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Roasted Chicken in a Paper Bag #CooktheBooks

Our February/March book selection for Cook the Books club was sensational.  Let me introduce you to Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent.  This month’s book selection was chosen by Claudia from Honey From Rock.  You can read Claudia's invitation: here.


From the Publisher's summary:  "Isabel has no idea that the man in the kitchen baking the sublime roast chicken and light-as-air apricot soufflé will end up changing her life. As Edward and Isabel meet weekly for the glorious dinners that Edward prepares, he shares so much more than his recipes for apple galette or the perfect martini, or even his tips for deboning poultry. Edward is teaching Isabel the luxury of slowing down and taking the time to think through everything she does, to deconstruct her own life, cutting it back to the bone and examining the guts, no matter how messy that proves to be."

Even though the book was a memoir of the author and the strife she was going through when she met Edward, it was truly about the remarkable Edward, with whom I fell in love.  He's a gentleman, a foodie, a purveyor of all that is lovely and wonderful in life, including a good bourbon and roast chicken.  He can shop and enjoys picking out his food from specialized markets.  Things I dream about.  His undying love for his deceased wife is the stuff romance movies are made of. I even started wearing my red lipstick again. 

Although each chapter started with the menu that Edward cooked, the book contained no recipes. There was a lot of good description of cooking methods and one of those was paper bag chicken, which I coaxed my husband into trying. Here's what we did:

We started with a good chicken.  A free range, 3 pound bird, never frozen.  Preheat the oven to 400.  Rinse the chicken, pull off any visible fat, pat dry (important for a crispy skin) and salt and pepper inside and out.  We also seasoned with Trader Joe's 21 Spice seasoning on the outside.  Bob stuffed the cavity with a peeled onion and sprigs of rosemary.  He put the brown paper bag we got from the store on its side, on top of a cookie sheet.  The chicken went inside the bag, then the bag was tied with kitchen string.  Bob had put the upper rack on the next to lowest setting inside the oven, giving the bag a lot of room on top.  The chicken cooked an hour and a half.  The bag was removed and the chicken put back into the oven to crisp up the skin and to bring to 165 degrees.  The chicken was then removed and let rest for about ten minutes.

Out of the oven and opened.

See the chicken in the bag?

A resting chicken.
Dinner
This is an incredible chicken.  We love roast chicken and like to try different recipes, but this one has our attention.  So incredibly moist and the flavors are throughout the meat.  We will be doing this again, as our go-to way of doing roast chicken.  It's too incredible not to do it this way.

If you are a food blogger or a food Instagrammer, you can join us by clicking the link above, finding our current book, reading the book and cooking from it.  Write a post and follow the directions about submitting it to the hostess for the round up. We'd love to have you!





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  1. What a fun and creative idea with this Cook the Book! Love it! And the chicken looks so delicious! Save me some leftovers!

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  2. This looks delicious - like all your recipes! I love me a good chicken - but have never thought of making it in a bag! I bet it's reaaaaally tender! x

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  3. that looks great, and the book sounds really good too. I would be afraid to put a paper bag in the oven, but i guess on the lowest setting it shouldn't catch fire .

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  4. Sounds like a great book! I'm with Jessi above me, I'd be afraid the bag would catch on fire! That chicken looks so good though!

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  5. Oh my! That looks great and such a creative idea! I'm afraid to try this one though since it involves paper and oven. Lol

    Belle | www.OneAwesomeMomma.com

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  6. Anonymous8:54 PM

    I don't know what I find more fun, the book or the cooking method! I think I would love both, looking for the book and adding chicken to my grocery list,

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  7. This recipe looks amazing! My husband would love this! I love the bag idea. I am always trying to come up with more chicken recipes!

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  8. This looks amazing! Now I'm hungry and need to buy me a 3 pound chicken!

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  9. I have never even heard of making chicken like this. The books sounds sensational!

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  10. What a great food idea to pick from the book!!! I had forgotten about that. I think I enjoyed the book even more because there were no recipes and just descriptions of the lovely food! Mine will be up tomorrow.

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  11. How interesting!!! I never heard of this before! I need to give this a try one day!

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  12. What kind of wizardry is this! Why didn't the bag catch fire? Maybe low heat? Did it really taste different than using foil or a regular cover? Never heard of this method!

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  13. How interesting! I have never heard of chicken baked in a bag. I think we will definitely try it.

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  14. Wow this is a new concept to me. I heard of Shake and Bake in a plastic bag but never in a paper bag...super new!

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  15. What a fun way to cook a chicken! I've never heard of this method and would love to try it at home. Thanks for making me aware!

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  16. This is so interesting. I just saw this technique on a television program and it looks like a great way to prepare dinner. YUM!

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  17. I had no idea you could put food in a paper bag and then into the oven! Need to try this trick.

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  18. This is such an interesting way to cook a chicken! So easy, I'll have to try

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  19. Wow I've never heard about cooking a chicken in a bag before. I've love to try it! I'd be a little nervous of different ovens running a little hotter.

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  20. I have heard of this recipe, but I never knew anyone to try it. It looks pretty delicious. I would love to try it someday.

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  21. What??!! Get out of here. I never would have guessed in a million years that you could do this! Super cool!

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  22. what?!?!? I had no idea! I would never have thought of this or think to try it but it looks like it turned out perfectly!

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  23. I never thought of this or thought it was even something that could be done but it looks amazing

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  24. My mom's friend bakes ham in paper bags - she swears by it. So far she hasn't burned the house down, so perhaps there's something to it? :)

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  25. I was intrigued by the paper bag chicken as well Terri. Glad that you shared your experience with it.

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  26. So fascinating! I would never think to cook a chicken in a paper bag!

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