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We set out to re-imagine <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-roast-chicken">our already-awesome Ultimate Chicken recipe</a>. And in the process, we roasted at least 72 whole chickens over a course of a few weeks. (Staff meals were delicious, if repetitive.) Everything we tested and learned helped us to make the best roast chicken we have ever tasted. Should you brine a chicken? (Yes, but not in the way you imagine.) Should we dry out the skin? (Absolutely, but you have to commit to the process.) Should you roast the chicken at high heat? (Of course, but not at first.) Does resting the chicken matter? (Yes, in two different parts of the process.) Is it possible to get super shattery, glassy skin on a roast chicken? You bet. We tested different methods of brining, drying, and resting. He tried baking soda, a beer-can set-up, different salting methods, poaching, hanging, refrigerating for 1 or 4 or 7 days, and roasting those chickens at huge variations in temperature.We learned—and we learned— so much from doing all this and taking notes that we wanted to do more than give you a recipe. And thus, we created this guide for roasting the ultimate chicken. Read through this thoroughly before you start attempting <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-roast-chicken">our updated recipe</a> for juicy chicken with skin so crisp it shatters against your teeth.