USA: Cajun Spice Mix & Mother's Sticky Roasted Chicken

By Tom Hunt

The ultimate Sunday roast chicken recipe. Just pop the chicken in the oven and forget about it until it turns wonderfully sticky and falls off the bone.

This is my take on Chef Paul Prudhomme's famous recipe for Mother’s Sticky Roasted Chicken. Originally published in his column "Chef's Choice," in Plus West, in 1988 (Los Angeles Times Syndicate), at the time he owned K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans.

Other ways to use the rub

• Rubbed onto pork chops or steak before pan-searing
• Stirred into scrambled eggs or grits
• Scattered over corn on the cob before grilling

Ingredients

For the spice rub (makes about 80ml):

• 2 tsp paprika
• 1.5 tsp cayenne pepper
• 4 tsp salt
• 3 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp black pepper

For the chicken:

• 1 chicken, about 1.4kg (3lb)
• 1 chopped onion

Method

To make the spice rub:

1. Combine all the spices thoroughly in a bowl or jar and mix well.
2. Store in a Shadwell spice tube or an airtight jar, labelled and dated. Keeps up to 3 months.

To make the sticky roasted chicken:

1. Rub 5 teaspoons of cajun spice mix all over the chicken, inside and out, patting it into the skin to make sure it's worked evenly down into the pores.
2. Place the chicken in a container, seal, and refrigerate overnight. Take out of the oven a couple of hours before cooking.
3. When ready to roast, stuff the cavity with the chopped onions.
4. Roast uncovered at 250°F (120°C, about 100°C fan) for about 5 hours, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until they begin to caramelise on the bottom of the pan and the chicken is deep golden brown.

Serving suggestion: rice with the pan juices spooned over, or cornbread, are the kind of simple, traditional Louisiana farmhouse pairings this chicken would originally have been served alongside, though Prudhomme's own clipping doesn't specify a side.