Ingredients Chicken Whole Chicken Buttermilk-Brined Roast Chicken 5.0 (2) 5 Reviews Chefs Evan and Sarah Rich of RT Rotisserie in San Francisco make the very best chicken. They use a buttermilk brine that includes umami powder, garlic and Douglas fir—a signature ingredient from their flagship restaurant, Rich Table, that they forage themselves. In this adaptation, the chicken is roasted in the oven, and the brine is made with buttermilk, dried porcini, garlic and rosemary, though if you have access to Douglas fir sprigs, feel free to use them. Slideshow: More Roast Chicken Recipes By Evan Rich Evan Rich Restaurant: Rich Table (Read a review) Location: San Francisco Why He's Amazing: Because he and his co-chef Sarah Rich combine incongruous ingredients in unexpectedly delicious ways. Case in point: headcheese with coffee mustard. Culinary School: The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY) background: Bouley (/sites/default/files/ew York); Coi, Quince (San Francisco) Quintessential Dish: Chicken-liver mousse with pole beans and dill, topped with a pain de mie cracker. "It's a riff on the green bean casserole I had as a kid," says Evan. Roots: He grew up in New Jersey. On Rich Table's Design: The open kitchen sold the Riches on their restaurant space. Cult Favorite Dish: Dried porcini mushroom doughnuts with raclette cheese sauce. They served them on-site at San Francisco's Outside Lands music festival last year; Spin magazine named them as No. 4 on their list of "The 40 Best Things We Saw at Outside Lands 2013" (ranked above Willie Nelson and the Red Hot Chili Peppers). On the Restaurant's Concept: "We came into opening this restaurant and people would ask, 'What kind of restaurant is it?' I would say, 'I don't know, a food restaurant?' We're not a conceptual restaurant. We don't want to change world with our cooking. We don't want to change your idea about food. We just want you come in and enjoy it." Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines and Sarah Rich Updated on October 1, 2017 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: David Cicconi Active Time: 30 mins Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Yield: 4 Ingredients Kosher salt 11 garlic cloves—9 smashed, 2 thinly sliced 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary or 5 Douglas fir sprigs 1 bay leaf 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms 1 quart buttermilk One 3 1/2-pound whole chicken 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, softened 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Directions In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup of salt with the smashed garlic, the sugar, rosemary, bay leaf and 2 cups of water. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar. Transfer the mixture to a very large bowl and stir in 2 cups of cold water. In a spice grinder, grind the mushrooms to a powder. (You should have about 3 tablespoons.) Whisk the porcini powder and buttermilk into the salt mixture. Place the chicken in the buttermilk brine, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 12 hours. Preheat the oven to 425°. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry; discard the brine. Tuck the wing tips behind the breasts, tie the legs with kitchen twine and set the chicken, breast side up, in a rack over a roasting pan. Season all over with salt. Roast the chicken for 15 minutes. Brush the butter all over the chicken, then return it to the oven and roast for about 45 minutes longer, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh registers 165°. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, simmer the olive oil with the sliced garlic over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic just starts to brown and the oil is hot and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and let cool. Carve the chicken and arrange the pieces on a platter. Brush with some of the garlic oil and serve right away, passing the remaining oil at the table. Rate it Print