Stegt Kylling med Persillefyld

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Roasting tin or heavy ovenproof pan, just large enough for the bird
• •Kitchen string for trussing
• •Mandoline or sharp knife for the cucumber
• •Meat thermometer
• •Small sieve for the pan juices

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the parsley stuffing

   Take the softened butter and work it together with a generous pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper. Don't chop the parsley. Leave the bunch whole, stems and all. The stems carry more flavor than the leaves, a green, peppery intensity that releases slowly inside the hot cavity as the chicken roasts. Spread the seasoned butter over the whole bunch with your hands, working it into the leaves and along the stems until the parsley is coated. This is your stuffing. Nothing more.

   The butter must be truly soft, not melted. You want it to cling to the parsley and stay there. If it's too cold it won't coat. If it's melted it runs straight off.
2. 2

   Season and stuff the chicken

   Pat the chicken completely dry inside and out with kitchen paper. This is the single most important step for crisp skin.Moisture is the enemy of browning. Season the cavity with salt, then push the buttered parsley bunch inside. It should fill the space without being forced. Tie the legs together with kitchen string to close the cavity and keep the parsley in place. The string also helps the bird hold its shape, so the thighs cook at the same rate as the breast.

   Don't skip drying the chicken. If the skin is damp, it steams instead of crisping, and you'll end up with pale, soft skin that sticks to the pan. Paper towels, everywhere, twice.
3. 3

   Start the roast

   Heat the oven to 200°C. Rub the outside of the chicken with the neutral oil and season generously with salt and pepper, all over, including the legs and the underside. Place it breast-side up in a roasting tin or heavy ovenproof pan. The pan should be just large enough to hold the bird. Too large and the juices spread thin and burn. Too small and the air can't circulate. Put it in the oven and leave it alone for forty minutes.

   Oil, not butter, on the outside. Butter contains milk solids that burn at this temperature. The oil protects the skin and lets it crisp cleanly. The butter is inside, doing its work from within.
4. 4

   Baste and finish

   After forty minutes, open the oven and tilt the bird gently with a wooden spoon so the juices from the cavity run into the pan. Spoon those pan juices over the breast and legs. This is the basting that matters, not for moisture, but for color. The butter and parsley juices from inside the bird carry flavor and fat that help the skin turndeep gold. Return to the oven for another thirty to forty minutes. The chicken is done when the juices run clear from the thickest part of the thigh and the skin is taut and deeply bronzed. A thermometer should read 74°C at the thigh.

   If the breast is browning faster than the legs, lay a small piece of foil loosely over the breast for the last fifteen minutes. Don't wrap it. Just shield it.
5. 5

   Make the cucumber salad

   While the chicken roasts, slice the cucumber as thinly as you can manage, paper-thin if possible. A mandoline does this best. Lay the slices in a shallow bowl. Whisk together the white wine vinegar, sugar, a pinch of salt, and a grind of white pepper until the sugar dissolves. Pour this over the cucumber and press the slices down so they're submerged. Leave them for at least thirty minutes. The vinegar firms and sweetens the cucumber, turning it from something watery into something bright and clean. Scatter the dill fronds over the top before serving. This is agurkesalat, and it belongs next to this chicken the way a shadow belongs to a tree.

   White pepper, not black, in the agurkesalat. Black pepper leaves dark specks and tastes too sharp here. White pepper disappears into the dressing and gives a gentler warmth.
6. 6

   Cook the new potatoes

   Put the scrubbed potatoes in a pot of well-salted cold water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until they're tender all the way through, about fifteen to twenty minutes depending on size. A knife should slide in and out without catching. Drain them and return to the warm pot. Add the butter and the chopped parsley, put the lid on, and shake the pot gently so the butter melts and coats each potato. Nye kartofler, new potatoes, are a June ritual in Denmark. When they arrive at the market with their thin, translucent skins, you know the season has turned.

7. 7

   Rest and carve

   When the chicken is done, lift it onto a warm serving platter and rest it for fifteen minutes. Resting is not optional. During those fifteen minutes, the juices, which have been driven to the center by the heat, redistribute through the meat. Cut too early and they run out onto the board instead of staying where they belong. While the chicken rests, pour the pan juices through a small sieve into a warm jug. Those juices are concentrated chicken, butter, and parsley flavor. Don't waste them. They're the best sauce you'll make today, and you didn't have to make them at all.

   Pull the parsley bunch from the cavity before carving. It will have collapsed into a dark, fragrant mass. Squeeze it gently over the platter to release the last of the butter. Then discard it. Its work is done.
8. 8

   Serve at the table

   Carve the chicken and arrange it on the platter. Spoon the pan juices over the meat. Bring the potatoes in their pot and the agurkesalat in its bowl to the table. Serve everything together, family style, because this is a meal that belongs in the middle of the table where people can help themselves. That's how it's done. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the best chicken you can afford. A free-range bird with a good layer of fat under the skin roasts better and tastes better than a pale, factory-raised one. You'll notice the difference in the pan juices more than anywhere else.
• •Don't chop the parsley for the stuffing. The whole bunch, stems and all, acts as a slow-release flavor engine inside the cavity. Chopped parsley would burn and turn bitter. The stems protect the leaves and carry their own green, peppery depth.
• •If the pan juices seem thin, pour them into a small saucepan and simmer for five minutes to concentrate them. Don't add flour or cream. The juices should taste like what they are: chicken, butter, and parsley. That's enough.
• •Serve a cold Danish pilsner alongside if it's summer, or a glass of white Burgundy if the occasion asks for it. Both cut the richness of the butter and the salt of the skin.

Advance Preparation

• •The agurkesalat improves with time and can be made up to six hours ahead. Keep it covered in the fridge and add the dill just before serving.
• •Season the chicken with salt the night before and leave it uncovered in the fridge. The salt draws moisture from the skin overnight, which means crisper results the next day. This step is not essential, but it makes a noticeable difference.
• •The parsley butter can be prepared a day ahead and kept wrapped in the fridge. Bring it to room temperature before stuffing the bird.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)