Bonjour Roasted Chicken!

I have been cooking from the cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child's and friends and I've got to tell you, the french know how to cook! They must learn as small children that everything is better if you baste it in butter. Last night I made this very basic Roasted Chicken recipe for the 2nd time and it is amazing! It is the most moist, juicy, flavorful roasted chicken I have ever eaten, so I thought I would share the secret the french have known for years. If you have this cookbook, then you can take a look there, otherwise here is my version of how to roast a chicken the french way.

Ingredients

4-5 lb whole chicken
2 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs minced shallots or onion
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbs butter
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425. Wash chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towel. Melt 2 tbs butter and combine with 2 tbs olive oil. Brush butter mixture inside chicken, and sprinkle with salt. Now you need to truss the chicken. Here's what you need to do, find a large enough sewing needle (like carpet needle) that you can thread kitchen string (or any cotton type string) through it. At the hind end of the chicken pull the 2 sides of the opening to the body cavity together and stitch, next pull tail up and stitch through it. Next pull legs together and run a stitch through them and pull altogether to close the opening of the chicken. I find there is no "Wrong" way to do this, the object is to close the opening so that the chicken will steam inside. The french also tie the wings down, but I do not mess with that and it has not ruined the result. Now that the chicken is trussed, place on a rack in a roasting pan on it's side, and brush with butter mixture. Cook in 425 oven for 15 minutes, lower oven to 350. Set timer in 15 minute intervals and baste 1st with butter mixture, then when that runs out use pan drippings. The chicken will take approximately 1 1/2 hours to cook, so you need to cook 30 minutes laying on one side, 30 minutes on the other side, and the last 15-30 minutes with breast side up. Once chicken is cooked, take 4 tbs of the pan drippings and cook shallots in a frying pan on high to medium high (depending on your stove) until they have begun to soften and are lightly browned. Now add the chicken stock, cook at the same temperature as the shallots until the liquid is reduced by half (approximately 5-10 minutes) stirring (or shaking the pan) occasionally. Remove from heat and place butter in pan and swirl to melt. Check the flavor of the sauce and add salt and pepper if needed. Carve chicken and serve with sauce.

Enjoy!