how to roast a whole chicken?

ti1980

Ooh, celery salt is one of the few herbs and spices I actually have!:o
I did buys some garam masala, crushed chillies, paprika and tumeric today though!:)

I'm scared of the whole stock thing, my mum makes it and looking at it makes me feel ill. Anything she cooks tastes fantastic though, I don't take after her at all in that respect.

I'm really pushed for space in the freezer though (shared house) so even though I know the stock idea is a brilliant one, the others will get mad at me if I tried to rearrange the freezer. I might take a couple of meals I made out and actually eat them! I never fancy them on the day I have cooked them so always have more to freeze for another day!

Thanks again for the replies, as usual everyone is so helpful and have made me feel slightly more brave!

Gingernutmeg

The cooking times on the packages are accurate, but a good way to check chicken is to take a knife and pierce the fattest part of the drumstick. Press the blade of the knife down over the bit that you've pierced, and any juices that come out should be completely clear. If they look even the slightest bit pink, then put the chicken back in the oven for a little longer.

My favourite way to roast chicken is to chop some fresh herbs (tarragon is nice, or rosemary, thyme ...) and mix with some butter. Squeeze half a lemon over the chicken and smear it with the herby butter. Put the squeezed lemon inside the chicken, along with half an onion (peeled) and a peeled clove of garlic. Roast until golden and crispy

newlywed

I get really worried about undercooking chicken but the package times have always been right for me. Just make sure your oven is preheated before you put it in and start timing.

To check if it's done, stick a sharp knife into the fat bit of the thigh (right in to touch the bone) and then check if the juices on the knife are clear (if they are pink then give it a bit longer).

Or, even easier, if you plan to do this again, buy a meat thermometer for about £3 from Tesco, plant it into the chicken and when the cooking time is up, check the thermometer is pointing to the chicken section!

[Deleted User]

I must admit, I do a pretty delicious roast chicken. Like your mum, I always cook it for longer than it says. Rub with garlic and lemon juice and it will be tender and smell fantastic. I buy a small free-range chicken for the two of us. That makes roast chicken, chicken sandwich with mayo for lunch next day. THEN put the carcass in a pan with enough water to cover, add old leftover veg like carrots and simmer with the lid on for half an hour or so. You'll get loads more chicken off the bone. Chuck the bones away and use as chicken stock, or add a couple of potatoes and cook on the hob for a heart chicken soup. At the end of cooking stir in a little double cream. Serve with hunks of crusty bread.
Thats THREE meals from one small free-range chicken costing approx £4.50 in total

Hope this is of help
Lesley

ti1980

I never have any left over veg though, I would have to buy extra. I seem to eat more fruit than veg these days, the only veg I buy is courgettes, peppers (not green, yuck!), onions and tomatoes. I don't buy potatoes that much, often I won't have any in at all.

I'm still looking at this chicken and I'm too scared to cook it still!
The use by date on it is the 3rd March so I am determined to try and cook it tomorrow!
Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.:)

newlywed

ti1980 wrote:

I'm still looking at this chicken and I'm too scared to cook it still!
The use by date on it is the 3rd March so I am determined to try and cook it tomorrow!
Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.:)

I was like this with my first roast chicken. Got really worried about it and even had a backup planned of pasta in case it all went wrong. When I had to lift the raw chicken out of the package and put it on the tray I didn't know if I could do it! And then I had to check it about 4 times to see if it was cooked - as well as cooking it extra time.

But when its cooking the smell just is lovely. And I make sure I do a roast chicken at least every month now. It's easy now (and I think my first roast was only in December :rotfl: ) It is my favourite meal though.

I like roast parsnips and roasted sweet potato with it.

Be courageous and go for it - you'll never know what you can accomplish if you don't try

Pink.

Hi ti1980,

I finally found the thread I was looking for, hopefully it'll give you the confidence to cook the chicken: i am a roast chicken virgin!

Pink

ti1980

Thanks for finding that post Pink.:)
I'm going to look through it now, I have just put my chicken in the oven! I put some salt and pepper over it, squeezed a lemon over it and also sprinkled some garlic granules and some chicken seasoning that I found in the cupboard (not mine!). The chicken seasoning contains parsley, dried onion, salt, black pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper in it.

ti1980

Well I finally did it! I am no longer a roast chicken virgin! :j

It tasted lovely, when it was cooked I looked at it and thought 'I have a whole roast chicken all to myself, this is ridiculous!'

I'm glad I did it, I will definitely buy another one before the offer ends as it is very succulent, loads of customers and also fellow workmates have recommended this chicken to me.
The lemon flavour is fantastic, thinking about it, whenever I go to Nando's I always order lemon and herb chicken which is basically what this was but this cost me so much less!:j

I must admit that I didn't try and make stock this time, I might do next time though. I also didn't fancy the leg meat I binned it.:eek: You can tell me off for that, I deserve it.

I'm going to have some of the leftover chicken with some Uncle Ben's Mexican Texan Barbecue sauce today with chips and rice, yum yum! That is the usual meal I would have at Nando's (without the barbecue sauce). Hope the sauce is nice as I've never tried it before, it was half price and I love barbecue sauce. Maybe next time I will attempt my own sauce, who knows, stranger things have happened!

Thank you all so much for all your tips.

furndire

You've thrown away the tastiest bits ~ the leg meat has so much more flavour that the breast.:eek: :eek: :eek: