FOOD NEWS
The Clever Trick For Chicken Drumsticks That Roast Evenly In The Oven
BY JOHN TOLLEY
While cooking chicken drumsticks in the oven, its cudgel-like, uneven shape can lead to uneven cooking. To solve this, let your drumsticks hang for all-around heat exposure.
When laid on a sheet pan, drumsticks slump to a side and make poor contact with the air and the pan's surface. Hot air struggles to get around them, and the skin remains limp.
Instead, hanging the drumsticks gives them a near-perfect heat exposure from all angles, and the skin acquires an effortless crisp while the meat gently cooks and bastes itself.
First, take out the oven's top rack, as you'll hang the drumsticks from this structure. You may also need to move the other racks lower or even remove one of the middle racks.
Season the poultry as usual. If the bars of the oven rack are close enough together, simply slide the small, knobbed ends of the drumsticks through.
If the bars are too wide, add a wire baking rack with narrower gaps over the oven rack, or use butcher's twine to tie the drumsticks to the rack before sliding it back in.
A bonus of this technique can be found in the drip pan below. Fill it with vegetables and potatoes that baste in the chicken fat as they roast along with the drumsticks.