The Big Mess of the Zuni Cafe Chicken

I've been roasting chickens since I had my oven recalibrated. After hearing a lot about Zuni Cafe's roasted chicken, I decided to give it a try. The recipe uses a very different method than the other roasted chicken recipes I've made or seen - it calls for salting the chicken and letting it sit in the fridge for at least a day. At first, I was worried that the salt would draw out all the moisture from the chicken, but it didn't! It acted more like a dry brine. The chicken breasts came out very moist, the best I've had. Unfortunately, that came at a price...



...as you can see from the splatters all over my oven door, my (relatively new and what was spotless) oven did not like the recipe, which called for roasting the chicken at a high 475 degree. The grease from the chicken splattered in every direction as it dripped into the roasting pan.


Well, that is the last time I will ever roast a chicken at such high heat. Thank goodness we have a self cleaning oven (hubby's one requirement when we were oven shopping) and windows in the kitchen for ventilation (my requirement when house hunting).