The Best Roast Chicken You’ll Ever Eat

This is the simplest, best roast chicken. I got the recipe from the NYTimes cooking section, but I modified it and added the gravy recipe.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp salt (if you have access to herb salt or dried mushroom salt use that--it'll be even better)

Preparation:

1) Put a big cast-iron skillet in the oven while preheating to 400 degrees. While this is heating, dry the chicken with paper towels then rub with olive oil and salt and pepper.

2) When the oven reaches 400 degrees, take the skillet out and drop the chicken breast-side up in the pan. Roast for 45-60 minutes

3) Remove the pan when done and tip the chicken so that all the juices flow out of the cavity and into the pan. You’ll be using this to make the gravy. Transfer the chicken to a platter and then move on to the gravy.

Gravy

Ingredients

Roast chicken drippings

Cornstarch

Broth

Preparation:

Take the cast iron pan and place it on low-medium heat. Add in about 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch and, depending on the amount of liquid in the pan, a little bit of broth. Mix and turn up the heat to bring to a boil. Simmer the gravy for a bit to thicken it up. Adjust with broth and cornstarch to thicken or increase the amount. Sometimes I add garlic powder and onion powder if I feel like living on the edge. Also, adding in some chopped chicken giblets can also add some depth to it. I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard adding in some white wine can also be nice. Once the gravy is as thick as you want it, scoop it onto the chicken and go to town!