Roast Chicken-Bare Minimum.

This recipe, Mon Poulet Roti, is from Thomas Keller's cookbook, Bouchon. It is the best roast chicken I have ever tasted. But it does make a bit of smoke, so you'll want to be prepared with the fan.

• Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
• Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• 1 (2 -3 lb)  farm raised whole chickens
•  kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2  teaspoons  minced thyme (optional)
•  unsalted butter, for serving
•  Dijon mustard, for serving (also optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F
2. Rinse the chicken and dry it inside and out very well. The idea is to create very dry heat and prevent steam. (Strange, I know).
3. Salt and pepper the cavity lightly, then truss the bird.
4. Scatter about 1 tablespoon salt over the skin of the bird, as evenly as you can. Season with pepper. Don't add any liquid or anything.
5. Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and in the oven. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes.
6. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes.
7. Remove the twine. Carve into individual portions.
8. The cookbook says to serve with the mustard and butter for "slathering" on the bird, but I found this a little excessive and left it out. Anyway, it was still delicious.