This week, I am starting with your run of them mill roasting chicken.

The first step is to find a pan that will adequately fit your chicken… This Pampered Chef Deep Dish Baker looks just about right.

I remove the inside and toss them… Many people use these contents in gravy or stuffing, not me.

I then start to build a rack in the bottom of my pan. I suppose I could use a pan with a rack, but this is a delicious solution to not having a rack!

Crush up some garlic.

Add the garlic in.

Add on olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt.

I know a lot of people say you don’t need to wash your chicken, but I always do, and then I dry it up. The next few steps require the skin to be dry.

Next we will work on stuffing the chicken. Now, you really shouldn’t use actual stuffing to stuff your chicken as it will take you double time to cook it and the outter limbs of the chicken will be over cooked while the breast stays raw…. My point is it leads to uneven cooking and the stuffing rarely will get cooked all the way through. But I do like to put some things in that have moister and flavor.

So I start with some onions. Just a couple.

Then some lemon slices.

Again, we don’t want to over stuff, but some liquid in the cavity will help to keep the chicken moist.

Then take some more of that crushed garlic and pop it in there.

Add those lemons to the bottom rack too.

I like to keep fresh herbs on my windowsill. I find this to be much more economical than buying them each time I need them. Not to mention they are pretty.

So we will need Rosemary and Tyme.

Don’t forget that everything you do to the bottom cavity needs to also be done in the neck cavity.

I have a pretty large chicken and so I will use this entire amount. But if you want to prepare this ahead of time to use with your Thanksgiving turkey or just so you don’t have to repeat this stem… you can just roll it into a log, wrap in wax paper and freeze, then use what you like. Compound butter is great on steak, veggies, egg noodles, you name it!

I will start by putting some in each cavity.

Then the best way to really infuse the flavor into the meat of the chicken, your best bet is to go in under the skin. Gently lift the skin and you may need to gently separate the skin from the breast with your fingers. (be aware of rings you may have on)

And then take some butter and work it up under the skin.

Continue spreading the skin as you add it in… Then once it is in, it can be smooshed around from the outside of the skin.

Next, I fold in the winds.

You want to pin it down behind the bird.

This helps with even cooking. Some people like to also tie up the legs, I find that leads to longer cooking time.

Add in some of the compound butter to the rack.

Once you have butter under the skin, its time to slather it all over the outside. This is why it is really important to have dry chicken. Butter won’t stick to water.

Place your chicken on your rack and add in your last addition. There is a lot of moisture with the onions and lemon, but that isn’t enough. The last addition is some dry white wine. Be sure the wine you use is a decent drinking wine. This will flavor your chicken as well as keeping it moist.

I like to cover with some foil… but in order to do that and not have it stick, I spray my foil with cooking spray.

I am covering lightly as you can see. I like the hot air circulating. Remove the foil for the last 30 minutes of cooking to brown skin.

Baste chicken throughout the cooking process. When the temperature in the deepest part of the breast comes to between 160°F – 165°F, you are ready to take the chicken out of the oven and cover immediately with foil for 15 minutes or so.