ROASTED CHICKEN with PAN SAUCE

The Bird

Pan Sauce aka gravy

    
Never doubt it. This will make you a legend. Use a 10-inch cast iron skillet or one of those heavy10 to 12-inch aluminum saute pan/skillets they use in restaurants.


One 3- to 4-pound chicken
1 lemon and/or 1 medium onion, quartered
Kosher salt
About 1 hour before cooking the chicken, remove it from the refrigerator, and rinse it. If you intend to make a pan sauce, cut off the wing tips and add them, along with the neck if you have it, to the pan in which you will roast the bird.

Truss the chicken or stuff it with the lemon or onion, or both. (for minimal "trussing" just tie the tips of the legs together, you want to keep a lot of air from getting inside). Salt it and set it on a plate.
　
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees or 425 if you’re concerned about smoke. Set the oven on convection if that’s an option. Put the chicken in an oven-proof frying pan and slide it into the oven.
　
After 1 hour, check the color of the juices-poke it with a skewer or similar weapon. If they run red, return the chicken to the oven and check it again in 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 15 minutes before carving it. Carve the chicken and serve.

Rustic Sauce
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup white wine

Put the pan in which you have just roasted a chicken over high heat and cook any remaining skin for 1 minute or so. The juices will cook down and stick to the bottom of the pan. Pour off all but 1 or 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat if you wish. Add the onion and carrot and stir with a flat-edged spoon to coat the vegetables with the fat. Cook until the onion is translucent, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up the caramelized bits. Cook all the wine off (the fat will begin to crackle). Continue to cook until the onion and carrot are caramelized, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1 cup hot water, deglaze (scrape) the pan again, and let the water cook down completely. When the crackling begins, stir the onion and carrot until they become nicely caramelized. Add another 1 cup hot water and cook until reduced by about two-thirds.