Lemon-Thyme Roast Chicken

There are few things more satisfying than opening an oven and pulling out a bronzed, perfectly seasoned roast chicken. One of the best ways to get a crispy, nicely browned exterior on roast chicken is to rub or baste it with butter. Here, a simple mixture of softened butter, thyme leaves, and lemon juice is spread underneath the skin and then rubbed all over the surface. The result is a moist, thoroughly seasoned bird with crisp, deeply browned skin. Once carved, the chicken is then spooned with a delectable lemony pan sauce.

Butter helps brown the chicken in two delicious ways. First, once the water in the butter evaporates, the remaining fat helps conduct heat to the chicken's skin, making it crisp and brown. In addition to this, the milk solids in the butter are deposited on the surface of the skin, where they darken and brown as well, lending a toasty, caramel-like browned butter flavor to the bird.

A note on spreading the seasoned butter mixture under the skin: First, you must create a space for the butter by carefully working an index finger underneath the skin. For the breast, start from the neck cavity. Insert your finger gradually, taking care not to puncture the skin, and then sweep down the sides toward the wing joint and backbone. For the thighs, start loosening the skin at the gap between the bottom of the breast and the thigh. To add the butter, scoop the mixture onto a teaspoon, insert it in the pockets you have created and then slide the butter off by pressing with your finger on the outside of the skin as you withdraw the spoon. Then work the butter around by pressing it through the skin.