New York Times recipe: Roasted chicken with fish-sauce butter

Roasting chicken thighs in a hot oven is a hands-off way to achieve two of life’s greatest pleasures: crispy skin and golden schmaltz. And you want that chicken fat because it will crisp hand-torn bread into croutons. This meal is made even more lovely thanks to a bold but balanced fish-sauce butter that you whip up on the stovetop while the rest of the meal takes care of itself in the oven. Be sure to start with cold butter; the gradual melting of the fat helps thicken the sauce without breaking it.

ROASTED CHICKEN WITH FISH-SAUCE BUTTER

Ingredients

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1kg)

Salt flakes and black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cups of bread, crusts removed, torn into bite-size pieces (see tip +)

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp cold unsalted butter, kept whole

Coriander leaves with tender stems, for serving

Method

Step 1 Heat oven to 220C. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season lightly with salt and pepper. (The fish-sauce butter is plenty salty, so don’t overdo the salt here.) Arrange the chicken skin-side up on a baking tray and drizzle the oil over the chicken skin, coating it evenly. Roast until the chicken is light gold and the sheet pan is pooling with hot, rendered chicken fat, about 25 minutes.

Step 2 Take the tray out of the oven, scatter the bread around the chicken and toss gently to coat in the chicken fat. Place the pan back in the oven and roast until the chicken is golden, crispy and sizzling (you’ll hear it), about 15 minutes.

Step 3 While the chicken roasts, combine the brown sugar, fish sauce and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, occasionally swirling the pan or stirring the sauce with a wooden spoon, until bubbling vigorously and the mixture has reduced by about half, 2-3 minutes. This part is fun: turn off the heat and add the butter, constantly swirling the pan or stirring with a wooden spoon, until all of the butter has melted and incorporated into the fish sauce mixture.

Step 4 To serve, scatter the coriander all over the chicken and bread and spoon some of the fish-sauce butter over each chicken thigh, reserving some to add to each plate for dipping the chicken and croutons while eating (which is divine).

+ TIP: Many breads will work here, especially stale loaves that you’re trying to use up. Crusty sourdough lends pleasurable tang, for instance, while chewy tender milk bread tastes comfortingly sweet.

Serves 4

Total time: 45 minutes

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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