Roast Chicken with Salt and Vinegar

I think Roast Chicken with Salt and Vinegar is my favorite recipe ever. I’ve given it out more times than I can count, and I make it more often at home than any other single dinner thing. It comes from my daughter’s great-grandmother (whom I never knew) and I’ve never seen this recipe anywhere else. Everyone who makes this particular roast chicken makes a point later to tell me how good it is, and how often they make it since they first tried the recipe. It can be a fancy dinner or easy comfort food, and it couldn’t be simpler. You are going to love it.

All you do is put a whole chicken in a roasting pan, drizzle it with vinegar, and sprinkle a bunch of salt all over it. Then you bake it at 350° for an hour and a half.

No, really. That’s it. The skin comes out wonderfully crispy, the meat is perfectly juicy, the drippings make a terrific gravy if you want gravy, and you can do so many things with the awesome leftovers that I’m writing an entire cookbook about it.

Let’s talk components for a minute, though. There are a few dos and don’ts:

Cooking vessel–Do use something not too much bigger than the chicken, and it needs to have sides. You don’t want the drippings to spill or cook off. A small roasting pan, a brownie pan, a small casserole dish, a cast iron skillet, whatever your chicken requires is fine. I usually use a cast iron skillet unless I’m cooking two chickens, in which case I use a 9”x13” Pyrex dish.

Vinegar–Anything except balsamic. Balsamic vinegar has a high enough sugar content that it will burn. Other than that, use whatever vinegar is handy: white, apple cider, red wine, white wine, champagne, sherry, tarragon, rice . . . you get the picture.

Salt–I usually use regular Morton kosher salt, but, really, any old salt will do. Note that I never use my stash of the expensive fancy salt for this, because I’m too cheap for that.

Chicken–You can use chicken parts if you like, but they really need to be bone-in, skin-on. Boneless breasts will dry out. My friend Mara, who sometimes comments here, righteously turned me on to doing wings this way. (And I do love me a chicken wing!) Obviously, parts will likely need a shorter cook time. Wings notwithstanding, whole birds really do give the best overall results, and they yield the best drippings and most versatile leftovers. I have also had good luck cooking Cornish hens, a turkey, and even ducks this way.

Roast Chicken with Salt and Vinegar makes a fantastic dinner served with the traditional trimmings–mashed potatoes, gravy, cooked vegetables, etc. But we often enjoy a decidedly more casual approach. Sometimes I’ll carve up the chicken, put out some salad greens, a quick vinaigrette, and a baguette with butter, buffet-style. I might put the chicken over the salad with the vinaigrette. Often I do leftover or roasted vegetables, and have condiments for the chicken. I don’t know about you, but I always have a ridiculous array of condiments available for practically anything, and I love a good condiment on roast chicken. I tend toward chimichurri, pesto, chutney, or, lately, some sort of citrus relish. I also like Lea & Perrins White Wine Worcestershire. Kids are usually more interested in BBQ sauce or honey mustard on the chicken and Ranch dressing on the salad, and none of it touching. C’est la vie. Everyone’s happy, and it’s all good.

Peace, baby! And delicious, easy, happy, eating.