I am going through a real roast chicken phase at the moment. Roasting whole birds in my weber is my preferred method but this time I have gone back into the kitchen. This dry rubbed roast chicken will be the tastiest, moistest chicken you have tasted. The idea came from noblepig.com and involves dry rubbing the chicken in advance and then basting it every 15 minutes with a wet marinade.

Notes:

• If you’re doing this for dinner I recommend getting the dry rub on the chicken at least that morning or the night before and leaving uncovered in the fridge.
• Cooking time will vary on the size of the bird so cook to internal temperature and not time.
• The basting sauce can be knocked up just before the roasting stage.
• I keep my basting brush clean in between basting cycles by rinsing it under running water and then letting it stand in boiling water.

You will be:

1. Preparing the chicken.
2. Cooking the chicken.
3. Serving.

You will need:

• Ingredients:
  • PK’s Dry Rub – Chicken #1
  • PK’s Basting Sauce – Chicken #1
  • a whole chicken, split down the middle
•  Equipment:
  • a chopping board
  • a large meat cleaver or similar
  • a tray or dish to let the chicken marinade
  • a basting brush
  • an oven tray with a rack

Steps:

Preparing the chicken.

1. Split your chicken down the middle (or ask your butcher to do it).
2. Flatten each side a bit with your hands.
3. Sprinkle the dry rub all over, inside and out and work it in to every nook and cranny.
4. Then pop it back into the fridge for at least the best part of a day.

Splitting the chicken:

Work in those spices:

 Cooking the chicken

1. Place the chicken skin up on an oven rack. I had to improvise with a biscuit cooling tray and my wife was not amused :).
2. Give the skin side a good basting and cook for 15 minutes at 195C in a fan forced oven.
3. Flip the sides, baste again and cook for another 15 minutes.
4. Repeat this process until the meat is cooked through.

The rack helps with the air flow for even cooking:

Done and it looks like a bought one:

Serving

I simply quartered the sides of chicken and then served with a nice green salad.

I am so lucky as only I like the legs and wings in my family:

Enjoy,

PK