By Pilar Viladas
- Total Time
- 2 hours 15 minutes
- Rating
- 4(136)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Here is a straightforward roast chicken recipe from the writer Laurie Colwin, who swore by simplicity — in the kitchen and in life. Not many people will take the time to stuff and truss a chicken, and Ms. Colwin famously abandoned the practice when she found her child making spider webs with her expensive trussing string. Try the trussing and stuffing sometime, though. A little time, simply spent, rewards with tender meat and a savory stuffing, an easy feast for a night at home.
Featured in: A Virtuoso of Enoughness
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 13- to 3½-pound chicken
- 3 to 4cups cubed whole-wheat bread
- ½cup porcini mushrooms
- ¼ to ⅓cup broth
- Salt and fresh ground pepper
- Paprika
- 1tablespoon olive oil
- 1tablespoon melted butter or water or broth for basting
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Combine bread and mushrooms in a bowl and toss with broth. Season to taste. Stuff chicken and secure with poultry pin or toothpick. Place in roasting pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Baste with olive oil. (If desired, surround it with carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic and a red pepper.)
Step
2
Roast for about 2 hours, basting frequently with melted butter and pan juices. The chicken is done when the leg bone wiggles and the skin is the color of teak.
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Cooking Notes
Ellen Serber
I lived across the street from Laurie Colvin during our high school years. She was a good friend. It always makes me happy to see her recipes in print.
Linda Criss
"The call comes as new figures show that 44% of people always wash chicken before cooking it – a practice that can spread campylobacter bacteria onto hands, work surfaces, clothing and cooking equipment through the splashing of water droplets."Jun 17, 2014
Tom
The USDA says, "Washing raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb, or veal before cooking it is not recommended. Bacteria in raw meat and poultry juices can be spread to other foods, utensils, and surfaces."
So, yes, it would be a favor to everybody to edit older recipes to reflect the new state of knowledge, since the bacterial situation of the modern chicken has fallen so far.
Mike Zatouroff
A practical point that may be relevant.... 50-90% of chickens sold in uK supermarkets are contaminated with Campylobacter and thus may be responsible for gastrointestinal infections.Unless the US has found some magic they probably are there too! Supermarket chickens here contain instruction nay orders even ... DO NOT WASH! So it may pay to be circ*mspect with the washing.
Annie
Are the porcini dry or fresh?
Maggie
This is similar to a recipe I tore out of the Oct. 1993 Gourmet magazine; though Colwin died a year earlier, she must have written quite a few recipes for the magazine before that. I LOVE that this one is still being shared 22 years later!
Marilyn Armbruster
This is so easy and is perfect every time. Everyone loves it.
Jack
It better be Fahrenheit. Won't be much chicken left if its Celsius.
Walter
Fahrenheit. Cut.
Patricia Garcia
absolutely uncovered, or it will not brown, and the stuffing is delicious!! enjoy!
MJ
Roast chicken is best with some kind of stuffing: it adds flavor and moisture to the bird.Some years ago I switched to stuffing chicken with either lemon or apple. It’s easy, and adds both moisture and flavor to the chicken. Salt and pepper, inside and out. Wash and cut fruit in half lengthwise, then stuff in the cavity. Tie the legs, roast per the recipe or as you prefer.BTW, add any herbs you like, and, yes, the fruit may not fit perfectly. Doesn’t matter: it will still be delish.
Cynthia
One of my favorite authors. Her books and recipes were a great comfort and help to me as a young mother, and still resonate today. I miss her voice.
Patricia Garcia
Unbelievable that no one tried the recipe, and are only concerned about campylobacter bacteria. I am 83yo and have never cooked a chicken that I didn't rinse well before. I cooked chicken (usually 3 per meal) for a family of 7 for many years and never killed any of them...didn't even make them sick. But, I was very practical, and cleaned my sink, hands, etc. before continuing to cook. Common sense is so uncommon these days. It's a shame you can't get past it, to cook this lovely chicken.
Pat
I am going to try this chicken, and yes I will be washing my chicken as I have done for over 50+ years before cooking. I am not contaminated anyone in all of those years. Each person does what is comfortable for them, I prefer to wash it.
Julia Childless
I have never understood trussing birds; this keeps the leg tight to the body and that’s the last place to be cooked through, and the tight clasp makes this take longer. Trussing is a mostly French device to make the bird look “nice” with no sprawl I think. If I have a HUGE bird I will loosely tie the ankles to make them stay straight up.Apropos on this subject: I am surprised at the number of people who never roast a chicken; One friend assured me that her market didn’t sell whole birds!
Es
Nice roast chicken but I prefer roasting at a higher temperature to get a crispier skin. I stuffed the chicken with a mushroom kasha mix and that turned out nicely and surrounded it with vegetables. The juices were delicious and the chicken was delicious, just not my favorite method.And I always rinse and then thoroughly dry the chicken, often I let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator overnight and then bring to room temperature before roasting. Hasn't sickened me yet.
Sabrina
Hi
Is the temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius ?
and if we add the veggies, should they be cut?
Thanx
S.
Jack
It better be Fahrenheit. Won't be much chicken left if its Celsius.
Walter
Fahrenheit. Cut.
Laurie Rollins
No way can one get 3 or 4 cups of bread into the cavity of a good chicken these days. So maybe some of it can just go in a separate pan to be mixed after the chicken is cooked?
Linda Criss
"The call comes as new figures show that 44% of people always wash chicken before cooking it – a practice that can spread campylobacter bacteria onto hands, work surfaces, clothing and cooking equipment through the splashing of water droplets."Jun 17, 2014
Tom
The USDA says, "Washing raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb, or veal before cooking it is not recommended. Bacteria in raw meat and poultry juices can be spread to other foods, utensils, and surfaces."
So, yes, it would be a favor to everybody to edit older recipes to reflect the new state of knowledge, since the bacterial situation of the modern chicken has fallen so far.
Annie
Are the porcini dry or fresh?
Walter
I have two questions: Do you think this is roasted uncovered? And is the bread-mushroom stuffing for eating or just for flavoring the chicken?
Patricia Garcia
absolutely uncovered, or it will not brown, and the stuffing is delicious!! enjoy!
Ellen Serber
I lived across the street from Laurie Colvin during our high school years. She was a good friend. It always makes me happy to see her recipes in print.
Maggie
This is similar to a recipe I tore out of the Oct. 1993 Gourmet magazine; though Colwin died a year earlier, she must have written quite a few recipes for the magazine before that. I LOVE that this one is still being shared 22 years later!
Joan
I remember reading those recipes and articles that were published after she died. She knew she was dying (of a brain tumour, I think?) and wrote all these wonderful pieces to be published after she passed. What a loss.
Susan
She did submit the articles in advance, but she did not know she was dying. She died of a heart attack.
Mike Zatouroff
A practical point that may be relevant.... 50-90% of chickens sold in uK supermarkets are contaminated with Campylobacter and thus may be responsible for gastrointestinal infections.Unless the US has found some magic they probably are there too! Supermarket chickens here contain instruction nay orders even ... DO NOT WASH! So it may pay to be circ*mspect with the washing.
Marilyn Armbruster
This is so easy and is perfect every time. Everyone loves it.
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