My Christmas gift to you, my readers: a recipe!
I decided that for our Christmas meal, we would eat something high in protein and flavor. We’d already done turkey and beef tenderloin at Thanksgiving, so those were out. Fish didn’t seem Christmasy enough, and pork just doesn’t have enough protein bang for the calorie buck, so chicken it was. I decided to buy a roasting chicken (larger than your average bird at about 5-6 pounds instead of 2-3) so that we could eat on it the rest of the week, and have the carcass left over for me to make stock/soup out of later on.
This was seriously the best chicken I have ever made in my entire young life. It turned out so moist and flavorful that I am pretty sure I will not roast chicken any other way ever again. I mean, I’ll still make barbecue chicken legs, but this…for a whole bird? It’s a great way to make it.
The secret to the moist meat? The brine. Brining a chicken is one of the best ways to ensure that it stays moist through the roasting process. Since you’re roasting at a high temperature, the brine will help break down the muscle fibers in the meat, loosening them up so they trap water inside. This helps keep the meat moist despite the high cooking temperature.
So here’s how I did it.