Roast Chicken

A chicken butterflied flat so the whole skin faces the heat at once.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, about 1.6 kg
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon five spice powder
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed

Method

1. Turn the chicken breast-down and cut out the backbone with scissors, then press hard on the breastbone until the bird lies flat. FLAT IS THE WHOLE IDEA: every bit of skin now faces the heat at the same distance, which a trussed bird cannot manage.
2. Mix the salt, five spice and pepper and rub it all over, under the skin where you can get at it.
3. Leave it uncovered in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. The salt draws moisture out and it then goes back in seasoned, and the surface dries.
4. Heat the oven to 220C. Mix the soy sauce, honey, oil and garlic.
5. Sit the chicken flat on a rack over a tray and roast it 30 minutes without touching it.
6. Brush the honey mixture on and roast another 10 to 15 minutes, until the thickest part of the thigh reads 74C and the skin is lacquered. Brushed any earlier the honey burns.
7. Rest it 10 minutes before chopping.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes