Brush the Chicken With Mayonnaise Before Baking
My all -time favorite fried chicken is the labne chicken, but it takes a 24 hour marinade and sometimes I just don’t have the patience. However, I cannot put the chicken – naked and unloved – directly into the oven without any kind of processing. In these rush, marinade-free moments I grab my best friend: mayonnaise.
If you know me, you know that I love mayonnaise and always thought it went beyond a sandwich . It’s a wonderful emulsifier – it makes salad dressings and mashed potatoes dreamier – and it can help build a really good sear for a steak . It works the same wonders for chicken skin, and sugar and proteins make the skin beautiful golden. And unlike labne, butter, or other dairy products, mayonnaise roasts a little slower, so you don’t have to watch it that closely. (I almost always cover some of the labnech chicken with foil to prevent burn stains; the extra work is worth it, but may require some vigilance.)
In terms of flavor, mayonnaise doesn’t yield a ton, but you can easily mix all kinds of flavorings with it. Nigella Lawson adds shredded broth to his Worcestershire sauce , but I chose Better Than Bouillon (mushroom flavor) because I have a lot of them. You can add whatever you want, although I wouldn’t use herbs as they tend to burn when applied to the outside of the chicken. (If you must use them in your mayonnaise, put that mayonnaise under your skin.)
For most chickens, a third of a cup of mayonnaise is sufficient, and a cube of an ingot or teaspoon and half of the BTB will give it a pleasant flavor. Simply whisk the flavored mayonnaise until the mixture is visually smooth, then brush it over the chicken with a pastry brush before baking as usual. (I even put some mayonnaise in the bird, which was good .) When you take it out of the oven, you have a beautiful bird with dark, golden, aromatic skin (and juicy meat), no marinade needed.