My first attempt at roasting chicken didn’t turn out well—I rinsed the bird in the sink and oiled and seasoned it while it was still wet. The result was less than ideal. Then I got my first cookbook, Appetite by Nigel Slater, which is praised for its straightforward and comforting recipes. It taught me how to roast chicken more effectively and introduced me to the technique of stuffing herb butter between the skin and the breast. Plus, cooking potatoes and onions underneath the chicken provided a convenient side dish.
As I gained more experience, I learned various techniques like dry brining, wet brining, butterflying, and chilling the chicken before roasting. Roast chicken became a staple in my cooking repertoire, and I can consistently produce a golden, crispy, and juicy result. However, I still sometimes find that the chicken breasts turn out a bit dry.
I usually roast my chicken breast-side up, as most recipes recommend. This position exposes the skin to direct heat, resulting in a golden, crispy exterior. However, since chicken breasts are lean, they can easily become overcooked and dry out. That’s why I was interested when I heard some cooks advocate for roasting the chicken breast-side down. (Visually, it looks like a lineman in a football huddle.)
The idea behind this method is that the fat from the thighs and legs drips onto the breasts, which cook more gently while being nestled at the bottom of the pan, helping to keep them moist.
To test this technique, I roasted a chicken using my preferred method: salting and air-drying it in the fridge, bringing it to room temperature, trussing it, and cooking it with ample salt in a 450°F oven. Even though it felt unconventional, I placed the chicken breast-side down on the pan for the experiment.
I wanted to see if this method would result in moister breasts, how it would affect the rest of the chicken, and whether I could accept missing out on crispy skin on the chicken breasts.