Recipe: Spicy Pepper Chicken (roast chicken with cayenne pepper rub)

SPICY PEPPER CHICKEN
"Nashville is famous for its "Hot Chicken." I like to get mine from Prince's Hot Chicken Shack. It's crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, and it comes decorated with a thin round of bright green pickle that calls to mind a gold medal. This chicken is so hot, it can make a body see things. Speak in tongues. Change lives. This chicken is also fried. Now, I've already told you what I think about regular fried chicken - that it's a bad boyfriend you've just got to give up.
But this hot chicken here? You can eat my Spicy Pepper Chicken whenever you like, and it's a friend you'll want to keep around."



2 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
1 (3 to 4 pound) chicken
Ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Mix the cayenne, olive oil, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl; set aside.

Remove the giblets, neck, and liver packet - anything stuffed in the interior of the chicken. Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry

Put the chicken in a baking dish with low sides. Season it generously with salt and pepper inside and out. Starting at the neck of the chicken, and making sure to break no more of the skin than you have to, rub the oil mixture onto the chicken flesh, including the legs (use a brush or disposable gloves if you don't want the hot pepper on your hands). The whole chicken should appear reddish.

Roast the chicken for 20 minutes at 450 degrees F to crisp the skin, then turn the heat down to 400 degrees F. Continue to roast the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. The juices should run clear and colorless when you pierce a thigh. This can take another 25 to 40 minutes.

Remove the dish from the oven and lei the chicken rest for 15 minutes be/ore carving and serving.

Makes 4-5 servings
Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Clarkson Potter
Adapted from source: Soul Food Love by Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams