Hold up - something savory on this blog? Yes, my friends, yes. But don't get too excited. I'll have you return your attention back to the title, where you shall see that this recipe is not so much as mine as it is Cody's.
Cody enjoys being in the kitchen just as much as I do - savory for him, sweet for me. I'll frost the cupcakes, he'll fry up the fish tacos. I'll roll out dough, he'll sear the steak. I'll whip up cookies, he'll cover a chicken in salt.
You get the idea.
He's the ying to my yang. We balance each other out really well in a lot of ways. I'm an organized freak, he leaves socks to mingle on the floor. I get anxious about new things, he isn't fazed. I come up with a plan, he wings it. See?
But back to this chicken.
I don't typically share too much savory recipes, but this one I just have to share. The photos aren't too great (hello, awful kitchen lighting!) but trust me when I say, the chicken makes up for it.
Behold, my friends, the world's juiciest chicken in the world. I'm not kidding.
Oolala - chicken nudez
This roast chicken tops all your favorite roast chickens.
How?
With salt. Lots and lots of it. 7 cups of it to be exact.
Salt or snow? You decide!
Essentially, you cover the entire chicken in salt. It becomes a chicken snowball. Then you cook the chicken. The salt hardens around the chicken, closing in every juicy drop of moisture.
Once cooked, you crack off that salty exterior and dig in. You get the juiciest, most flavorful, most amazing roasted chicken you have ever tasted. I'm seriously not kidding you.
When you roast it this way, the one thing you don't get is the golden crispy skin. If you're a big skin fan, I bet you could put it back into the oven once the salt is off to crisp the skin up, but honestly? The skin isn't missed. We tend to remove it entirely (as it tends to be salty!).
Cody is good at mastering things. He has a handful of favorite recipes he likes to make when it's his turn to cook and since he makes them time and time again, he masters them. I can't complain. I have dubbed his fish tacos as the best I've ever eaten and now I can say he makes the world's best chicken!
Cody's Salt Encrusted Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 3-4lb chicken
- 7 cups kosher salt
- 12 egg whites
- 1-2 lemons, quartered
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- seasonings of your choice
- twine
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line roasting pan with tin foil for easy clean up.
- Mix 7 cups of salt with 12 egg whites until combined.
- Spread roughly 1/3 of your salt mixture down on the tin foil lined roasting pan for chicken to sit upon.
- Prepare your chicken. Remove all gizzards from chicken and rinse with cool water. Pat dry.
- Stuff chicken with as many lemon quarters and garlic as you can fit (or like - garlic is a personal thing).
- Sprinkle your seasonings of choice over the chicken and rub them to ensure they stick (we used lemon pepper here).
- Place chicken into pan on top of bed of salt.
- Use twine to tie the feet together. This is also when it's a good idea to insert your thermometer if you have one that stays in while cooking like we do!
- Carefully cover the entire chicken in salt mixture, pressing lightly to adhere.
- Once chicken is covered, place into oven and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours (or until thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 165 degrees).
- Using the back of a big spoon (or knife), tap the now hardened salt to loosen it and remove the crust in chunks. Discard.
- Carve up your chicken and devour like a cave man.
