For Fork-Tender Roast Chicken Jacques Pépin Would Love, Use This Simple Brine

With a foolproof whole chicken recipe in your back pocket, you're guaranteed a successful dinner party. Of course, there are endless ways to prepare a delicious bird. For one that's fall-apart tender with a stunning golden exterior and succulent meat, many chefs swear by a simple brine of buttermilk and salt — Jacques Pépin included.

Here's how we know: Chef Samin Nosrat shared her recipe for buttermilk-marinated roast chicken in her 2017 cookbook "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat," as well as online. Author Sophie Dahl excerpted the recipe and its headnote on her own website, revealing Pépin's love for the method. "I was cooking a dozen of these chickens for a special event when a friend who was hosting Jacques Pépin that very same day called in a panic to ask if I could prepare a picnic basket for the legendary chef," Nosrat wrote. "I wrapped up a bird, green salad, and some crusty [bread] and sent it on its way ... I received a message from Mr. Pépin saying that everything was classically perfect and entirely delicious."

The ingredients are simply a whole chicken, salt, and buttermilk. After the bird is trimmed, salted, and rested, it's marinated in seasoned buttermilk for a full day so the lactic acid has time to deeply tenderize the meat. Finally, it's roasted in a cast iron skillet or roasting pan until brown and sizzling.

Samin Nosrat's buttermilk brine is tried and true. This method originated in the Southern U.S., where folks often marinate chicken this way before frying it. The buttermilk and salt naturally tenderize the meat. "The water ... increase[s] moisture, and the salt and acid ... disable proteins, preventing them from squeezing liquid from the meat as the bird cooks," explained Nosrat in the excerpt on Sophie Dahl's website. The sugar in the buttermilk also caramelizes, resulting in photogenic, golden-brown skin. The marinade seasons the meat, too.

The ingredients are very simple. Buttermilk is cultured, much like yogurt, by adding active bacteria to milk. This provides its signature tang, acidity, and thickness. You can use full-fat buttermilk, but most store-bought buttermilk is low-fat. As for the salt, kosher is the gold standard for its large, flat crystals. They'll easily dissolve in the marinade, but they're not so fine that you'll accidentally over-salt the buttermilk base.

Whether you choose Ina Garten's roast chicken with a twist or a five-ingredient copycat Costco rotisserie chicken recipe, try these tips for a drool-worthy bird. Jacque Pépin uses spatchcocking to minimize chicken cooking time, meaning he removes the backbone and breaks the breastbone to flatten the bird, cooking it more evenly and 25% faster (via Chicken Farmers of Canada). Nosrat also recommends positioning the legs to the back left corner of your oven and the breast to the center. This keeps the breasts from drying out before the legs cook through.