Asian-Inspired Roast Chicken
This was a complete experiment. Our intarweb was down for a chunk of the day, so I kinda stumbled around on my own. The chicken was brined in a water/soy sauce blend (4 TB per 1 cup of water) for about five (?) hours. After brining, I rinsed the chicken, and rubbed it inside andout with a mixture of garlic powder, sea salt, crushed mint and rosemary. I stuck it in the oven at 400F for 1/2 hr, then took it out and basted it with sesame oil. It went back into the oven (now down to 350F) for an hour. After it was done, I brushed it with a bit more sesame oil while it sat before carving.
It was delicious. The meat was moist, and it had a really complex flavour. If I do this again, I might try using something else in place of the water in the brine; perhaps beer, or white cranberry juice.
It was served with potatoes: cut into wedges, and tossed with more sesame oil, prepared garlic, sea salt and crushed mint. I put them into the oven when the temperature was lowered to 350F; they could have stood to be cooked a tad longer, but they were still really good. (And there were some yummy crunchy bits where the potatoes had browned in the oil.
Yum! Experiment = success!