Okay, somebody wife me because I just made the most amazing chicken on this planet. Let’s go through how:

Ingredients:

• 1 Air-chilled chicken
• Salt
• Pepper
• Rosemary
• Butchers Twine

Directions:

1. Line a cookie sheet that will fit your bird with paper towel.
2. Unwrap your chicken and pat all the excess water off (including the cavity) with a paper towel, make sure you get it really dry!
3. Heavily salt your bird on both sides with coarse kosher salt and make sure to get the cavity as well! This will help pull excess moisture out of the bird and ensure you get crispy skin.
4. Season your bird with pepper and then cover and let it brine in your fridge on the cookie sheet with the paper towel for at least 12 hours but 24 is preferable.
5. After the brining is complete remove your bird and preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
6. Re-season your bird with salt, pepper, and rosemary. I also had fresh rosemary that I stuffed in the cavity but this is totally optional.
7. At this point you’ll need to Truss your chicken, honestly looking up a video on how to do this might be the best option but there is a quick explanation at the end of this post on how to Truss your chicken.
8. Let your bird rest out of the fridge for 1 hour (this will also give the oven time to preheat) before placing it in the oven.
9. The rule of thumb here is 20 minutes per pound but overall, you’re looking to get your chicken to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. My chicken was 4.3 pounds so I started at 1 hour and after that checked it with a meat thermometer every 10 minutes. You want to put your thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken to make sure it is fully cooked! My bird took about 70 minutes to cook.
10. When your bird has reached an internal temperature of 165 take it out of the oven, cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour.
11. Carve, serve and enjoy!

Trussing a Chicken

1. Cut a piece of butchers twine about 2 feet long.
2. Wrap the twine around the legs at the ankles pulling it together.
3. Slip the twine under each respective leg pulling it up the top of the chicken (near the wings) and then flip the chicken over.
4. Tuck the twine under the legs and tie it off at the neck.

Again I realize this is hard to understand how to do without a visual so I highly suggest looking up a video. Any standard trussing video should do.