Brined and Roasted Chicken

I made this chicken on May 31 and just realized I never posted it. Here it is for your delight.

Ingredients:

• Brine
• Apple cider
• Cranberry juice
• garlic
• bay leaves
• kosher salt
• pepper
• Chicken
• Potatoes
• Green pepper
• Celery
  
• Onion
• Rosemary
• Thyme

Procedure:
First, I made the brine. I put all of the ingredients in a large pot and boiled them for about 30 minutes, time to get rid of some of the water and carmalize some of the sugar in the juices. While that was cooling off, I put the chicken in a large pot and threw some salt, pepper, and paprika on it. The chicken was covered in brine and left in the fridge for about a day.

Once the chicken had thoroughly brined, I cut up the potatoes, onions, celery, and green pepper. I lined a baking pan with those and added the spices, olive oil, and some cider over top. The chicken was stuffed with more onions, celery, green pepper, and spices, then went on a rack that held it above the vegetables in the pan. I baked it at 275 for an hour, then covered it with tin foil and bumped it up to 300 for 25 minutes. The chicken was too high in the oven and the skin burned just a little. The foil kept that from getting worse while it finished cooking.

Resulting Deliciousness:
This turned out really well. The chicken was moist and flavorful, as were the vegetables that cooked in the drippings and cider. The skin looked pretty burnt, but tasted fine. Next time I'll move it down in the oven to keep that from happening.