use only one rack, placed in the bottom slot of your oven.
-
Place chicken feet side down on tube insert that is placed into a 9-inch cake pan. This forms a stable base that will catch the drippings without leaking out. Tuck wing tips behind the neck and pull the legs out to separate them from the breast. This helps them cook a little faster so the breast won’t dry out. If the skin has torn or is short, you can use a toothpick and pin it to the bottom end of the breast. Place the bird into oven and roast for 55 minutes (my chicken was a little under 4 lbs and was cooked perfectly at this time.)
-
Remove nicely browned chicken from oven. Let rest on tube while preparing the rest of your dinner.
-
Slice legs from bird, then carve breasts from bones. Be careful not to cut the wishbone, which is near the neck cavity on the front top of the breast! I’ve disappointed my kids many times by accidently breaking the wishbone prematurely. Pick off the goodies from the rest of the bird and share them with your favorite helper(s).
-
Slice the herb butter and serve with the carved chicken. A little dab of butter on the chicken goes a long way.
-
Play wishbone game.
My favorite distraction is to cook. Though science and cooking/baking have a lot in common, I'm finding that each allows me to enjoy very different parts of my life. Cooking connects me with my heritage, my family, friends, and community. I'm really enjoying learning from the food52 community, who expose me to different ingredients and new ways to cook.
See what other Food52ers are saying.