Slow Roasted Chicken

Adapted from the February 18, 2014 issue of Bon Appétit, where it appeared as “Herb Faux-Tisserie Chicken” by Carla Lalli Music

I have spent literally years searching for what is—to me—the perfect roast chicken recipe and tried all the usual suspects. Since what I want is juicy breast meat sliced for dinner the first night, and the rest of the chicken picked clean for chicken tetrazzini the second, high-heat cooking that results in a bird that is beautiful to look at but has dry breast meat doesn’t work for me. I struck gold when I found this recipe. This method produces tender meat that is delicious the first night and shreds beautifully for chicken tetrazzini the second.

2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon, quartered
1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
A few sprigs of fresh thyme (nice if you have it; I usually don’t in winter, but in summer it’s right outside in the garden)
1 4-pound chicken, preferably pasture raised—or at least the best one you can find

Preheat the oven to 300°F conventional or 275°F convection (what I do).

Coarsely grind the fennel seeds and crushed red pepper. I use a spice mill (really a small coffee bean grinder that I use for spices); you can certainly use a mortar and pestle. Combine this with the salt, pepper, and olive oil to make the spice mixture.

Stuff the chicken with the lemon quarters, both halves of the garlic head, and the thyme sprigs, if you have them. Rub the chicken all over with the spice mixture.

Place the chicken in your cooking pan. I use a 10-inch cast iron skillet with a shallow rack, but a rimmed baking sheet will do. Definitely avoid anything deep.

Bake until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165°F. This will take 2-1/2 hours (convection) to 3 hours (conventional). Allow the chicken to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.

Note: Instead of the fennel seeds and salt, I often use Fennel & Salt (Sale Marino & Finocchio) by Casina Rossa. It is a combination of sea salt, fennel, black pepper, white pepper, turmeric, oregano, curry, laurel, thyme, pimento, and juniper. It comes as a coarse mixture, but I blitz it in my spice mill and keep it in a jar with a perforated lid. If you like anise/licorice flavor as much as I do, it’s worth sourcing. I think it’s delicious on pork as well as chicken.