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wow. sounds good. i'll give it a try. you are very convincing!

Sounds kind of gross to me...nonetheless I printed it off and will give it a try!

I have another chicken in the freezer waiting for me to decide I want roasted chicken. I think I have to try this recipe with it.

milk and lemon sounds terrible, but this review is *so* convincing i am going to do it. i'm excited!

do we think the milk is necessary in this recipe? i think its what sounds so offputting to most of us... could it be swapped out for some other liquid (maybe one that wouldn't curdle with the lemon)?

I remember when Jamie made this on his show (Naked Chef) and I tried it soon after. It was AWESOME.

The recipe is on page 183 of his book, "Happy Days with the Naked Chef".

Thanks so much for this post. I'm definitely making it again SOON.

hmmm... I have a ton of soymilk that I'm thinking of trying this with.

What a review! Based on your description, I'm making this tomorrow. It does sound rather easy peasy.

I saw this over here forever ago and embarrassingly have yet to try it.

OK, it's post-second try now, and I am just now adding some comments to this recipe. See ETA at bottom of post.

Braising in milk isn't that unusual. I remember a recipe in Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" that is a pork rib raost braised in milk, Bolognese style.

I'm with spossberg--I'm still traumatized from when I put both milk and lemon in my tea as a kid, but you're so convincing that I'll have to make this.

Don't forget, paneer, that wonderfully delicious Indian cheese, is just milk with lemon juice! I'm going to try this tomorrow night. Questio - how big a chicken does the recipe call for?

Thank you for posting this! I *never* would have tried this recipe without enthusiastic endorsement, but after reading about how much you liked it, I'm going to give it a go this weekend!

[As KevinM pointed out, this is more of a braised chicken recipe than a roasted one (esp. made the way you did it the first time).]

Something in the milk tenderizes the chicken, not sure if you can substitute it with another liquid. That being said, I can't wait to try this recipe!

I hate Jamie and this recipe sounds fuuuuunky... but wtf, I'll give it a try...

I just tried this for dinner tonight and it was lovely. The sauce looked a bit dodgy, but it tasted absolutely fantastic. The milk curdles and forms almost a cheese, which is divine with the rest of the sauce and the chicken.

Have to try this -- was planning on making chicken next week for company, and really want to try this, but, you guessed it, the curdled milk sauce doesn't sound company-worthy (I'll try anything, but for company, you want it to be pretty...)...

Can it be reconstituted somehow? blended? blend and add cream??

i've been making this since Happy Days with the Naked Chef came out in 2002. soooooo good!

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This sounds wonderful! Lemon and milk do go together. Think lemon cheesecake, pasta with cream sauce and thyme--the combinations are endless. I'm sure the chicken recipe would be good with cream as well, but this way seems a smidge more healthful. Also, there's a difference between milk changing consistency under heat and curdling because it's spoiled. Use the freshest milk possible and all should be fine. Can't wait to try this!

I saw on his website that some commenters had just used chicken parts rather than a whole chicken. if I were to just use thighs, how long do you suppose I should cook it? Might make for an easy, fast weeknight dinner.

One more thing, since some of you asked about the sauce: it really doesn't come out looking like curdled milk. I almost asked where the milk had gone. It just looks like golden chicken drippings/sauce. I served it in a little pitcher with the chicken last night, and my guests poured it over everything.

The minute I saw the picture of that little chicken sitting in the pan I ran right out to get one. It was DELICIOUS! I made it with mashed potatoes, garlicky kale and roasted broccoli. The sauce alone was outstanding. I thought it was going to be like slicing through a thick cake but there were only a few small floaty things that hardly seemed worth all the commotion.

FANTASTIC!!! This is going to be a great go-to dinner party sham-wow for me. THANKS!

Made this tonight, lid off the whole time as I missed the updated post. It was great! I chucked in a bit more garlic than it called for since I couldn't resist, but followed everything else to the letter. Made mashed fingerling potatoes to go with it. It's my first attempt at roast chicken, which has long terrified me even though I know it's so simple. Thanks for the addition to my regular cooking rotation!

I'm sold!

Only problem is that in order to make this for our guests, we would need 2 chickens, because we'll be 7 (if you count the 2 year old who usually doesn't eat, but seems to like chicken legs)... am trying to figure out how to do it...

This recipe has inspired me to make pork shoulder in milk -- I found a similar recipe online.

Made this last night - and yum! Not 'the best chicken I've ever eaten', but it was very delicious for something sooo easy to prepare and with ingredients that I will always have available. My apartment did smell amazing with the garlic, lemon, sage and cinnamon all blending fantasticly with the chicken. It is an interesting eastern flavor, though I can't place it exactly - it's somewhere between indian and thai... which is why i think trying it with coconut milk would be worth the risk.

The thighs and wings were particularly good, sunnyteigh, so i think that would be a good change. On epicurious, there are a couple braised chicken thigh recipes that recommend simmering the thighs stovetop for 25 minutes. There's a recipe for chicken pieces that are oven braised for 45 minutes to 1 hour after browning. I'm sure either of those would work, though milk probably does better at the lower temp of the oven.

I made this tonight. AMAZING. I think the garlic spread on crusty bread dipped in the leftover pan juices was the best part!

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i made this tonight, too (the post was so convincing!) - really amazing flavor, i couldn't stop eating it. but the breast meat was a tad dry for me, even though i left the lid on for the first hour and occasionally basted it with the liquid. maybe the basting was my problem - should i have just left the lid on the entire hour, and not crack the oven or the pot at all?

definitely an awesome recipe for its simplicity though, and i will make it again soon (maybe with individual parts instead of a whole chicken though, just to test scalability).

Here is the pork recipe btw -- looks awesome (there is a video), and very, very similar to this chicken:

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/popular-ingredients/pork/braised-pork-shoulder-recipe_p_1.html

I made this last night and it was so amazing. I think next time I want to up the pepper a bit (I might have gone a bit crazy with the sea salt), and I did it with the lid off the whole time. I basted the bird probably four or five times throughout the cooking and seriously the flavor was incredible. Definitely going to try it again with the lid on soon! SO EASY and so good!

Ok, this was good. Not - certainly - the best chicken I've ever made, but quite good. Perhaps I have to try the lid-on method?

If you didn't know milk went into it you'd never see it afterwards - the broth looked like regular clear chicken drippings; perhaps more (non-fat) liquid than usual. Tasted very good.

Take a little more care than usual about avoiding lemon pith - the little bit that doesn't seem to affect most things made my chicken a little bitter.

I would also try skipping the frying in butter bit - that's a heck of a lot of butter to throw away. I used a bit to cook some green beans, but how much can one do? I'm not convinced it adds much.

I'm not sure how I managed to mess up a "foolproof"
recipe, but somehow I managed. Milk never really reduced, so I ended up with a milk braise and had to reduce the cooking liquid by hand at the end with a beurre manie for regular milk gravy. Maybe it's that I used ultra pasteurized milk? Or not enough lemon?

Monstertruck - UHT milk is probably the culprit. It doesn't perform like regular milk in any culinary purpose I know of nor does UHT cream.

I really hate the stuff.

Made it tonight... It was incredible! Probably the best chicken I've ever "roasted." I did leave the lid on for most of the time. The garlic was exquisite!
For once in my life I really understood why people would rather eat the lovely brown meat. White was good, but the brown was deeply succulent. Mmmm....mmmmm.
Made fresh coriander scented bread to go with.

Hmmm.. Just to clarify -- this isn't roast chicken at all. Because there's so much liquid involved, it's braised. This is similar to the old standby recipe of Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, where you braise chicken pieces in chicken stock with herbs and garlic. I made this tonight..Just as good as Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, but I am not so sure there's anything exceptional about it. I mean, it's good, but it's no Zuni chicken.

@ SoSue from above...

the lactic acid in the milk helps to tenderize the chicken. it works well as a tenderizing marinade as well, if you just want to tenderize without having to use any vinegars or other acids. tip from mom!

I made this last night as everyone was raving about it and it sounded so easy. I agree with many in that it was good, moist, and succulent, but it wasn't the best chicken I've ever had. The garlic was sublime. I didn't have the sage and perhaps that was the bit that would have put it over the top. I'm going to make a gravy with the pan sauces and pour it over the left over chicken with smashed taters.

Made it last night- cover on 1 hour & off 1/2 hour. Next time I will braise with the breast side down so it doesn't dry out as much. Served with carrot souffle, sauteed kale & home made bread boule (no knead bread). I am making it for company this weekend, it tasted so good!

Thank you for pointing out this recipe. I made it last night and we loved it. After browning the chicken I removed it to a plate and then browned 1 cup of jasmine rice. After it browned I made a well in the rice, placed the chicken in the well and topped with the remaining ingredients. It made the most delicious rice (about 3 cups). Be sure to pour out as much fat as possible after browning the chicken or you will have greasy rice. Only needed about 1 T. butter and 1 T. olive oil to brown the chicken. I think I will lower the heat to 350 as it was a tad over done. I covered the entire time. I will do what tallsarah said and cook it next with the breast on the bottom.

If you don't like the look of the curdled milk, you can pour the sauce in a blender and run it on high. It'll give you a smooth, creamy sauce. Just a tip.

I wasn't sure, so I cooked it breast side down so the meat would take up as much flavor as possible - came out great!

A couple adjustments: The recipe called for an awful lot of butter - you don't even need half as much. The lemon was delicious, but next time I may try cardamon pods instead of sage to give it more of an Indian flavor.

I just made this tonight and it was great. However, my partner doesn't like the lemon. Any suggestions for substitutes, or should I just leave it out?

Also, I didn't have sage and used thyme. And cooked it breast side down. It was delicious, all the same.

I made this chicken tonight and it rocks. Amazingly tender and super tasty. Top 10 for sure!

With the leftovers I made this soup:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Thai-Chicken-Coconut-Soup-241463

Soooooooooooo good.

i realized we had this book at home (and i never cook from it)... so i made it tonight, following the lid-on-for-an-hour, lid-off-for-half tip, and it was AMAZING. loved it. the chicken was cooked perfectly and had wonderful crispy golden skin on top. the BF called his parents to brag. :) served it with garden spinach and white rice. yum! thanks for the encouragement to try something off-the-wall!

I got around to making this tonight, with one significant change: I was almost out of milk, so used half 1% milk and half cream - and for those of you who are squicking out about the possible curdiness of the sauce, that's key! The extra fat keeps the sauce from curdling, and what you end up with is velvety smooth and absolutely delicious!

We made this tonight--lid on the whole time, with goat milk and meyer lemon--and it was wonderful. Not sure if it was the best roast/braised chicken I've ever tasted, but it's definitely on the list. The meat was moist and tender, and it fell right off the bone.

Our sauce wasn't all that curdled-looking--the goat milk, maybe? We'll keep it in the rotation.

Hi! I too got hooked into this recipe just by Faith's glowing report. I made it tonight with the help of my DB, who was so proud of himself! We had a friend over and all of us GUSHED about the yummy chicken. DB is a vegetarian who will have a little chicken for high holy days, so this qualified! (silly boy) We devoured the bird. The sauce was amazing, but we have lots left over. I am a gluten-free girl so no bread. We did dig out the garlic and put all of it on the mashed potatoes I made. I think I want more garlic just cause it is so yummy! The cinnamon really added a lovely note. I will make this again and again.

The DB did think that he would like the skin more crispy, so we agreed to brown it a bit more and try a 45 minutes on/45 minutes off the next time just for him--you know...the VEGETARIAN! Regardless, it was WONDERFUL!

Made this tonight and it was absolutely amazing.... Definitely the best bird I have ever roasted.

I made this tonight and the whole family loved it, even my three-year-old. I browned the chicken in just 1 T each olive oil and butter. I served it with steamed broccoli and some crusty bread. The broccoli was good, but I think the dish would go better with a side of rice. We'll be doing that with the leftovers tomorrow!

Would coconut milk work in place of "milk?" Sounds delicious and I love that it's a one pot meal. Being a busy Mom this makes things easier. Thank you.

Mmmm, so looking forward to making this tonight with sweet potato gratin and steamed artichokes

Think it would work with just chicken breasts? That's all I got!

I love this dish and have made it several times. I saw the show when he made this several years ago and Jamie left two things out of the recipe. First, after he dumps the butter that he used to brown the chicken and then adds the chicken and all the other ingredients to the pan, he adds another stick of butter. Then, before he puts it in the oven, he takes a piece of parchment paper, crinkles it up and wets the heck out of it before covering the chicken with it. This acts as sort of a cover which may be why you thought the covered version was better than the uncovered.

I should also add, that when Jamie Oliver zested the lemons, he used a potato peeler and removed the lemon zest in big chunks. Not the fine way with a microplaner that we usually do it.

I made this last night and it turned out awesome! Very nice and simple meal. I probably used a little less zest then I should have, but that's just because I don't have a proper zester. Other then that I used 20 cloves of garlic compared to the 10.

FYI, according to Jamie's original episode, he stuffed the cavity with lemon zest & sage, & you need to bring the ingredients in the roasting dish to a boil, and then cover the dish with wet wax paper before you put it in the oven. The wet paper makes the chicken golden on the outside but prevents it from drying out. i'm going to try it with lid on for 1 hr also for a moister bird.

Wonderful Sara Kate and Jamie! However--ah, you both are so young!--this concept is a combination of two famous, iconic recipes of Marcella Hazan's--two of the most cooked! recipes from "Essentials of Italian Cooking." One is Chicken and Lemon, the other Pork Roast cooked in milk. Check them out: I think they're both on line, and both as wonderful today as they were 20 years ago.

This is a fabulous recipe. I finally got to make it last night. We had no whole milk, so I combined half and half with heavy cream, and it did not curdle. It just got thick like Greek yogurt.

A friend used coconut milk on her second go-round, as the first time, the curdled milk grossed her guests out.

This is easily the best chicken I've ever made. I roasted Yellow Finn potatoes to serve with the gravy. HEAVEN. Thank you.

I made this tonight. It was my first foray into roasting a chicken. I'm a brand new cook. This looked fantastically easy and IT WAS.

I served with rosemary bread with the garlic from the chicken smeared on it and some left over veggies. It was amazing, and this is definitely something I would serve for company.

Next time, though I will stuff the lemon and sage in the cavity. I zested with a veggie peeler and then sliced it into tiny pieces. Next time, I'll just toss them in peeled as Jamie does in the tv episode.