Nice looking dinner!

But bless the combi-steam oven! I get perfectly crisp skin, more evenly cooked because I butterfly before cooking, without any of the fuss and bother. You can do the same technique in a regular oven if you want to experiment. Roasting a chicken for me is a night off from cooking. :)

Cut out the spine and reserve in the freezer with the giblets for stock or whatnot. Spread the chicken open knees in the middle, wingtips tucked under. Brush on any sauce or dressing that has some oil and sugar. Lots of sugar, like most barbecue sauce will lead to char color (still good flavor, not burnt char tasting). Sprinkle with any extra herbs and spices you like. Put in a shallow stainless roasting pan (others are fine but may affect timing) on a bed of sliced onion, baby carrots or 2-3" carrot parts, and whatever other veg you feel like (some edges may get brown charred but tasty, not burnt-ish). Put in a half steamy oven at 360° F for an hour and a half (3.75-4.25 lb. bird). If you don't have a CSO, put a wide pan of water on a lower shelf.

Way too fussy for me too, but that's what you like to do. I don't eat the skin, so couldn't care less if it was crispy or not.

Spatchcock the bird, rub with jerk seasoning, and toss it on the grill over indirect heat. Can't be any easier than that.

Like CindyMac, I don't eat the skin, so could care less whether or not it's crispy. I did mine last week, it came out like this:

Technique? Toss chicken in roaster, stuff fresh herbs inside, whatever is in the herb garden that's green and sounds good. Sprinkle with salt, put bird in the oven at 350F, go away for an hour or so. Come back to roast chicken.

That said, you did make a beautiful chicken, dcarch. What is the white "stuff" on the peppers and tomatoes? Cheese?

Annie

Careful plllog, if it doesn't break like sugar glass when you cut into it you're going to be challenged on "crispy." I begrudgingly see his point.

Looks good, dc, obvious question, what's the heat source you're shoving in the bird?

FOAS, it wouldn't taste good if it shattered, but yes, very very crispy. Really. Cracklin's crispy but without the bubbling effect.

FOAS, for heating, I have tried two methods:

a. A heated thermal gel packs inside a food safe SV bag.

b. Electric 50 watt heater with PID temperature control inside a SV bag.

As I said, the whole deal sounds complicated, but I can't think of another way to have the chicken (turkey) cooked uniformly to about 140F - 145F very quickly and at the end with very crispy skin. If the bird is cooked, say in an 375F oven, there is no way that part of the meat will not be cooked at 212F. There is a big difference in juiciness between meat cooked at 212F and 140F.

But why is placing a heater inside the cavity takes a lot of work? Seems less work than deboning, spachcocking, trussing ----.

Crispy skin is very delicious, as in Peking duck. The reason why some of you don't eat chicken skin is because they are actually just browned, not crispy and very greasy. Even browned skin, not crispy is important aesthetically, otherwise why not just boil the bird?

dcarch .

Boiled chicken is icky, Dcarch, but steam poached is good, and one doesn't bother with having skin at all in that case.

Thanks for the explanation of your heat source. That makes better sense than what my imagination was thinking, and you're right, it's no more fuss than putting an apple in.

The bird does cook evenly when butterflied. Young chickens don't need to have the breast bone removed, which is the bother part of spatchcocking.

Re large turkeys, you're right that the appendages can get overcooked. Mine don't get dry, but they can get falling off the bone. Since I've given up stuffing, perhaps next time I make a whole large turkey, I'll stuff it with a gel pack. :) Couldn't hurt! OTOH, everybody loves the sous vide rolled and netted turkey (comes that way, skin on, bones off) and it's dead easy. :)