My grandmother made a great Friday night dinner in her two-story limestone in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She might as well have run a restaurant. There was lots and lots and lots of stuff—kreplach, gribenes, gefilte fish, blintzes, homemade noodles, roast chicken, glazed carrots, egg barley with dried Polish mushrooms. In 1918 during an influenza epidemic my grandmother was 20 years old with two children. First her husband died and two days later her mother died. With eight younger siblings and two of her own, she took care of ten kids in the family. Then an aunt caught the flu and died leaving eight or nine children. My grandmother then married her uncle and raised 18 kids.
The secret to her roast chicken was to cook it long enough to render the fat from the chicken and make it crispy.
—Eddie Schoenfeld, New York restaurateur
Recipe information
Yield
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Smash the garlic slightly with a knife and rub into the chicken well. Salt and pepper the chicken and cover with the herbs. Dribble with a little of the vegetable or olive oil. Cover and leave in the refrigerator overnight, turning the herbs and chicken once.
Step 2
Remove the herbs from the chicken. Heat a heavy ovenproof skillet large enough to hold all the pieces. Add the remaining tablespoon or 2 of the oil and place the chicken skin side down. Brown the chicken over a medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on one side.
Step 3
Remove the skillet with the chicken to a preheated 350-degree oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is crisp and the juices run clear.
