Food52
How to make a roast chicken with delicious juicy legs and soft breast meat? The problem with roast chicken is that the breast is done when the meat is 80 C but no more, and the legs are done when they are 95 C or above. If you put the entire chicken in an oven of 220C how are you going to get these two different temperatures right? The authors of the book cook & chemist did all the experimenting for me, I just had to test it for myself. They suggest that you tie a bag of ice cubes on the chickens breast (be careful the ice does not touch the legs, secure this with some kitchen paper) and leave it outside of the fridge for one hour. This way, the temperature of the breast will become lower (3 C) than the legs (15 C). You place it, breast up, on an oven tray; this way the tray can transfer more heat to the legs. The last tip is to place the tray not in the middle of the oven but a little below the middle so the legs will feel more heat from below and the breast is further from the upper heat (this only works with if you have an oven with upper and lower heating).
