The Best Chicken ever!

Combining Thomas Keller’s roasted chicken brine with cooking on a rotisserie on the big green egg made the most sublime chicken !

During Covid-19, I bought a few chickens and decided to perfect the roasted chicken.

Brining or not has been a big question for many, including me. Well, it really depends on what kind of time you have. To me, air drying is more important. An infused brine does add a lot of extra flavor and moisture to the chicken. However, once the brine is removed, it takes a good few days for the chicken to air dry. Planning a feast in advance for good friends… YES, brine and air dry your chicken! But if you don’t have enough time to brine and air dry the chicken, skip the brining and salt the chicken well, inside and out as soon as possible and put it on a drying rack in the refridge. It’s best to do at least the day before.

This chicken is Thomas Keller’s Master Class recipe

Brine and air dry the Chicken

Above are two chickens I cooked. Both in the same brine recipe from Thomas Keller, one of my favorite renowned chefs. The first one was air dried longer and was cooked on my JoeTisserie on the Big Green Egg. The other was roasted in the oven on a bed of root vegetables, a Thomas Keller Recipe from his Master Class. The rotisserie chicken was far superior! I think the vegetables from Thomas Keller’s recipe were fantastic with the beautiful chicken drippings falling onto them. And they were perfectly cooked. But the chicken itself was better when cooked separetly. And… well… I love the Big Green Egg which added a tiny smoked flavor! The first thing is to brine the chicken. Here’s Thomas Keller’s ingredients.

Thomas Keller’s brine ingredients:

5 lemons, halved
6 bay leaves
1/2 bunch parsley
1 bunch thyme
1/4 cup honey
1 head garlic halved through the equator
1/8th cup black peppercorns
1 cup kosher salt
1 gallon water

Heat it all together until the salt dissolves. Then refrigerate until cold. Add chicken and brine for 24 hours.

Air drying is essential!

When you take the chicken out of the brine, shake as much water off and put it on a rack in the refrigerator with as much air around it. It needs to have air circulating around it. Not everyone has a commercial refrigerator like Thomas Keller. He suggested two or three days for drying. I found in a normal refrigerator it takes four days of air drying for it to be appropriately dried.

Thomas Keller’s recipe uses clarified butter which browns the chicken perfectly, both on the rotisserie and in the oven. Because I was in the garden trimming some herbs earlier, I flavored mine with rosemary and thyme sprigs and bay leaves fresh from the garden, plus a smashed garlic. I didn’t want to actually have the herbs on the chicken because they just burn, so I heated them with the clarified butter, then let it sit for a few hours. This enhanced the flavors but did not overpower the chicken.

infused Clarified Butter

1/3 cup clarified butter
large rosemary sprig
a couple of thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
one large garlic clove or two small smashed

Melt butter with herbs and garlic early in day. Do not boil, just melt the butter and let herbs infuse for a few hours.

Roasting the chicken

Baste the entire chicken with the infused butter. The butter should be melted, but not hot.
Salt the chicken with medium course salt on top of the butter.

While preparing your chicken, preheat your grill to 400°F. After buttered and salted, put it on the rotisserie (or just on the rack high above the coals if you don’t have a rotisserie). After about 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and cook for about an hour. Check the internal temperature in the thickest part of thigh after 40 minutes. Once it reaches 165 degrees, take out and rest uncovered for 30 minutes.

Or cook it In the Oven

If roasting in the oven, preheat to 475°F. Roast for 25 minutes, then reduce to 400° for another 30-45 minutes until the temperature registers 160°F. I originally followed Thomas Keller’s Recipe from his Master Class. He put the chicken on a bed of root vegetables as seen below. Rest for 30 minutes.

Timing - 5 days before:

Brine chicken for 24 hour.

Air dry chicken for 4 days.

Rest chicken at room temperature for 3 hours before cooking.

Prepare herb butter and pre-heat grill or oven.

Cook approximately 40 minutes

Rest 30 minutes.

Roasted Chicken Recipe on the Big Green Egg Rotisserie