Do You Bake or Roast Chicken?

by Jane
(Wellington, New Zealand)

Hi Chef,

Do you bake or roast chicken pieces? What's the difference?

Secondly, sometimes I get lovely dry crispy chicken pieces sometimes they were not. How to cook dry crispy(ish) chicken pieces?

Thanks in advance.

Jane


Chef Todd Says:
A dry convective cooking process in the oven uses hot air to cook. While "Bake" and "Roast" are used interchangeably, roasting is generally reserved for protein products. Roast Beef, Roast Leg of Lamb, Roast Chicken are examples. Pastry items are considered baked. This doesn't explain why a potato with the skin on is a baked potato, but peel it, cut into cubes, and they're roasted potato. Nor does it explain why a ham is baked and not roasted, so don't get caught on terminology too much.

To make the crispiest chicken, use the method I've suggested for chicken wings. You can emulate the effects of a deep fryer by quickly caramelizing sugars in the chicken, then finish by roasting completely. This works better with chicken pieces than a whole bird, but the principle is the same.

Preheat your oven as hot as it will go, 500f, and put a sheet pan in there too.

It is important to wash and thoroughly dry the whole chicken or pieces. Any leftover moisture will steam the item, preventing caramelization of sugars, the brown and crunchy effect you're looking for. Oil the chicken, season with salt and pepper.

When the oven and pan are screaming hot, put your chicken pieces or whole bird, skin side down on the hot pan. For a whole bird, lower the oven temp to 375f and continue roasting undisturbed. The high initial heat will give you more crispiness at the beginning than trying to overbrown and thus overcook at the end.

For chicken pieces like wings, put the pan on the top shelf of the oven to take advantage of the convective heat bouncing off the top of the oven. You'll need to turn and toss them from time to time, getting them nice, brown and crispy.

High and dry heat is the key to crispiness.

Chef Todd.