Audax of Audax Artifex was our November 2012 Daring Cooks’ host. Audax has brought us into the world of brining and roasting, where we brined meat and vegetables and roasted them afterwards for a delicious meal!
Wow! I had never brined anything before! I thought it would be hard and time consuming, but it was neither of the two! It was actually really easy and yes, it does take a bit of time, but it’s mostly “resting/soaking” time, so the only thing you really have to do is plan ahead. Being the first time, I chose to make a very simple brine, but Audax gave us great tips on how to add different flavours to brines, so make sure you check them out! I kept my chicken to soak overnight and then I kept it in the fridge to “dry” for a few hours to get a nice crispy skin. When I was ready to cook it, I just rubbed it with some herbs and spices and I put it into the preheated oven. That’s it. So simple! I also added some potatoes, pumpkin and carrots to roast along with the chicken. The result was amazing and this dish was a big hit with my family (girls and veggies included ;-P)! The chicken was so flavourful, moist and succulent… even the breast, which is always a bit dry, was perfect! And the skin was crispy and sinfully delicious! I think I will start to brine more often from now on, it does make a huge difference!
Thank you so much Audax for such a great challenge!
Roast Brined Chicken
Roast Brined Chicken - how to brine and then roast a whole chicken!
Ingredients
Simple Brine
- 1 lt – 4 cups cold water
- 70 gms – ¼ cup table salt or 70 gms – ½ cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
- 2 tbsp sugar optional – I used it!
- Peppercorns optional – I used it!
Roast Brined Chicken
- 1 Whole Brined Chicken
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 4 sage leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tbsp garlic powder
- ½ tbsp paprika
- ½ lemon juiced
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Ground pepper to taste
Instructions
Simple Brine
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Heat 1 cup of water to the boiling point, add the salt and sugar and stir until dissolved.
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Place the brine in a non-reactive container. Add the remaining water and stir. Keep aside until the brine has reached room temperature.
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Add your chicken to the brine. Make sure that it is completely submerged (I weighed it down with a clean plate).
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Cover the container with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 3 to 8 hours (or overnight) to soak.
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If desired you can air-dry your poultry (usually over night) in the fridge. This will ensure that you get crispy skin on your bird. You should also pat dry your brined chicken (inside and out) with paper towels before cooking it.
Roast Brined Chicken
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Discard the brine and dry the skin and the inside of the chicken with paper towels.
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If you desire crispy skin then leave the bird on a rack for several hours or overnight in the fridge so the skin can dry.
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Squeeze the juice of the lemon on the skin of the chicken and rub it with ground pepper, paprika and garlic powder.
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Drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil.
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Put the squeezed half lemon, garlic cloves, bay leaves, rosemary and sage in the chicken cavity. If you want, you can tie the chicken legs together with some kitchen twine.
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Roast in a preheated oven at 220°C – 425°F for the first 15 minutes, then decrease the temperature to 180°C – 350°F and roast for a further 12-15 minutes per 450 grams – 1 pound. Your chicken will be ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F – 84°C (or when the juices run clear when you pierce the chicken between the leg and thigh).
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Let it rest for approximately 30 minutes covered loosely in foil before serving it.
Recipe Notes
I served it with some potatoes, pumpkin and carrots that I dressed with salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. I added them to the chicken after about 30 minutes and let them cook together for the remaining time. They were delicious! 
oh wow. these chicken looks so good and love how simple the brine is made up of. all that time will totally be worth this chicken
Gorgeous roasted chicken! It looks like it was very delicious! 🙂
HI Manu, that looks extremely good, all of a sudden I feel like eating chicken… wonder where that comes from 🙂
Your chicken looks perfectly roasted! I may need to eat chicken tonight. Fabulous job!
This looks amazing, so golden and delicious! Great recipe!
The chicken looks delicious! Great job and beautiful pictures!
I’ve never brined anything either but I can imagine it would make it moist and plump. Quite intriguing.
Such beautiful photos and your plating of the dishes is perfection. I adore the gorgeous colour you got on your chicken skin. And I’m so happy that the first time brining worked out so well for you. Bravo to you on such a great result. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
I’ve always heard that you should rinse a chicken after brining it and before preparing it further for cooking. Did you find it was salty since you just patted it down? Looks DELICIOUS!
Hi Lauren! I was a bit worried too as I had never brined meat before, but I followed the directions to the T and it came out perfect! Audax did not mention anything about rinsing the chicken after brining it, so I didn’t… I only patted it dry with paper towels and air dried it in the fridge for a few hours, but I did not add any additional salt to it along with the other spices/herbs. In the end it tasted perfect! 🙂
Glad to hear it tasted just as great as it looks! I’ll have to try it out during the holiday season 🙂
This is definitely the most picture-perfct and delicious roast chicken that I’ve ever see – amazing job!
Your photos area amazing!
Looks delicious!
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The column at the left of the screen with Facebook Twitter, etc is very distracting and you have to read your recipes at the top as you scroll. I tried to delete it but failed?
I would enjoy your site more without having to jockey around that.
Hi Jesse
Thanks for your comment. There is a little arrow at the bottom of the column and if you click on it, the column disappears. I hope it helps! 🙂