Culinary Fundamentals--Week #2--Roast Chicken

Luckily, I showed up early for Culinary class this week as the other eager students had the same idea--to get a spot at the front table where we can see Chef Charles Fredericks' demos up close! In fact, someone had taken my left corner spot, so I ended up directly in front of his prep area so I could snag a few shots of the chef in action. We paired up in teams of two and made yummy roast chicken au jus. I've roasted many a fine chicken, but will never make pan gravy again with flour after having the richly flavored au jus made from stock and mirepoix--which is diced onion, carrot and celery in a 2:1:1 ratio. Here's the procedure:

ROAST CHICKEN WITH AU JUS:
1 roasting chicken
rock salt
pepper
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
several stalks of fresh marjoram
1 lemon
3 cloves garlic
bit of cooking twine
about 2 cups chicken stock, or more
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Trim the excess fat off the chicken. Cut the wings mid-joint, leaving the meaty part of the wing drummette still attached. Set the trimmed off wing ends aside. (The breasts will become what is termed airline breasts after roasting--(watch the middle part of this video to understand where to cut the wings and how the breast will be separated after roasting to make an airline breast). Salt and pepper the inside of the bird. Make the mirepoix: cut half onion, celery and carrot into a large dice of equal size and combine in a ratio of 50% onion, 25% celery and 25% carrot. Mound at the bottom of a roasting pan, place the wing trimmings on top.
Slice the lemon into 1/4" slices. Mince the garlic. Slice the other half of the onion as thinly as possible. Combine these three ingredients with the fresh marjoram and stuff into the cavity of the bird. Tie the legs together. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken. Place the chicken on the bed of mirepoix on a roasting pan and pour enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables. Place in oven and roast for 18-20 minutes per pound until cooked through and the juices run clear. If the mirepoix starts to dry out, add more stock. Set the chicken on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Strain the mirepoix, putting the broth into a saucepan. Simmer until reduced at least by half. Cut the legs off the chicken, then cut the breast off by running a sharp knife along the breast bone. Then, slice the breast carefully and transfer to your serving plate intact, pour some of the au jus onto the plate. We had our chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans--simple, but excellent!