One of my favorite ways to roast a chicken is to stuff the skin with a compound butter. A compound butter is simply softened butter mixed with additional flavors and reformed back to its traditional state.
I make all different kinds of flavored butters. One of my favorites is smoked paprika and tarragon butter. But I've made so many others that I equally love. Chopped mushrooms and thyme, which had been previously sauteed and cooled. Toasted pink peppercorn, ginger lemon, roasted garlic butter....the list is endless and essentially left up to your creativity.
The technique is very simple. I like to get a stick of butter at close to room temp, just soft enough to be able to mix thoroughly with your additional ingredients. When adding your ingredients, always make sure they are room temp and relatively dry. I like to lay out the butter on plastic wrap, add the ingredients, mix together with my hands, then roll the butter into a tight sausage like object in the plastic wrap. I then toss the butter into the freezer to harden and become one. Simply slice and use as you'd like. I love how the butter and ingredients baste and flavor the meat of roasted chicken, but you can use this technique for almost anything. Try it. You won't get disappointed! :D
