Slow-Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Mustard Pan Sauce

Roasting chicken leg quarters for 2½ hours in a 300°F oven is transformative. The fat has lots of time to render, so the skin takes on a paper-thin crispness and a golden brown hue. The meat, meanwhile, becomes so tender and succulent you don’t need a knife to eat it. The flavor is rich, with a deep, distinctly “roasted” quality. We first and briefly dry brine the parts for better seasoning of the meat and crisping of the skin, but we do so at room temperature to allow the legs to lose their chill so they cook more evenly and quickly. A couple heads of garlic roasted with the chicken yields soft, sweet, creamy cloves for building a simple sauce.