Roasted chicken is the quintessential comfort food, plus it’s inexpensive, delicious, and easy to make.  While roasting a whole bird can be intimidating at first, it just takes a few simple tips to make sure your roast chicken is crispy and delicious on the outside, while staying moist and flavourful inside. The first consideration is the size of chicken you want to roast.  For 2 – 4 people, you’ll want about a 4 – 5 pound chicken, often referred to as a fryer.  For a larger group, you can opt for a larger roaster chicken. The first thing you want to make sure is that the chicken is dry when it goes into the oven.  Too much water can cause the chicken to steam in the oven, which changes the texture of the meat, and loses a lot of the natural flavour.  To do this, pat the chicken dry both inside and out with a paper towel. The second step is to cover the skin with a fat to ensure it crisps to a lovely golden brown.  You can choose either oil or butter depending on your tastes – either will ensure that the skin retains the maximum flavour.  For special occasions, or if you just want to show off, you can use a compound butter, which is a butter mixed with an herb or spice to alter the flavour.  At this point, you can also use a spice rub to kick the flavour into overdrive, but that’s another post altogether. Once the skin is properly treated, you’ll want to season it with a little salt and pepper.  Then, if you like, you can place various aromatics, such as herbs and garlic in the cavity to impart their flavour to the meat.  This is completely up to your taste and imagination, but a favourite of ours is a few sprigs of rosemary and about 20 cloves of garlic.  Don’t worry about chopping anything here – it’s all coming out at the end. The next part is simple.  Just place the chicken in a good quality open roasting pan breast side up on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 400 degrees F.   After 30 minutes, rotate the pan to ensure that the breast is evenly browned, but be sure to work quickly, as leaving the oven door open can rapidly reduce the heat, and result in a longer cooking time and a dryer chicken. Cook for another 15 – 30 minutes and test the chicken with an instant-read thermometer to ensure doneness.  The thermometer should read 165 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh, and the juices should run clear.  If the juices are still slightly pink, return to the oven until done. Once your chicken is done, let it rest on a rack tented with a vented piece of foil for 10 – 15 minutes to let the juices set up before carving.  Carve the chicken any way you like, and you’ll have a great low-fuss meal for the whole family that will feel like a special occasion, but without all the work.