Poulet Roti or Roast Chicken

The Perfect French Style Roast Chicken

When I think of French home cooking, one of the first dishes that comes to mind is roast chicken. I can hear La Vie en Rose playing in the background and I imagine walking alongside the Seine with a beautiful Bresse chicken from my local market in my bag. The overcast gray Paris day has me wrapped up in chic layers, including my vintage aubergine hued trench coat and my trusty black Italian leather boots. I pop by my local wine shop for a bottle of red to open while I cook and then head up my 3 flights of stairs to my lovely but tiny apartment in Le Marais.

This is what is happening in my head as I cook this roast chicken. Now I know this is a day dream but it’s also not hugely far off what my life in London looked like. I probably wasn’t as chic and I was definitely hungover on a Sunday. But I shopped at my local butcher for the best produce and would come home to my upstairs flat in SW6 and cook some really beautiful meals.

I love roast chicken and make it at least 3-4x a month. I am often toying around with spatchcocking and roasting at higher heats and even use my air fryer to cook this on occasion. But the French aren’t playing around with these “improvements”. They go traditional and their method is a little longer cooking time, a little lower heat and it makes for a wonderfully juicy, flavorful and succulent bird.