Whether or not you're a fan of crispy skin, have you ever thought about seasoning under it? This is one of our favorite ways to prepare whole birds since the skin seals in the juices while the herbs and spices trapped beneath gently season the otherwise bland meat. Here's how we do it along with some of our favorite spice combinations:
Quick Tip: Season Under the Skin
With a little gentle coercion, the skin covering the breast and thigh meat will loosen from the chicken. Start by sliding your fingers between the meat and the skin, entering at either end of the chicken. Working slowly, separate as much of the skin from the meat as you can reach (this is where small hands become an asset!).
Grab a few tablespoons of the seasoning mixture and use your fingers to push it beneath the loosened skin. Rub it directly into the meat as evenly as possible. You can massage the outside of the bird to distribute the seasoning to the areas that you can't reach directly.
Once seasoned, the bird can be roasted or poached as normal.
It's easy to make a spice rub by combining the ingredients already being used in the roast. If we're cooking a basic lemon-garlic chicken, we prepare a spice rub of minced garlic, lemon zest, thyme, salt, and pepper - essentially a mix of the same ingredients that we'll be stuffing inside the bird! Other favorites mixes include:
• cumin, minced garlic, chili powder, lime juice or zest, salt, and pepper
• Chinese five spice blend, orange juice or zest, salt, and pepper
• sage, herbes de provence, and course sea salt
A few tablespoons of spices are enough to season a 3-5 pound bird and any extra can be rubbed inside the cavity. A little olive oil or softened butter in the rub adds its own flavor and can also help make the spices easier to spread under the skin. If we want a hint of smokiness, we add a little ground lapsang souchong or smoked paprika to the rub.
And although we've been talking about whole birds in this post, you can definitely use this technique with skin-on chicken breasts. You can do it with skinless chicken breasts as well, we suppose, though you'll lose the benefits of the skin keeping the meat moist.
What's your favorite combination of seasonings for poultry?
Related: Basic Techniques: Eight Ways to Build Flavor
(Image: Flickr member faeryboots licensed under Creative Commons)
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Tips & Techniques, Ingredients - Meat, Meat Products, chicken, poultry, flavor, turkey, seasoning, building flavorRelated Links
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This makes for a very tasty chicken, in addition to this I like to stick citrus fruit with some holes poked in it, into the cavity of the bird before it goes in.
view Benny's Dad's profile
This is a great method and give the meat so much flavor. When I made our turkey for Thanksgiving I rubbed a mixture of butter, garlic, pepper, fresh sage & thyme under the skin. Soooo tasty!
view goodLife{eats}'s profile
I have always seasoned under the skin. I usually take about 3-4 tbsp. of butter, soften it in the microwave, add garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper, and then (while wearing a kitchen glove), slather it as deeply as possible under the skin. If I do a good job, I can actually loosen the skin enough to reach the top of the thigh meat without tearing anything. Even if I do a bad job, I cover all the breast meat and legs.
view Orchid64's profile
Oh I always do this, I find it's the only way to season a whole chicken properly... mmm yum yum, I know what I'll be making for dinner now!
http://notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/
view Harpa's profile
I frequently make spatchcocked roasted chicken with harissa paste under the skin. Hot and delicious! :)
view katti's profile
A small spoon held upside down works well to loosen the skin without tearing it. Your hands are fine, too, but the spoon has a lower profile and works a bit more quickly.
view heather77's profile
I often do this. Sometimes, I'll add paper-thin slices of garlic, too.
view Julie's profile
For Christmas this year I did a combo of LOTS of butter, coarse salt, fresh pepper, thyme and rubbed it generously under the skin. The butter really adds something to the meat, the turkey came out wonderful!
view valleyval's profile
I did this for our thanksgiving turkey last year and my roommates said it was the most flavorful they'd ever had. it's so easy, and it was kind of fun in a slightly gross way...
view foodefafa's profile
I tried this last Christmas with a few cornish hens. I mixed fresh chopped tarragon and rosemary with butter and put it under the skin so it would melt into the meat as the chicken cooked, and stuffed them with lemon and garlic and more herbs. Best chicken I've ever had!
view confusednazgul's profile