Bon Appetit's Perfect Roast Chicken by bookseller

Ok, a few caveats. One, it's for chicken thighs, not for a whole chicken. But that's ok, because they're the tastiest part. And two, it's a bit of a pain in the ass. But it's really, really easy. I mean, like, EASY. And it produces chicken where the skin is like bacon and the meat tastes more deliciously chicken-y than any chicken I've ever had. Now, I've been using "air-chilled" thighs from Whole Foods, and the fact of their never having been frozen, and being...organic, free range, whatever, may play a considerable role in the wonderfulness. So use the best chicken you can find/afford.

Bring your thighs to room temp, and season them with salt and pepper. Preheat your oven to 475. While it's preheating, heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a heavy pan (stainless or cast iron -- you want something that will just fit your thighs). If you're making more than 6 thighs, up the oil a bit. The pan should be on high heat, and you're looking for the point at which the oil is hot -- a drop of water flicked in will start to sizzle immediately -- but not smoking.

Once you've hit the magic point, put the thighs in the pan, skin-side down. Use tongs to spread out any excess skin, so that as much skin as possible gets in contact with the pan. Cook for 2 minutes.
Turn the heat down to medium-high, cook for 8 minutes.

Use tongs to move the thighs around. Don't flip them (leave them skin-side down), but pick each of them up and shift it -- you're just trying to make sure it's not sticking. Cook another 4 minutes.
Stick the pan (with the chicken STILL skin-side down) into the oven. (You can turn the burner off now.) Cook for 13 minutes.

Use tongs to (at last!) turn the thighs over, skin-side up. Cook 5 minutes.

Remove pan from oven, cover LOOSELY with tin foil, and let the chicken sit for about 5 minutes. Don't fuss about the timing here -- figure it's long enough to toss a salad and pour some wine, or drain and mash some potatoes, whatever.

Eat some of the best chicken you have ever had.