I have no fancy equipment (except a nice wok and a fairly decent knife), only a small 4-burner stove with an oven. Thank God I finally have a regular-size refrigerator! I had a very small one until February, and I would have been in big trouble trying to subsist on that during the pandemic! It didn’t even have a freezer that could freeze much more than a little tray of ice!
I do turn the hood on high before I take it out to turn etc.
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Believe me, I’ve been talking them up on here and to friends. If like for them to stick around. I do think under 4 lbs are easier to cook evenly. The enormous factory chickens are easier to find than smaller sizes
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Thanks for that. I’ve been talking it up elsewhere. I should email TJs. I had one that was actually a smidge under 3#.
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Went to TJs today and of the five or six they had everyone was over 4# with the smallest being 4.3. I also suspect that the “heritage” part of it may contribute. Regardless I got another for the freezer.
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Cath I have worked on years to duplicate Judy’s recipe. Her passing before her time was a loss for us all. I have been to Zuni numerous times; what’s more I used to walk past it on the way to my future wife’s apartment when I couldn’t afford to eat there. The smell of the wood fired oven was intoxicating.
The best I have done to replicate it was with this chicken, https://joyce-farms.com/collections/all-in-stock-products/products/poulet-rouge-heritage-chicken-coquelets, sometmes spatchcocked and sometimes not, with my home baked boulet, and red mustard greens or kale or other greens.
While, of course I can never know, I am pretty sure Judy would be fine with any homage, no ever how humble, to her brilliance. I hope so because I am making it for ebeths’ 30th birthday next week.
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Those chickens’ size looks perfect. I’ve found under 3#er’s at TJs “organic and heirloom.” We have a meat “purveyor” here in Seattle I should check with. They buy only local and what we’ve gotten has been excellent. ebeth’s a lucky kid!
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It’s interesting. My comment to you was ‘hidden’ being off-topic. But it appears that yours which is also about cooking is still here. @robert ???
Sometimes the system automatically hides posts that people have flagged as off-topic.
Thanks. Had it not already been posted, I wouldn’t have.
HERE is a different take from one of my favorite writers, Mimi Thorisson. She smothers the chicken in creme fraiche and herbs before roasting. A spectacular bird!
If only we could still get real crème fraîche in the US. 
Here’s the original recipe. She suggests substitutes.
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The vegetable stew mentioned above this recipe on her blog is also a keeper. I adore Mimi Thorisson’s palate and food sensibilities. Every recipe of hers that I’ve tried has been delicious.
I assume you’ve not been satisfied with making your own? And/but i’ve been happy with the product from Bellwether Farms.
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I haven’t tried. Raw cream is hard to find and awfully expensive to experiment with.
I’ve tried all the brands I’ve found in Berkeley and none of them tastes much like the French stuff to me. Same story for quark. Also for mascarpone, except we can still get the real stuff from Italy.
That’s what I get too, their basket sheep’s milk ricotta is the best as well
Edit to say that in a recipe like this i don’t think it makes much difference of the creme fraiche is fancy or not between the herbs and roast chicken might as well get alta dena creme fraiche 
imo
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Bellwether’s ricotta is excellent. I buy that all the time.
I totally agree. And we need to remember that recipes are written in terms of ingredients that are readily available. In France, that would be creme fraiche. Here, either sour cream or I find Mexican or Salvadorean sour cream a good or better sutstitute, but be aware that that latter two often include salt.
It’s true but I’d be careful on the substitutions. I’m pretty sure sour cream will split on you if used like that. It also has a more assertive tang that might be distracting. It’s easy enough to get alta dena creme fraiche at Ralph’s