A good one for a long afternoon, I’ve made this chicken twice now, and will make it again! It’s moist, just a bit spicy, and generally quite delicious! It would probably be easier if you happened to have a second person around at the start, just to handle things while your hands are all chicken-y, but with a bit of soap you can get through it yourself, then have a nearly all hands-free 3 hour cooking time, followed by a great meal! The potatoes and chicken are covered in sauce, and over the 3 hours the juices from the chicken run down to help flavor the potatoes even more.

Ingredients:

• 1 3 1/2 – 4 pound whole chicken (I did a 5 1/2 pound chicken the second time because that’s what was available, and because it cooks slow and low, it was still cooked through. Just check with a meat thermometer that it’s reached 165* and you’ll be fine!)
• 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1 3/4 teaspoons Morton kosher salt, plus more (different salts have different sized crystals, which leads to a different saltiness taste!)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons gochujang
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 whole heads of garlic
• 1 1/2″ piece fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes, or a mix of small potatoes and other root vegetables, cut to approximately 1 1/2″ pieces
• 1 lime
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 5 scallions

Make sure that you’ve got a rack in the middle of your oven, then preheat to 300 degrees.

Line a cutting board or rimmed baking sheet in foil for easy cleanup, then put the chicken on it and dry with paper towels. Season all over, and inside, with the salt and some freshly ground black pepper. That’s the part that requires the most hand washing if you’re doing it alone!

In a medium bowl, whisk together the gochujang and 1/4 cup olive oil. Remove 3 cloves of garlic from one of the heads, peel them, and grate them into the oil mixture. Peel the garlic and grate it in as well. Whisk together well.

Cut the remains of the garlic head, and the entire second one, in two, cutting the top off the bottom, rather than a side from the other side.

Place two of the halves into the cavity of the chicken, then tie the legs together with kitchen twine. If you don’t have twine, you can poke holes in the skin and finagle the legs through to hold them in place – tried that last week, and it went alright.

Brush half the oil mixture over the chicken, covering it all the way around. Normally when brushing a sauce onto raw meat, you’d want to be careful not to put the meat-contaminated brush back into the remaining sauce, but in this case all the sauce is going to be cooked, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the remaining oil mixture and whisk together, then toss in the potatoes and remaining garlic halves, stirring to coat.

In a 12″ cast iron skillet, place the two oil-covered garlic halves cut-side down in the center, then place the chicken on top of them. Arrange the potatoes around the outside of the chicken – not under. I’ve done this in a dutch oven as well, and that also worked!

Roast the dish for 2 1/2 – 3 hours (with the bigger chicken, probably 3 hours), removing from the oven to rotate the potatoes once or twice.

halfish

all the way

Transfer the cooked chicken to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 15 minutes for the juices to settle.

this was the time when I cut holes in the skin to hold the legs in place

Meanwhile, back in the pan, use the back of a spoon or a potato masher to partially crush the potatoes, letting them soak up more of the juices.

Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice from one half into the potato mixture, as well as the honey. Stir to combine, then taste and add additional salt if needed. Slice the scallions and sprinkle over the potatoes.

Carve the chicken, then arrange the pieces of the potatoes to serve. People can squeeze the remaining lime half over their dishes as desired, and squeeze some of the roasted garlic cloves out of the skins to eat as desired.

I am bad at carving chickens! Oh well.

Gochujang Roasted Chicken

Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit.

• 1 3 1/2 – 4 pound whole chicken
• 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1 3/4 teaspoons Morton kosher salt, plus more
• freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons gochujang
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 whole heads of garlic
• 1 1/2″ piece fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes, or a mix of small potatoes and other root vegetables, cut to approximately 1 1/2″ pieces
• 1 lime
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 5 scallions

Make sure that you’ve got a rack in the middle of your oven, then preheat to 300 degrees.

Line a cutting board or rimmed baking sheet in foil for easy cleanup, then put the chicken on it and dry with paper towels. Season all over, and inside, with the salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the gochujang and 1/4 cup olive oil. Remove 3 cloves of garlic from one of the heads, peel them, and grate them into the oil mixture. Peel the garlic and grate it in as well. Whisk together well.

Cut the remains of the garlic head, and the entire second one, in two, cutting the top off the bottom, rather than a side from the other side. Place two of the halves into the cavity of the chicken, then tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Brush half the oil mixture over the chicken, covering it all the way around.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the remaining oil mixture and whisk together, then toss in the potatoes and remaining garlic halves, stirring to coat.

In a 12″ cast iron skillet, place the two oil-covered garlic halves cut-side down in the center, then place the chicken on top of them. Arrange the potatoes around the outside of the chicken – not under.

Roast the dish for 2 1/2 – 3 hours, removing from the oven to rotate the potatoes once or twice. Transfer the cooked chicken to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 15 minutes for the juices to settle.

Meanwhile, back in the pan, use the back of a spoon or a potato masher to partially crush the potatoes, letting them soak up more of the juices. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice from one half into the potato mixture, as well as the honey. Stir to combine, then taste and add additional salt if needed. Slice the scallions and sprinkle over the potatoes.

Carve the chicken, then arrange the pieces of the potatoes to serve. People can squeeze the remaining lime half over their dishes as desired, and squeeze some of the roasted garlic cloves out of the skins to eat as desired.