Never Fail Roast Chicken – serves 4

1 – 4 lb. or 5 lb. chicken

2 tbsp. freshly crushed fresh black pepper

2 tbsp. sea salt

2 tbsp. freshly crushed fennel seeds

2 tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes

4 springs thyme

This is a never fail recipe for people who never like to fail.   And since most Americans eat chicken at least three times a week, you need to learn how to make it taste irresistible at your dining table so you can have your chicken in the bedroom.   That’s called dessert.

 Start with a 4 lb. or 5lb. chicken.    If you can, try to buy a chicken that’s been “air-chilled” – it will taste a lot better than the ones that aren’t.   Most importantly, try not buy chicken that’s been frozen, or it will end up tasting like cardboard.

For those of you who have never bought a whole chicken before, and there are some who haven’t, inside you’ll find a little bad with the neck, gizzards and heart.  If you have a dog or cat, the gizzards and the heart make a great little treat – just throw them into the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes and watch your pet go wild.

Preheat you over to 400 degrees.   Now even though the chicken has been covered in plastic, you need to wash it and dry it thoroughly to make sure it’s squeaky clean both inside and out.   Next, throw some salt and pepper into the cavity.  

Here’s where it gets fun.   Take a mortar and pestle and separately grind the pepper, fennel seeds and the red pepper flakes.  (The red pepper flakes won’t grind down too much, so don’t worry your pretty little head off – you want the spices a little chunky).  If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a spice grinder, but try to resist pulverizing them into a powder.  Put all those spices together along with the salt and cover the entire bird with the mixture. 

Place your chicken in a roasting pan and pop it into your preheated oven.  A 4 lb. bird is going to take an hour to cook.  A 5 lb. bird will take about 15 minutes longer.  If you have a meat thermometer, mine is attached to me at all times, stick it deep into the thigh...yes, the thigh... and take the chicken out of the oven when the thermometer reaches 170 degrees.    If don’t have a thermometer, prick the chicken with the knife in the thigh and see if juices run clear.  If you’re seeing blood – it’s not done. 

Take the chicken, place it on a cutting board and wait for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it.   The waiting is good because you know all those juices and spices sitting in your roasting pan?...  Well, you’re about to make some gravy.

Roasting Pan Gravy

Hmmmm… I love making gravy.   Some gravy recipes use corn starch as a thickener.  However, there is a concern among a lot of chefs that corn bi-products, like corn starch and corn syrup, cause obesity and even cancer.  So we're going to hedge our bets and use flour here.

Take 1 1/3 cups of white wine and whisk in 2 tbs. of flour until all the lumps have disappeared.  If the lumps aren't cooperating, simply strain the mixture through a strainer.   Then put your roasting pan over a stove burner set on high and reheat than pan until hot but not smoking.  Quickly whisk in the wine/flour mixture scraping all those great fat chips up from the bottom of the pan.  The gravy should thicken up rather quickly.  Taste it to see if it needs more salt then spoon over over chicken. 

I like serving this with Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes and crusty sourdough bread.   If you're lucky your date will ask you for more.  It's up to you what you give them.  I'm just sayin'.  Click here.