Roast chicken dinner– a dish made with love and care over a long afternoon. But what would you do if you had to whip one up on the spot with no recipe in just 90 minutes? Novice chef Billy, home cook Gina, and professional chef Saúl Montiel find out who has the kitchen experience and culinary creativity to pull it off. 3 chefs, no recipes—and lots of chicken.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (sizzling)
00:01 Yeah!
00:02 Don't do that, don't do that.
00:04 - I don't know what's happening.
00:06 - I don't need a recipe, recipe's for babies.
00:08 (upbeat music)
00:11 - That's a chicken, I know what a chicken is.
00:28 - Am I making chicken soup?
00:29 - Oh, what do you think you might be making?
00:31 - I have no idea, a roast, a chicken roast?
00:33 - We're making pollo.
00:34 - I have never roasted a chicken before.
00:36 - I've made a chicken dinner before.
00:37 - There's so many things you can do with it,
00:39 but there's also so many things you can screw up.
00:41 - Poultry seasoning, that's distressingly vague.
00:44 - Celery, carrots, and onions, rosemary.
00:47 So I'm going to take what I know from chicken soup
00:50 and try to channel that into a roast and see if it works.
00:53 - I'm gonna go with the gochujang and the soy sauce.
00:55 - Can't forget the butter because--
00:57 - When you put butter on anything, it tastes delicious.
00:59 - I'm freaking out, yeah.
01:00 - I'm feeling good.
01:02 - 90 minutes?
01:03 - 90 minutes.
01:03 - Holy moly, so a lot of time.
01:05 I only need 15.
01:06 - So I need to get this into the oven as soon as possible.
01:11 - Where's the oven?
01:12 Oh, there it is.
01:13 All right, oven's preheating at 425.
01:15 I have to get this chicken ready to go in the oven.
01:17 - We're also going to lower this into the middle.
01:21 Like 400, we'll start there for now.
01:24 - All right, you have 90 minutes, get going.
01:25 - No (beep)
01:26 - All right, go.
01:27 - Just start the timer.
01:28 - Timer started.
01:28 - Shut the front door.
01:29 - The oven is not on.
01:31 - I don't need the oven, who needs the oven?
01:33 Don't worry guys, I got this.
01:34 Production, I got it.
01:35 You sit down and relax.
01:37 - I'm dicing up onion so that I can shove it
01:40 into the cavity of the chicken.
01:42 Choppity, choppity.
01:43 - Don't worry, man, I got this.
01:45 Come on.
01:46 - So we're going to make a little, I guess,
01:49 massage oil for the chicken.
01:51 I'm gonna use a stick of butter.
01:52 I'm going to chop up these herbs.
01:55 We're gonna put some thyme, rosemary, parsley,
01:58 salt, and pepper.
01:59 I'm gonna use a spatula to kind of like,
02:01 mush it up.
02:02 - Garlic next.
02:04 Oh boy, I know some of you are probably screaming,
02:06 like don't use all that garlic.
02:08 But some of you are probably screaming,
02:09 use all that garlic.
02:10 I think I'm a garlic realist.
02:12 - You can never have too much garlic.
02:13 If a recipe calls for like one or two cloves,
02:15 I just put the entire head in.
02:17 - I'm gonna say this with the utmost of confidence.
02:19 Putting these aromatics inside the chicken
02:21 is going to help flavor it from the inside out.
02:23 You're gonna get these delicious notes of garlic and onion
02:26 just coming right through the goody works of this chicken
02:29 all the way out to the outside.
02:30 - Right now I'm gonna do a little bit of olive oil.
02:32 I'm gonna cut the chicken into half.
02:35 And then I'm gonna sharpen my knife.
02:39 This knife doesn't cut, look at this.
02:41 We'll do it Mexican style.
02:43 This is what you do when you don't have no money,
02:44 you're broke and you need a sharpener.
02:46 Oh, see, I told you.
02:47 I'm making half a chicken today
02:49 because I already had lunch.
02:52 I'm going to debone this
02:53 'cause this is gonna speed the process of cooking.
02:57 Also easy to eat.
02:58 I screwed up a couple of chickens
02:59 before I learned how to do this.
03:01 Now when you do the salt, you do it from the top.
03:05 You don't do it here because look,
03:06 you don't spread the salt enough.
03:09 - All right, I've got five minutes
03:10 to get this chicken in the oven, so get in there, baby.
03:13 - Do I need to do anything with the guts of the bird?
03:15 - Oh, wow, I did not check and see
03:17 if there's anything inside here
03:18 before I started throwing aromatics in.
03:19 Oh, it looks like there's guts in here.
03:21 Oh, Jesus Christ.
03:22 - We've got stuff in here.
03:24 - I gotta get all these organs out of here.
03:25 Oh, frick.
03:27 This is visceral, y'all.
03:28 - It's just bird guts.
03:29 - I'm not feeling great about the time.
03:31 I know chicken takes a long time to cook,
03:33 but at the same time,
03:34 I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants here.
03:37 - Okay, I can stick it under the skin
03:38 and that's where I'm going to put the butter.
03:40 I've only seen this done on TV
03:42 and maybe my mom did it once for our Thanksgiving turkey.
03:45 This first experience is very mushy and kind of gross
03:48 and maybe a little satisfying too.
03:50 All right, real quick, salt and pepper.
03:53 I would normally use a dish and a little latex brush
03:56 and I would gently brush the skin,
03:59 but you know what?
04:00 We're feeling...
04:02 This is so much more sensual than I anticipated.
04:04 Okay.
04:07 - And then the rest, I'm going to like slather all over.
04:10 - Soy sauce on top.
04:11 Here's the PA, stay resistance.
04:13 Some gochujang.
04:15 Glazed in gochujang and salt and soy sauce.
04:18 - Chicken needs to go into the oven,
04:20 so we're going to stop here.
04:21 I'm going to wipe my hands.
04:22 - One second.
04:23 - Cook the skin down under the brick.
04:27 Do we have a brick?
04:28 Ah, you know what?
04:29 Instead of a brick, I'm doing an olla.
04:33 'Cause I'm Mexican and we use this a lot.
04:35 - This is a baking sheet with a rack on top.
04:38 - I chose this deep roasting metal pan
04:40 for its three qualities.
04:42 It's deep, it's metal, and it's a roasting pan.
04:44 And those are the things that I need right now
04:46 for my chicken, which goes in.
04:48 Should've opened the door before I got here.
04:51 - See if I can do this one-handed.
04:53 In you go.
04:56 - Chicken's in the oven!
04:58 Now we gotta do the potatoes.
04:59 - I'm gonna set a timer for about 20 minutes for now,
05:02 just to see how it goes,
05:03 and then gonna deal with the vegetables.
05:05 Ah, bird guts.
05:08 - So for my side dish, I'm going to make potato wedges.
05:11 First things first, gotta peel 'em.
05:14 It's just like my army days.
05:16 Top, top, top, peeling, peeling.
05:18 Not gonna peel 'em, I'm gonna keep the skin on.
05:21 My plan is to do like a dice.
05:24 - So my goal here is to plate
05:26 when all the ingredients are ready.
05:28 So they're supposed to come up almost at the same time.
05:30 You're not only 90 minutes, FYI.
05:32 No, I'm kidding, probably need two hours.
05:36 - So wedge potatoes, it's simple.
05:37 You cut them in half over and over again
05:40 until you end up with a wedge.
05:41 So there's a half, now there's another half,
05:43 and now there's another half, another half.
05:45 Okay, so not great.
05:47 Didn't work, what I said didn't actually come to be.
05:50 However, these are hunks of potato,
05:53 and a hunk of potato is basically what I'm after.
05:56 Uniform size of the hunk is the most important thing,
05:59 'cause I want all these hunks.
06:01 Saying hunks a lot.
06:02 I want all these hunks to cook at the same pace.
06:06 All right, I like this pile of potatoes.
06:08 You're good enough.
06:09 Hit 'em with a dash of salt,
06:10 that way they will cook up in the pan crispier.
06:12 - I love eating a chicken with mashed potato puree.
06:15 This is gonna be sweet and spicy,
06:17 starchy and creamy and delicious.
06:19 - I'm cutting celery.
06:21 Okay, now we have to deal with our carrots.
06:26 - Any type of appealing carrots, get yourself a sous chef.
06:29 - This is very exciting content.
06:31 - The carrots are gonna add the sweetness and color.
06:33 I'm gonna cook the potatoes and carrots
06:36 until they're nice and cooked.
06:39 - Okay, so we got some big, hunky-chunky garlic here,
06:42 and now incorporate it with the potatoes.
06:44 Get outta here.
06:45 - I usually cut the onions last because I cry,
06:48 and I want to cry as little as possible when cooking.
06:53 - I'm gonna slice these onions
06:54 rather than give them the rough chop
06:56 that its cousin, the garlic, was subjected to.
06:59 - Mirepoix, that's like your base for any kind of soup.
07:01 Onions, carrot, and celery.
07:03 In my case, the base for any kind of roast.
07:06 - I said I wanted to check my chicken after a half hour.
07:10 It's been about a half hour.
07:11 - I think you check the temperature
07:12 with a meat thermometer,
07:13 and it should be a certain degree,
07:17 and I have no idea what that degree is.
07:19 - I'm gonna look and see what the temperature is internally.
07:21 Oh, look at that!
07:23 Look at that!
07:24 - We're looking for 165.
07:26 - 165.
07:27 - To be done is gonna be at 165
07:29 in the thickest part of the breast.
07:31 90 degrees, so we've got a ways to go.
07:33 I'm not worried.
07:34 I shouldn't be worried about that, should I?
07:35 In you go.
07:36 You look beautiful, by the way.
07:38 - I need to get those veggies in there,
07:40 so I'm gonna open the oven,
07:42 I am afraid to take it out of the oven.
07:44 I'm very nervous about handling a chicken that's hot.
07:47 - Ah!
07:49 I want this chicken to look like me,
07:52 nice and brown.
07:53 The whole purpose of having the oil on top of that
07:54 is gonna keep the skin nice and crispy,
07:56 and also speed the process of cooking.
07:58 - I don't want to handle hot chicken,
08:01 so I'm going to prepare the veggies,
08:03 season them onto a tray,
08:05 and then get that prepped, get the bed made,
08:07 and then once that's done, get the chicken,
08:10 put the chicken on top,
08:11 and then pop the entire thing into the oven.
08:14 Let's see if it works.
08:15 - Got my vegetable oil here, get that going around.
08:18 Oh, listen to that sizzle.
08:20 I chose a wok 'cause it's nice and deep,
08:21 and I'm gonna be able to kinda like
08:23 flip, flip, flip my potatoes.
08:24 I wonder if I should've boiled these potatoes first
08:26 as they start to fry.
08:27 We'll see what happens.
08:28 - Okay.
08:31 I'm not looking at it.
08:32 No works needed.
08:36 Now, I'm gonna cook it a little bit longer.
08:39 Now, you know what?
08:40 That's it.
08:40 No more olla.
08:42 - Okay.
08:43 Chicken extraction tools.
08:44 Hi, chicken.
08:45 Sorry, interrupting your nap.
08:48 Ah, here we go.
08:51 Here we go.
08:52 I would like to save all of this delicious flavor stuff here
08:56 and like drizzle it on top.
08:58 It's all right.
08:59 Less than an hour?
09:02 Okay.
09:02 - You wanna see a little bit of novice chef skill?
09:04 Here we go.
09:05 Yeah.
09:08 Don't do that.
09:09 Don't do that.
09:10 That was a little too advanced.
09:11 - I'm using vegetable oil to fry the potato chips.
09:14 While this is cooking,
09:15 I'm gonna make a beautiful little gravy.
09:19 Some chicken ajou.
09:20 I'm using the flavor from the chicken.
09:22 I'm using a little bit of onion, some diced garlic.
09:25 Put garlic or anything.
09:26 It's gonna taste delicious.
09:27 The chicken is already cooked.
09:31 It's exactly what I wanted to do,
09:32 but I forgot something.
09:35 The insides.
09:36 I use the insides of the chicken
09:38 because I don't like to waste anything.
09:40 And I think the neck is full of flavor.
09:42 It also has bones.
09:43 And the heart and the livers
09:45 gonna add a little bitterness to it.
09:47 Now I'm gonna do cumin.
09:50 'Cause you wanna make something great, add butter.
09:52 You wanna be happy?
09:53 Eat butter.
09:54 - My potatoes have been going for about 10 minutes now.
09:56 And I gotta be honest, fam,
09:57 not super confident that they're gonna be cooked
09:59 all the way through in time.
10:00 So I'm gonna transfer them to a baking sheet
10:02 and put it in the oven.
10:03 And if you look, it's just,
10:06 it's all onions and garlic on there, folks.
10:08 I'm gonna put a little bit of this cayenne pepper on the top.
10:12 One little spicy note at the top.
10:13 Just gonna slide these potatoes in
10:15 alongside their chicken friend and see how it goes.
10:17 Plus I get to check in on my chicken,
10:19 which is looking delightful.
10:21 - I'm gonna work on my potato chips.
10:23 Spicy potato chips because I need to add something crunchy.
10:26 So listen, what I'm gonna do here
10:27 is I'm gonna remove the starch out of the potatoes
10:29 so they will come nice and crispy.
10:31 - There's an outside shot that this girl has done already.
10:33 Not quite.
10:34 We're at 115.
10:35 The skin is pretty crispy,
10:37 but nobody's mad at a burnt skin.
10:39 Everybody likes the burnt skin.
10:40 They're like, "Hey, give me a piece of that burnt skin.
10:42 "Put it in my mouth."
10:43 - How's my chicken looking?
10:44 Looking sexy?
10:46 How you doing?
10:47 Time for you to take a swim.
10:49 Now I'm gonna put a little bit of salt,
10:50 a little bit of pepper, rosmarino.
10:52 I want this to be full of aromas and flavors.
10:55 - For the first time in what feels like days,
10:56 I don't have anything cooking in front of me.
10:58 - I'm tired.
10:59 - The way I cook, right,
11:00 I like to do a few things at the same time
11:02 'cause that will keep you busy.
11:03 Like you shouldn't be cooking the chicken
11:05 and then wait.
11:06 So really waste 30 minutes
11:08 and then do another 30 minutes here,
11:10 another 20 there.
11:11 That's already an hour and 20 minutes.
11:12 But you could do everything in 25 minutes.
11:14 (whistling)
11:17 - Yep, everything's gonna be done in 15 minutes.
11:19 The potatoes will be done in 15 minutes.
11:20 The chicken will be up to 165 in 15 minutes.
11:22 I'm gonna have a half hour to plate.
11:24 I could plate a potato at a time and I'd be fine.
11:26 So what I'm saying is nothing could possibly go wrong
11:29 from here on out.
11:30 And I forgot to put the rosemary on the potatoes.
11:32 Just gonna get a sprig prepped here
11:34 and add this.
11:36 All right, rosemary.
11:37 Also the skin on this chicken is getting a little extra.
11:39 Rather than subject it to more direct heat,
11:41 I'm going to actually tent it with some foil
11:44 so that it makes a little oven within the oven.
11:46 In you go.
11:48 - Cool up.
11:49 All right, it is sizzling.
11:51 Here we go, very carefully.
11:53 Pop it in.
11:54 So we're at like 110.
11:56 I'm gonna give it 15 more minutes.
11:58 - 15 minutes.
11:59 - Yeah.
12:00 - I'm gonna hide here, bye.
12:01 - See if we've gotten up to 165.
12:04 Ow!
12:05 Grabbed the fricking oven just with my finger.
12:10 It's so close.
12:12 It needs like another five minutes, if that.
12:15 - I want to braise this chicken with a little bit of leche.
12:19 This is gonna keep this chicken nice and juicy.
12:22 Now I'm going to fry my potato chips.
12:26 So we're also going to remove the moist
12:28 'cause I want these potatoes to be crispy.
12:31 Hello, potato chips.
12:32 - Now this looks all right.
12:33 Let's see what the thermometer says about it.
12:35 - Not yet, guys, I'm sorry.
12:36 - Now 147.
12:38 So back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
12:41 - When you feel the chicken, when it's nice and firm,
12:44 like these guns, that means it's cooked all the way through.
12:46 So this needs a little bit longer.
12:47 - It's got to be ready now, let's go.
12:49 That's a nice looking chicken.
12:50 Temperature, beautiful, perfect.
12:52 - Chicken's done, hallelujah.
12:54 - Oh, we're at 170.
12:56 That chicken's done.
12:57 - I don't know how I'm gonna pick it up
12:59 and put it on this cutting board.
12:59 - I know I don't have a whole lot of time,
13:01 so I'm going to let him rest, maybe five minutes.
13:05 - Potatoes are looking sexy.
13:07 A little bit of cayenne pepper.
13:08 Why you put spicy on everything?
13:09 'Cause I want to.
13:10 Now I'm gonna put a little bit of salt.
13:11 Like some people call me Saul,
13:14 and that means no salt, it's Saul.
13:15 (beep)
13:17 (laughs)
13:19 - Now to take this chicken, get it onto our cutting board
13:22 so that we can serve it up.
13:23 - Remove the chicken, hi chicken.
13:26 - It smells like chicken soup on the pan.
13:29 Mission accomplished.
13:30 My friend carrot, are you ready?
13:32 Smash it, oh, it's ready.
13:34 I'm going to remove the liquid out of this pot.
13:36 Please don't try this at home.
13:37 This is just for grownups and professionals.
13:40 And now I'm gonna add a little bit of whipped cream here.
13:42 Creaminess, creaminess.
13:44 A little bit of salt and my harissa.
13:46 Now I'm making my mashed potatoes and carrot puree.
13:50 The color is nice.
13:53 I'm gonna try this gochujang.
13:59 Carrots, this.
14:00 I like it.
14:02 Ooh, it's spicy.
14:03 Ooh, beautiful.
14:05 So now I have to remove this chicken.
14:07 Where's my chicken stock?
14:08 Mateo, Mateo's my sous chef.
14:09 I wish he was here.
14:10 I'm gonna add a little bit of coleslaw
14:13 to help thicken the sauce.
14:14 I'm gonna add a little bit of leche.
14:15 I'm making a slurry.
14:17 Slurry, just a little bit.
14:18 Now I'm just gonna dump it here.
14:21 All right guys, it's plating time.
14:23 Dinner is ready.
14:24 - I'm going to make a bed of veggies.
14:26 - Gonna slice open the string
14:28 that's been holding the drumsticks together.
14:30 - All right, we have to cut our bird.
14:33 - And now I think I'm gonna go right down the middle.
14:35 Oh, look at those aromatics come popping out.
14:38 - I'm going to cut a leg.
14:39 A little bit.
14:42 The meat's also kind of slipping off the bone,
14:45 which is like supposed to be a good thing.
14:46 But for presentation, you want it to look pretty.
14:49 And then a little bit of the breast.
14:50 Whoops.
14:52 - Half a chicken on the plate,
14:53 accompanied by delicious rosemary potatoes.
14:55 - I'm gonna start with the puree in the bottom.
14:57 Now I'm gonna grab my lovely chicken.
14:59 Where are you, baby?
14:59 Chef, here I am, grab me, plate me.
15:02 There we go.
15:02 A pinch of salt across everything.
15:05 I'm gonna do a little bit of sauce.
15:07 I'm gonna add my crunchy element.
15:09 It's like a little nest,
15:10 so the chicken doesn't forget where it's coming from.
15:11 I'm gonna top it off with a little bit of lemon.
15:13 - Ladies and gentlemen, this is my Gochujang glazed chicken
15:17 with roasted rosemary potatoes.
15:19 - I roasted my first chicken.
15:21 My chicken soup roast chicken.
15:23 - And of course, a bouquet.
15:25 And there you have it, my pollo.
15:27 (upbeat music)
15:29 - Oh my gosh!
15:33 - How's it going?
15:34 - How are you guys?
15:35 - Oh, I cannot wait to try this.
15:38 - How did it go?
15:38 - It went okay, I guess.
15:39 I think I maybe went a little overboard
15:41 with the crispiness of this.
15:43 - I love crispy skin.
15:45 How about you?
15:45 - I've never roasted a bird before.
15:47 - No?
15:48 - I've made chicken soup before,
15:49 and I just like use those ingredients.
15:51 - That's a great idea.
15:52 I dry chicken soup.
15:54 Something that I did here that was different
15:55 is I used some of the Gochujang sauce.
15:58 - Yes.
15:59 - That I saved right?
16:00 - Gochujang, yeah.
16:00 - It was delicious.
16:01 It was like something so sweet, so smooth,
16:04 to something spicy.
16:05 - Yes.
16:06 - So you used a tiny little bit.
16:07 I went the other direction,
16:08 and I slathered it all over this bird.
16:10 That's why it got such a nice color and crisp on it.
16:13 But be warned, when you try it,
16:14 it's gonna have a little bit of a kick to it.
16:16 - I just think it's funny that out of the three people,
16:18 the one Korean didn't use Gochujang.
16:20 (laughing)
16:22 - Do you guys wanna try this?
16:23 - Yes.
16:24 - It looks juicy.
16:25 - What you worry about, I think,
16:26 was the best part, the skin.
16:28 - Oh good.
16:29 - There's like a heat to it.
16:30 I don't know if it's from the chicken or from the potatoes.
16:31 - From the potatoes, I put some of the cayenne pepper.
16:33 - Oh okay, that's where it's coming from, okay.
16:34 - I'm very happy with the potatoes.
16:36 They have a little bit of crispiness on the skin.
16:37 Inside, nice and airy, pillowy.
16:39 Anything you wanna add to that?
16:41 - That's exactly what I was about to say.
16:43 - My turn?
16:44 - Yeah, let's go.
16:45 - What's between the meat and the skin?
16:47 - Butter.
16:47 I mixed up some butter and thyme, rosemary, garlic.
16:51 - It smells like Thanksgiving.
16:52 - Yeah.
16:53 - Oh, so good.
16:54 - Oh man.
16:55 - That's tasty.
16:56 - That's really good.
16:57 You've never done this before?
16:58 - I've never done this, yeah.
16:59 - The butter under the chicken skin with the herbs is nuts.
17:01 - That's exactly what I was about to say.
17:03 You should be really proud.
17:04 One dish left to try.
17:06 The name of the dish is pollo a las dos papas.
17:08 - Like two potatoes?
17:09 - Yeah.
17:10 - It's two potatoes.
17:11 - Potatoes two ways.
17:12 - Yeah.
17:12 - The whole purpose of this is just
17:13 everything has to be in one bite.
17:14 - One perfect bite?
17:15 - Yeah.
17:16 - Oh.
17:17 - That's delicious.
17:18 - You should be very proud of yourself.
17:20 - Thank you.
17:20 Honestly, I think when you guys came out,
17:21 it's pretty good.
17:22 Pretty impressive the fact that this is the first time
17:24 you cook and that skin of the chicken,
17:27 it was my favorite part.
17:29 - I'm glowing, thank you, chef.
17:30 - Okay, now it's your time to say something nice about me.
17:33 - Well, that's not hard.
17:34 (dramatic music)