What's the first thing you look for in a roast chicken recipe? Is it the promise of moist, juicy breast meat? Or a delicious, crispy skin? Or just a hint of citrus flavoring the meat?

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to roast chicken. But no matter what you enjoy, there's a way to prepare roast chicken so that it's just the way you like it.

The key is actually to not follow a roast chicken recipe at all. Why? Because that recipe was written by someone else. Sometimes it'll work out that it's just right for you, too, but more often it won't. Wouldn't it be better to be able create your own recipe so you that can make roast chicken just the way you want?

Well, it's possible. And the good news is, it's not even hard. You just need to learn a few basic details about roasting chicken, and then use those as building blocks to make your own personal best roast chicken recipe.

So what are some of the things you need to know about roasting chicken? Here are a few.

1. Bringing is a cooking trick where you soak your chicken in a brine of salty water. It helps season the meat deep down, and protects it from drying out. That helps you get a juicier and more flavorful chicken.

2.Seasoning is super important, because chicken has a very mild flavor. You can season the skin, but seasoning under the skin is even better, because it'll penetrate the meat more. Chicken goes with lots of flavors, so you can pick almost any spice you like.

3. Butter over the skin can help it brown more easily, and butter under the skin can help keep the chicken moist.

4. Stuffing the cavity with herbs, aromatic veggies like onions, or citrus fruit like lemon or orange wedges can add a lot of flavor to the chicken.

5. There are lots of ways to roast a chicken. A low oven temperature (275F) can turn your chicken into a juicy, tender dream, but it takes time. A higher temperature (400F) will roast the chicken quickly and give an awesome, crispy skin. Or you can pick something in between to get a nice balance.

6. Basting a chicken can help keep the skin from burning or browning unevenly, but it doesn't do as much to keep the meat moist as a bit of butter under the skin. And opening the oven door will make the temperature in the oven drop and the chicken won't cook as evenly.

No matter how you do it, the chicken is cooked when a meat thermometer reads the internal temperature at 170F for breast meat, and 180F for thigh meat.

There are definitely a few things to know when you're making your own roast chicken recipe. But they're not complicated, and once you know them, you'll never forget how to make the perfect roast chicken for you.