ROAST WHOLE CHICKEN-How do you cook yours?

Cicero

I was going to post in another thread but thought this might be a good idea- collating all ideas/suggestions for roasting whole chickens.

1. How long do you tend to roast your chicken for? i.e 180 deg, @ 25 mins per lb + 25 mins ..or do you slow cook it, and if so, what are the results?

2. Do you tend to cover the chicken with tin-foil and take it off towards the end?

3. Do you pour water in the roasing pan or indeed beer or white wine?

4. What do you stuff it with..what gives it a great flavour?

5. Beer and chicken--I know about beer can chicken on BBques- but what about in the oven- does it work?

i.e. Any other good ideas/best practices that you have, would love to hear them..

Please note: Cooking times stated below are not to be taken literally as all ovens are different....key focus of this thread is flavourings/recipes and cooking ideas...

here is a link to the Irish Food Safety Authority for further information on cooking raw meat:
http://www.fsai.ie/faq/domestic.html#domestic_cooking

rubadub

I am interested in people cooking at 60C as was mentioned in another thread -has anybody done this? it could be a more economical way to do it energy wise, it is meant to take 5 hours.

Dizzyblonde

I usually mix a little olive oil with some crushed garlic and the rind and juice of half a lemon and some dried sage or thyme (dried or fresh), then rub it into the chicken all over. I stuff the rest of the lemon into the cavity and roast it at 180C for one and a quarter to one and a half hours, depending on how big the bird is. There's no need to cover it with foil because the lemon stops the skin from burning.

I make my stuffing by sautéeing some finely chopped onion and mushrooms and bacon bits in butter or olive oil, then adding breadcrumbs, dried sage or mixed herbs and black pepper (the bacon makes it salty enough). Sometimes I need to add some hot water to make it wet enough. I cook this separately in a dish covered in tinfoil that has holes in it to let out the steam - it cooks in 40 minutes.

byhookorbycrook

start cooking the bird on its breast, makes for a good moist birdie.

dudara

I don't use a precise measurement to cook a chicken. I know that about an hour at about 175C cooks a small chicken in my fan oven, obviously increasing as the bird size increases. But everyones' ovens are different, so it's a matter of finding the best settings for your oven.

I don't like stuffing, but I might slice a head of garlic in half and toss both halves into the cavity. When cooked, you can drain out the juices to use in your gravy.

I might sometimes cut little holes in the skin and stuff in slivers of garlic along with knobs of butter.

I pretty much always squeeze lemon juice and salt over the skin. This really helps it crisp up. I then cook it uncovered, basting once or twice while cooking.

A nice alternative is to make a Moroccan style tomato sauce with honey, cinnamon and spices and sit the bird in it while roasting.

No matter what, always use the thickest part of the chicken to check that the juices run clear before taking it out of the oven.

Cicero

aleready, lemon is coming through as a major ingredient which is great to know...If someone PM's me a correct wording (mods maybe?) ..i'll adjust my original post accordingly to include clauses such as 'do not rely on this thread for cooking times etc' or words to that effect..(also, any additional food safety hints such as not to over-stuff chicken/ tips on handling etc etc)....

Love throwing in garlic as it has such a subtle flavour in the finished result...fresh rosemary from the garden (it's an all year round herb and very sturdy so all gardens should have some) also creates a great flavour...interested in roasting chicken with white wine so if anyone has any experience, do let us know...(i.e. please post favourite successful recipes here for roast chicken ..or indeed unsuccesful ones with a comment as to why or a question...thanks all so far...want to take a back seat on this for the most part and let posters take over...would like to see it become a definitive Roast Chicken thread...

Dizzyblonde

Sometimes I'll spatchcock a chicken and roast it in this marinade:

Half a bottle of plum sauce
A tablespoon of honey
A heaped teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
A tablespoon of soy sauce
A teaspoon of sunflower oil.

Minder

Small whole chicken rubbed with thai red curry paste. Sit it in a deep tray, add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of coconut milk. Give it a lash of fish sauce. Roast as usual with occasional baste. Serve with rice.

Other good one is a good quality harissa rubbed under the skin. Use the roasting juices to wet cous cous.

The Sweeper

Large handfuls of herbs from the garden - parsley, sage and thyme especially, plus marjoram and oregano if you have it, all fresh. Finely chop, removing as much stalk and hard pieces as possible.

Get about 200g of room temperature butter. Drop it in a bowl and stir it with a fork until whipped. Into it, mix all of the herbs, plus a generous helping of salt and pepper; the grated zest of half a lemon, and three or four cloves of garlic chopped or crushed into a mush. Blend to mix the herb/garlic/lemon butter thoroughly.

Starting from the neck end of the bird, ease your fingers under the skin to lift it away from the breast of the bird. Use a tablespoon to load the herb butter under the skin, and then massage it thoroughly through the bird - given enough time and a gentle touch, you can have a layer of herb butter under the skin of most of the chicken.

Halve two or three onions, and place them cut-face-down in a roasting tin. Sit the bird on the onions. Roast at about 180 in a fan oven for a duration commensurate with the weight of the bird.

At the end of cooking, the tray will be full of chicken flavoured herb butter with the sweet onion flavour through. There's too much butter in this recipe to make a good gravy that won't be extremely greasy, so the best thing to do is carve the chicken in the tin, liberally coating the pieces with the herb butter from the tin. Then serve with something plain like steamed baby potatoes and some green beans.

Miaireland

Again I don't cook by weight but have a good idea how long the bird will take in my oven.

I put a lemon cut in half in the cavity of the chicken along with some garlic and fresh herbs (what ever is to hand).

I put salt, pepper and a tiny bit of butter on the chicken.

I also cover the chicken with a wrapper from butter (my mother's habit) and then take it off the last 10mins of so to brown the skin.

neuro-praxis

I like my roast chicken plain and simple, with a good thick flavourful gravy.

I preheat my oven to 175. I cut off any string binding the bird's legs and discard it, stretching the bird's limbs out for maximum crispy skin. I then pour about 400ml of boiling water into a roasting pan, and I place a wire rack above that. (If you like, you can put some veggies in the pan too to thicken your gravy.) The bird sits on the rack, not touching the water. It all gets a light grinding of sea salt. Then I loosely cover it with tin foil (generally I tuck it in on both sides of the tin, but the foil never actually touches the bird).

The birds I buy are usually about 1300g. I'll roast a chicken of this size for approximately 70 - 100 minutes. I never baste, as the steam from the tray keeps it moist.

This creates a delicious moist meat with crispy golden skin. The juices underneath form the basis of a tasty gravy. Served with mashed/roasted spuds, carrots, broccoli and stuffing it's one of my favourite comfort foods of all time.

(When I make stuffing, I fry some bacon lardons in a little butter, then add onions and soften. I then mix this with the breadcrumbs of some slightly stale bread, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme, and bake in a dish for 25 mins at the end of the chicken's cooking time, dotting the top with more butter.)

I've tried chicken with herb butter and lemon etc., and it's good, but I always come back to doing it this way.

The Sweeper

neuro-praxis wrote: »

I've tried chicken with herb butter and lemon etc., and it's good, but I always come back to doing it this way.

Yep, it has to be said that if you're doing the herb butter method I described, it's complete overkill to do any of the glorious extras that used to make up a sunday roast when I was a kid. In fact, the best thing to have with the one I described is a loaf of fresh, home-baked sourdough bread and a green salad.

The plain, simply seasoned method that brings out the best in the chicken and lends itself to a glorious gravy is definitely the best way if you want to go the route of the marvellous extras - crispy, golden roast potatoes, creamy mash, roast parsnips, carrots with sesame and honey, sweetcorn steamed on the cob and then sliced off and tossed with a knob of butter and a pinch of salt, steamed fresh green beans that still have a bite in them, firm garden peas tossed with a little chopped mint...

Plus to be honest, the more straightforward you are in cooking with a really *good* bird, e.g. a grain fed free range organic chicken who's been allowed to mature past 16 weeks before slaugther, the better the leftovers are - so better for dinner again on day two (with a sandwich at lunchtime?) and better for making stock from the carcass so you can have a third meal out of the final chicken pieces - perhaps a risotto or a soup...

Minder

^^^^ I want Roast Chicken now!

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/603849

I caught this recipe in Rhodes across China. Not exactly a roast, but the finished result was as good as anything that comes out of the oven. The skin was a beautiful golden colour and the meat looked very moist and tender. It cooks in 20 minutes (I'll believe that when I see it).

kylith

I separate the skin from the breast and stuff the resulting pocket with a mixture of butter, fresh herbs, parma ham and lemon zest, then put half a cut lemon in the body cavity. Sometimes I stuff the skin-pocket with sausage meat instead.

ronaneire

Sometimes I stuff mine with onions, garlic and lemon. Cover the breasts with butter, salt & pepper. Roast on the breast first for about 20 mins and turn over for the rest. Basting a few times.
Tasty tasty.

lucylu

I generally cook a chicken in a roasting bag with 2 carrots halved, 2 onions quartered, a clove of garlic,a good sprig of tarragon and lemon juice.
When the Chicken is done, I take the veg and jucies and blend in my food processor and then sieve., Put it back into a pot and heat - there is my gravy

If you like Crispy skin rub a stock cube disolved in a 1tblsp olive oil onto the skin before cooking

olaola

If I'm doing simple chicken - I get one lemon & a few cloves of garlic. Cut the lemon in half, stick it in the cavity with a cut clove. Cut the other half into wedges. Cut a slit where the legs & wings meet the body - but pieces of garlic in the slits & wedge in with a wedge of lemon. Put little holes in the skin covering the breast too - and put little slivers of garlic under the skin. I roast mine on a wire tray in a baking tin - and I turn it over every 1/2 an hour or so, so it self bastes. I leave the tin foil on until about 30-20 mins left of cooking (I have a gas oven, so I HAVE to do this) and MOST importantly! Let it rest!

If I want gravy - I don't stuff it, as I find the chicken absorbs more of the juices when it's stuffed. For stuffing - home made breadcrumbs, white onion, thyme and parsley. Whizz it all up and lash it in. Sometimes I might rub butter into the crumbs (a la making pastry) for extra yumminess. I also cut the legs mostly off after about 40 mins in the oven.

lisao80

I tend to follow the cooking guidelines for the weight of the chicken, then rub the skin with butter, put on a lash of sea salt, paprica(sp) and a tiny bit of chilli power. cover it loosely with tin foil until there is around 35-40 mins cooking time left then ill take it off to let the skin crisp up.
Always lovely and moist from the butter...hmmm think i may cook a chicken for dinner this evening now.

murphym7

I slow cook at 150c - I don't worry about weights either. Stuffed with onion and garlic. Half the time covered in tinfoil half uncovered.

xoxyx

I always put a good bit of cajun on the top a couple of times during cooking. It makes the skin really crispy. Plus, I love cajun!

angeldaisy

lucylu wrote: »

I generally cook a chicken in a roasting bag with 2 carrots halved, 2 onions quartered, a clove of garlic,a good sprig of tarragon and lemon juice.
When the Chicken is done, I take the veg and jucies and blend in my food processor and then sieve., Put it back into a pot and heat - there is my gravy

If you like Crispy skin rub a stock cube disolved in a 1tblsp olive oil onto the skin before cooking

hate to admit it, but whilst I absolutely love roast chicken and the leftovers etc... but I can't make good gravy to save my life. lucylu's sounds good. any other tips/help/recipes.

Cicero

angeldaisy wrote: »

hate to admit it, but whilst I absolutely love roast chicken and the leftovers etc... but I can't make good gravy to save my life. lucylu's sounds good. any other tips/help/recipes.

+1 to that...seem to end up with a lot of oily mess in the roasting tray...never tastes particularly appealing...have watched various TV chefs make gravy but it never seems to taste as it should when I try it...what are we missing?

jdivision

I think it's getting the fat out of the juices makes the difference, they don't seem to do it on TV but mention it. I tend to put them in the fridge overnight and then just lift off the fat which will have solidified on top. Obviously it means gravy with leftovers though...

glanman

rubadub wrote: »

I am interested in people cooking at 60C as was mentioned in another thread -has anybody done this? it could be a more economical way to do it energy wise, it is meant to take 5 hours.

i think it was 125

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055831237

Cicero

yea Jdivision..as you say, they say it (seperating out the fat), but it seems an impossible task when serving up on the day...I've placed the jucies in the freezer at Christmas time when doing the turkey (as there's usually a couple of hours between turkey cooked and serving up time) and it has worked in that the fat has solidified to the degree it can be scraped off the top...but can't figure out how to do get a good gravy in a hurry..maybe it's better to plan and make a good stock from last weeks chicken and freeze it for next weeks?...find the gravy is also quite bitter also from any pan jucies I've got...

watna

The Sweeper wrote: »

Large handfuls of herbs from the garden - parsley, sage and thyme especially, plus marjoram and oregano if you have it, all fresh. Finely chop, removing as much stalk and hard pieces as possible.

Get about 200g of room temperature butter. Drop it in a bowl and stir it with a fork until whipped. Into it, mix all of the herbs, plus a generous helping of salt and pepper; the grated zest of half a lemon, and three or four cloves of garlic chopped or crushed into a mush. Blend to mix the herb/garlic/lemon butter thoroughly.

Starting from the neck end of the bird, ease your fingers under the skin to lift it away from the breast of the bird. Use a tablespoon to load the herb butter under the skin, and then massage it thoroughly through the bird - given enough time and a gentle touch, you can have a layer of herb butter under the skin of most of the chicken.

Halve two or three onions, and place them cut-face-down in a roasting tin. Sit the bird on the onions. Roast at about 180 in a fan oven for a duration commensurate with the weight of the bird.

At the end of cooking, the tray will be full of chicken flavoured herb butter with the sweet onion flavour through. There's too much butter in this recipe to make a good gravy that won't be extremely greasy, so the best thing to do is carve the chicken in the tin, liberally coating the pieces with the herb butter from the tin. Then serve with something plain like steamed baby potatoes and some green beans.

I make my chicken pretty much just like this but I never thought of sitting the bird on onion halves. That's a great idea! NOt only do you get the oniony goodness in the gravy but it also would stop the bird from sticking to the bottom of the roasting dish which happens with me all the time. Will definitely try it out.

olaola

Cicero wrote: »

yea Jdivision..as you say, they say it (seperating out the fat), but it seems an impossible task when serving up on the day...I've placed the jucies in the freezer at Christmas time when doing the turkey (as there's usually a couple of hours between turkey cooked and serving up time) and it has worked in that the fat has solidified to the degree it can be scraped off the top...but can't figure out how to do get a good gravy in a hurry..maybe it's better to plan and make a good stock from last weeks chicken and freeze it for next weeks?...find the gravy is also quite bitter also from any pan jucies I've got...

I saw on CDWM - Pop a few ice cubes in the juices, and the fat should freeze onto them.

kylith

Cicero wrote: »

yea Jdivision..as you say, they say it (seperating out the fat), but it seems an impossible task when serving up on the day...I've placed the jucies in the freezer at Christmas time when doing the turkey (as there's usually a couple of hours between turkey cooked and serving up time) and it has worked in that the fat has solidified to the degree it can be scraped off the top...but can't figure out how to do get a good gravy in a hurry..maybe it's better to plan and make a good stock from last weeks chicken and freeze it for next weeks?...find the gravy is also quite bitter also from any pan jucies I've got...

OH demands gravy with his roast, so I made a decent gravy-in-a-hurry at the weekend from a chicken stock cube and bisto thickening agent. Not perfect, but a nice, chickeny gravy.

rubadub

glanman wrote: »

i think it was 125

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055831237

It was in that actual thread

tfak85 wrote: »

heston blumenthal roasts his at 60celsius for 6 hours then browns it in a large hot frying pan from what i remember....

neuro-praxis

Buy a fat/juices separator! That's what I use. It's a jug with a spout that pours from the bottom. I simply pour all the juices into it, allow it to settle for a minute, then pour off the juices, discarding the fat left in the jug.

foodaholic

usually use ice cube and it works a treat. Just bought a seperater so hopefully that works