Bacon Fat Roasted Chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.2. Unwrap your chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Some people say rinse before your pat, and some other people say rinsing is going to give your whole sink a nice thin sheen of salmonella. Your call. We skip the rinsing and just pat dry.3. Using your fingers ease the chicken’s skin away from its body. It’s easiest to start this at the neck hole, breast side up. Rub your fingers downward along the breasts (hold your jokes, boys), loosening the skin as you go. Repeat on the thighs.4. Tuck the teaspoons of bacon fat into the skin pockets you’ve created. Reserve one of the teaspoons. With your fingers, rub the bacon fat onto the top of the skin. This will help your spices stick.5. Tuck the chopped fresh herbs in the skin pockets too.6. Mix together the salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Thoroughly coat the chicken with the mixture. You will use less salt in the mixture than you usually would, because the bacon fat has lots of salt in it already.7. Place the chicken in a roasting pan breast side up. If you don’t have a roasting pan, it’s cool to do it on a baking sheet lined with foil. Roast for one hour, or until the thickest part of the thigh and breast registers 160-165. Baste once, about 30 minutes in.8. Remove the bird and let ‘er rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Ingredients