Roast Your Chicken With Lemon Curd For Tastier Results
Roasting a whole chicken can be intimidating, especially if it's your first time. It will put your culinary skills to the ultimate test, but once you have it down pat, you'll be fully equipped for feeding larger crowds.
According to MasterClass, there are certain steps to take when roasting chicken to get the ideal crispy browned skin with tender, juicy meat. First, brining the chicken a couple of days in advance is very important. Not only does a salty brine infuse the chicken, but this solution also helps flavor every part of the bird and manipulates the proteins for the meat to retain more moisture. If you add dairy to your brine, such as buttermilk, sour milk, or yogurt, this will help tenderize the meat even further. Next, seasoning the bird underneath the skin is just as important as the tops, as the flavor will penetrate into the meat more, with herb butter, marinades, or dry seasoning mixes being the best options. Lastly, you can wrap the wing tips in foil to prevent them from burning, or you can tie the legs together to allow them to brown more. Spatchcocking, or completely removing the backbone, increases the surface area of the chicken by making it flat for quick, even cooking.
While these tips will take you far in the roast chicken world, there's one typically sweet ingredient that's gotten some attention from TikTok that will take your next big chicken to the next level – lemon curd.
It adds caramelization and makes the chicken tender and juicy
NYTCooking posted a TikTok of cookbook author Ali Slagle demonstrating not only breaking down a whole chicken into spatchcock style but rubbing underneath the skin and the tops with lemon curd seasoned with salt and pepper. She adds water to a roast skillet and places the seasoned spatchcock chicken breast-side-up directly into the water. After roasting, you'll notice that the water turns cloudy as the chicken juices release while keeping the bird's moisture intact. This method requires no squeezing or zesting of lemons and adds a nice caramelization thanks to the sugar present in the curd. In fact, NYTCooking also states that the fat in the lemon curd helps keep the meat tender and juicy.
Food52 does something similar, but with bone-in chicken thigh pieces in a sheet pan-style dinner. They peel back the skins on the chicken thighs, coat them with lemon curd, and sprinkle with fresh chopped rosemary and Urfa Biber, a Turkish chile pepper known for its contrast of sweet, smoky, and sour flavors (via Food & Wine). Once the skins are back on top, they can be coated with more lemon curd and seasoned with salt and pepper. It can be placed in the oven with other vegetables for a savory yet slightly sweet, easy sheet pan dinner.
Watch out: This secret ingredient might have your guests begging for your roast chicken recipe, but whether you spill the beans – well, that's up to you.