JACQUES PEPIN’S BASIC ROAST CHICKEN

Jacques Pepin’s Basic Roast Chicken

JACQUES PEPIN

• YIELD
4 servings

• TIME
55 minutes

Changing a meal’s status requires more than a change of name, but not much more. Roast chicken is still roast chicken whether you label it haute cuisine, bourgeois cuisine or country cooking; even calling it “poulet roti” will not transmogrify this simple bird. Move, however, from the kitchen to the dining room and from everyday dishes to fine china, then add an appetizer and dessert, and a family meal becomes a festive dinner for guests.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3 1/2-pound chicken

• Salt and ground pepper to taste

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PREPARATION

1 Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with the salt and pepper and fold the wings akimbo to position them closer to the body. Place the chicken on its side in an oven-safe skillet, preferably cast-iron.

2 Place the chicken in the skillet in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, then turn the chicken over and cook another 20 minutes. (By cooking the chicken on its sides, the juices stay in the breast and, since only the back is exposed, the chicken does not need constant basting.) Finally, turn the chicken onto its back, baste it with the cooking juices and continue to cook 10 minutes. It should be golden in color.

3 When the chicken is cooked, cut it into pieces and serve, with the drippings on the side.