Aunt Annie would keep selected issues of certain cooking magazines that she’d refer to often. One of these was an issue of Fine Cooking Magazine. She’d folded the corner on an especially inspiring article by Lisa Weiss on cooking whole chicken.

When we think about cooking a whole chicken, we think about roasting the bird in the oven until the skin is golden and crisp, right? But Lisa explained that as a cook who has become somewhat bored with roast chicken (and on more than one occasion been disappointed by a dried-out bird), she wanted to explore some other options.

So, she asked three experienced chefs if they would share a favorite cooking method—beyond roasting—for whole chicken. She was hoping they’d have a technique that could turn out a tender, moist, full-of-flavor bird. Here’s what they shared with her:

Chef #1: Pam Mazzola of Prospect Restaurant in San Francisco, suggested cooking the chicken with spring vegetables, an elegant adaptation of a dish her grandmother used to make.

Her favorite technique is braising. Pam browns the chicken and then slowly cooks it along with aromatic vegetables, broth, and wine. The low heat tenderizes the chicken by slowly and gently breaking down the fibers in the meat, while the liquid in the pot helps keep it juicy. Pam browns the bird and sautés the vegetables separately, which creates a depth of flavor and richness that belies the dish's homey nature.

Pam says, “Browning the chicken before braising adds flavor and makes it look good, too. You want to sear it well on each side, turning it with a sturdy pair of tongs. The veggies, which are browned separately, are added to the pot after the chicken has cooked for a while in broth and wine. Use a spoon to distribute them evenly. Finally, you’ll love how the braising liquid, strained and then boiled to intensify flavors, makes a light sauce for the tender chicken and vegetables.”

Chef #2: Barbara Lynch likes to wrap a whole vegetable-stuffed chicken in buttery pastry dough. She envelopes an entire bird in a buttery dough to form a crust that allows the chicken to gently steam in its own juice, which is made even more flavorful thanks to an aromatic stuffing of rosemary, carrot, onion, and celery. Best of all, the dough bakes up buttery and flaky yet sturdy. It's scrumptious broken into pieces and eaten along with the chicken and vegetables.

Prepare your favorite stuffing (adding fresh, chopped vegetables) and stuff the well-cleaned cavity of your bird. Then prepare your favorite pie crust or pastry dough and wrap the chicken as you would a present. Put it on the dough breast side down and bring up each side of the dough, overlapping it. If there’s a lot of overlap, trip some away, then pinch the seams to seal.

Turn the wrapped bird over so seams are on the bottom and the breast side is up. Brush with egg wash to help create a beautiful golden-brown crust and sprinkle with salt to bring out the dough’s buttery flavor. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. You may need to tent the chicken if the dough is browning too quickly.

And Chef #3: Lidia Bastianich, renowned Italian chef, suggested a simple one-pot dish of perfectly poached chicken and vegetables that's served with a piquant and colorful salsa—Salsa Rustica.

Lidia submerges a whole chicken in a broth full of earthy and fragrant ingredients, including porcini, celery root, and fennel. She adds even more flavor by stuffing the chicken with lemon and garlic before wrapping it in cheesecloth, which keeps the aromatics inside the bird and makes handling it easier.

Her Salsa Rustica is made with capers, red onion, and fresh herbs, which provides the juicy yet pale chicken with a little color and a big kick of flavor. Here’s the recipe:

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    Alice Osborne
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
    Email the author! alice@dvo.com