Plop it in the blue roaster....the roaster should not be too big for the bird or you won't get the nice skin...
but roasted with the lid on at 425 it will be browned and the skin crisp.
Linda C

Yes, my mother used to use one of those roasters and the chicken always came out delicious.

I usually lay some outside stalks of celery and/or thick slices of onion on the bottom of the roaster and put the chicken on them instead of using a rack.

Okey dokey! Off I go...thanks.

I'd leave the lid off. I've never roasted a turkey or a chicken with a cover.

No need for a rack either. I roast at 500F without a rack. Just give the pan a shake after the first 15 minutes to make sure the bird isn't sticking to the pan and then continue to roast until done.

Ann

Socks:

I put it right on the bottom of the Roasting Pan, with a 1/2 cup of water.

Been doing them, and Turkey's this way, for about 60 years.

Here is one Roasted in a Roasting Pan with a lid.
Like LindaC mentioned.

LOU

The color came out lighter,, then in my other PC.

Here is a Turkey done the same.It should be darker also.

I used to roast all poultry at a 325 until done, but now I use the high heat method. Like Ruthanna, I put veggies on the bottom (slabs of potatoes and carrots) instead of a rack. We fight over the camelized veggies when we remove the turkey. The carrots are especially delicious.

Oh, I never use a top. I would fear that the top would trap the steam and create a moist skin. This method leaves the skin crispy (until you refrigerate the leftovers, that is.)

Commom misconception that the lid on the roaster steams the bird....if it does the skin still gets crisp.
I do the lid off high heat too....but it takes a little more finesse, because if over done it's REALLY over done and if your oven isn't really clean it smokes like mad.
I cooked about a bazillion ( actually only about 8! LOL!) turkeys for a fund raiser at church. I did them on a Sunday morning so I could have volunteers to help cut them up. They were picture perfect....no rack, 425 with a lid.
Actually all weren't picture perfect...one was still too frozen when I put them in the oven and while beautiful on the outside, it was still underdone on the inside and had to go back into the oven.
The lid on gives you a larger window of "over cooked but not dried out". I always cook the Christmas turkey like that....because with family and presents, there have been times that the bird has been forgotten and cooked until the legs fell off....and the breast wasn't inedible.
Linda c

I also roast with the lid on sometimes, high heat with the lid off sometimes. They both work for me, and my bird even browns a bit in a Nesco electric roaster with a lid, for those times when I don't have the oven space for a turkey and all the other side dishes we want that need oven space.

I don't use a rack, although sometimes I put vegetables under the bird. When I do that, though, I don't make gravy from the drippings, because I don't like that flavor in the gravy. When I know I'm making gravy I just let the bird sit in the bottom of the pan.

Annie

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I haven't used a closed roasting pan ever since I found out about this technique. This has been posted several times here. The lemons inside give moisture to the breast meat so it doesn't dry out. It's easy and pretty foolproof. It makes even ordinary supermarket chickens taste good, and if you can get a free range chicken or some other special bird like that, it's spectacular.

Chicken with Lemons from Marcella Hazans Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Marcella sez: If this were a still life its title could be "Chicken with Two Lemons." That is all that there is in it. No fat to cook with, no basting to do, no stuffing to prepare, no condiments except for salt and pepper. After you put the chicken in the oven you turn it just once. The bird, its two lemons, and the oven do all the rest. Again and again, through the years, I met people who come up to me to say, "I have made your chicken with two lemons and it is the most amazingly simple recipe, the juiciest, best-tasting chicken I have ever had." And you know, it is perfectly true.

Ingredients
A 3- to 4-pound chicken
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 rather small lemons

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it. Pat it thoroughly and it dry all over with cloth or paper towels.
Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.
Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel. Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand. Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.
Place both lemons in the birds cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string. Close it well, but dont make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.
Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up. When turning it, try not to puncture the skin. If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later. Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.
Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 400 degrees, and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound. There is no need to turn the chicken again.
Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious. Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.
Ahead-of-time note: If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven. If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.

I roasted a chicken tonight, and it was good. Here's the process, it was quite simple.

- Used Marcella's lemonizing trick - peeled two lemons and stuffed them in the cavity. then used toothpicks to pin the chicken shut.

- With my fingers and a wooden spoon, separated the skin from the breast, then laid some bacon under the skin, all over the breast. This is sort of like larding with bacon, I guess.

- Pricked the skin in several places to help fat render out. Dried the chicken with paper towels and salted it all over.

- Placed in a half sheet pan, on a rack, breast down. Into oven pre-heated to 400F. Roasted for a bit under 2 hours. About 40 min in, turned the chicken breast up. About 1 hr 30 min in, basted with melted butter. The skin was golden brown.

- When thermometer inserted to the bone in the thigh joint read 170F, switched the oven to high broil for about 5 minutes. The breast skin went to medium brown.

- While the chicken waited on the counter, I scraped and poured everything from the pan into a bowl, poured and spooned off the fat, and made pan gravy with the rest plus about 1 cup of heavy cream.

The breast meat was juicy, not dried out at all, for which I think the bacon might get some credit. I prefer dark meat, but this white meat was good.

Ever since I learned about high heat roasting I pretty much use that method all the time for roasting chicken. I do use a meat thermometer, tho to make sure I don't let it get overdone. It always comes out moist and tender, with crispy skin.

Linda

My friend swears by roasting his chicken breast down for all but the last bit of broiling. The fat from the rest of the chicken basted the breast, says he. Anyone do this?

Okay, I roasted another chicken tonight. Instead of bacon, I cut off the fat that hangs off the cavity, diced it up and mixed with butter, rosemary, panchetta and salt. Stuffed that paste into the pocket between breast skin and breast meat. I read that method here. Dried the outside and dusted with salt and cornstarch. Limes and rosemary in the cavity, 400F for about 2 hours, basted twice with butter and, at the end, brushed honey on the breast and finished at 450F. The skin was medium-dark brown and very crisp, the breast meat was actually dripping with juice. But the pan sauce was not quite as tasty as the bacon-larded version. So I will work bacon into the next one.

Roast chicken is probably number one on my top ten list of favourite meals.

Nothing is better than chicken gravy. I want my gravy to taste like chicken so I never add bacon. I will stuff various herbs into the cavity, including fresh thyme, sage, parsley or rosemary. Sometimes a head of garlic.

I'll occasionally add a lemon but only if I'm not making a gravy to serve over mashed potatoes.

And for the last 15 years or so I've been roasting using Barbara Kafka's high heat method.

Ann

And here is Barbara Kafka's high heat method, from her great cookbook "Roasting":

Simplest Roast Chicken

5- to 6-pound chicken, wing tips removed
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
I lemon, halved
4 whole garlic cloves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)
1 cup liquid for deglazing (optional) : chicken stock, fruit juice, wine, or water

Place rack on second level from bottom of oven. Heat oven to 500°F.
Remove the fat from the tail and crop end of the chicken. Freeze the neck and giblets for chicken stock. Reserve chicken livers for another use.
Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the lemon, garlic, and butter, if using. Season the cavity and skin with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken in a 12 x 8 x 1 1/2-inch roasting pan breast side up. Put in the oven legs first and roast 50 to 60 minutes, or until the juices run clear. After the first 10 minutes, move the chicken with a wooden spatula to keep it from sticking. (Figure it will take a total of about 10 minutes per pound.)
Remove the chicken to a platter by placing a large wooden spoon into the tail end and balancing the chicken with a kitchen spoon pressed against the crop end. As you lift the chicken, tilt it over the roasting pan so that all the juices run out and into the pan.
To make a sauce, pour off or spoon out excess fat from the roasting pan and put the roasting pan on top of the stove. Add the stock or other liquid and bring the contents of the pan to a boil, while scraping the bottom vigorously with a wooden spoon. Let reduce by half. Serve the sauce over the chicken or, for crisp skin, in a sauce boat.

If there is no lemon, garlic, or butter on hand, roast the chicken without them. Or play. Use peeled shallots or a small onion, quartered. Add some leaves from the top of a bunch of celery, a couple of sage leaves, or a Bay leaf. Try a few juice orange or blood orange wedges. Vary the deglazing liquid to change the flavor of the gravy or to match what's in the bird. Basic Chicken Stock-or canned-is the starting point, but use part wine-whatever is left over, red or white-or a little vermouth. Make one third of the liquid orange juice if oranges are in the bird. This is not astrophysics. Have fun.

Hi, I am reviving this thread to ask a somewhat related question.

Suppose you were roasting a chicken, and wanted to also get tasty potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and yummy pan sauce out of the deal. While using only the single roasting pan. Can this be done?

Sort of like the ''pot roast'' concept with beef: a meat-starch-veg dish in a single pot. Except that you're actually trying to dry-heat roast the chicken, crisp skin and all, not wet-heat braise it. And the chicken drippings have a lot more fat than the beef juices.

I couldn't figure a way. Ended up roasting the chicken normally, bacon-larded and lemon-stuffed. Roasted the pot-veg in a separate pan. Poured off the chicken drippings, deglazed the rest and tranferred to a saute pan to make the pan sauce, simmered some mushrooms in the thickening sauce, chopped and crisped the bacon, assembled everything on the plate. Okay, that sure dirtied a bunch of cookware. I'd love a one-pan solution if anyone knows it.

Why couldn't you just put the potatoes and your vegetables of choice around the chicken and roast as usual? You don't need a lid. You will end up with both roast chicken and roasted vegetables.

The only reason I wouldn't do that is that I want the drippings for gravy and would rather cook the vegetables separately.

johnliu:
You were given one pan solutions. Go back and read the Threads.

Here is another one Baked in a waterless cooker w. lid.
Same as in my Post earlier.

I put all the veggies in with some water.
When done remove everything and use the juices for gravy.

The only other thing I can do is come out there and bake it for you. LOL!!!
LOU

I was (am) worried that the potatoes and vegetables would get too greasy from sitting in the fat of the chicken drippings. Maybe I could pile them on the V-rack with the chicken, but the pieces would fall through the rack. I could make a liner from perforated aluminum foil though . . .

Johnliu:
You worry too much !!!
They don't get greasy. The veggies cook great.

put all these in Chicken Soup ???
Live dangerous, on the edge, give it a try.
I'm sure you will like it.
LOU

I remember the earlier thread, now. Okay, I'll try to live a little, be less of a control freak, let it hang out and try roasting everything together, just once. It's going to feel so wild and crazy.