Slow Roasted Chicken with Crispy Skin Tacos
This recipe comes from one of Food52’s “Genius” recipes. It is genius because roasting a chicken like this comes with no stress about getting a good color on the skin, because you roast it low and slow and then remove the skin and crisp it up separately!
Recipe Adapted from: Food52 Lindsay Maitland Hunt
Recipe Adapted by Tierney Larson
Servings: 8-10
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
Kosher Salt
Several Sprigs of Thyme
1/2 a yellow onion, peeled and quartered
5 cloves of garlic
For the Chile Sauce:
15 Dried Guallijjo Chiles, stems removed, most seeds discarded
2 Dried Chipotle Chiles, stems removed, most seeds discarded
2 Chile Arbols, stems removed, most seeds discarded
6 garlic cloves, peeled
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Chopped cilatro
Cojita cheese for topping
10 flour tortillas
Ok so…The night before, place your chicken on a rimmed baking sheet, pat it dry and season it all over the outside and inside the cavity with kosher salt. Place uncovered in the fridge until the next day when you’re ready to cook. Take the chicken out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you intend to cook it to let it come to room temp. Preheat your oven to 300F and place an oven rack in the middle.
Sprinkle the chicken with a little more kosher salt and stuff the cavity with the onion, garlic and thyme. Truss the chicken and place in the oven. Cook for 2 1/2-3 hours, checking the temp around 2 hours. Cook until it reaches an internal temp of 165F in the thickest part of the breast.
While the chicken cooks, place the chiles in 6 cups of water in a wide skillet and bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Lower the heat to keep them at a gentle simmer for 15 minutes. Carefully pour the cooked chiles, garlic and the liquid into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl through a sieve to get the purée smooth and then taste. Season with salt and black pepper until you can taste all the glorious flavors. It will most likely need around 1/2 tsp of kosher salt.
When the chicken is done, remove from the oven and set it on a cutting board with a moat to catch the juices. Bump the oven temp up to 425F. Let the chicken cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the skin using your fingers or tongs, it doesn’t need to be all in one piece. Arrange the pieces of chicken skin on a clean rimmed baking sheet and place them in the oven to get crispy and golden brown, about 10 minutes.
To serve: Shred the chicken using your fingers or 2 forks. Place the shredded chicken in a bowl and pour most of the chile sauce over it. Toss until fully coated, using more sauce if you need it. Place the sauced chicken in a tortilla, then top with crispy chicken skin, crumbled cojita cheese and some chopped cilantro. Enjoy!
