Plenty of places roast a great chicken. The very best I've ever had is Habib's Charcoal chicken in Bankstown.
For those that think far too much garlic is barely enough. Every time I am in Sydney I detour here for Lunch.
Woolworths and many other places also do great chicken. But a
quality bird done right is better.
I always have a problem overcooking the breast
and undercooking the thighs. So, my idea is to cook the chicken till
the breast is perfect and then cut the thighs and legs off and cook
these further. Then cut all the chicken into pieces, deboning the
thighs and serve in a bowl. I prefer to serve
with Milanese Rice and Creamed Spinach instead of the usual roast
veges. Not traditional but a very effective and modern roast
chicken.
I used lemon on the skin and apple in the
stuffing as these flavours compliment Milanese rice as a side. With
traditional roast veges rub with oil and butter and season with
thyme and use more onion instead of apple in the stuffing. Goose fat
is the premium fat to roast with but is expensive or hard to get.
Peanut oil is good.
Ingredients
B1 x 1.35kg free range Chicken
100g Salted Butter
1/4 cup Goose Fat (or peanut oil)
1/4 Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper
Stuffing
3 Slices bread
1/2 cup bread crumbs stuffing mix
1/2 an onion chopped
1/2 an Apple chopped
15g Butter
25g parmesan cheese
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbs Dried herbs and spices
Extra thymme,
Salt and Pepper
Stock
Method::
Brine the Chicken overnight in the refrigerator and then stand on the bench
for at least 1 hour. Dry thoroughly inside and out.
To make the stuffing. Remove
the crusts from the bread. Toast the bread slices and crust till just browning. Cut into small cubes and place in
a bowl. Add
the breadcrumbs, very finely chopped onion and chopped apple. Generously add
the spices. Rub in the butter. Add
some stock till mixture is moist.
Preheat the oven and the glass
roasting pan with 2 Tbs of butter and 1/4 cup goose fat (or oil) to 230°
Fill
the chicken with stuffing
loosely and seal the rear end by stitching skin together with a toothpick. Cut a knick in the skin just above the thigh joint. Run
your fingers under the skin and over the breasts and stuff with slabs of salted butter. Tie the legs together with kitchen string. Rub
the skin generously with lemon juice and season heavily with salt and pepper
Place
the chicken in the roasting pan and add
the remaining lemon juice to the oil. Be careful as it will sizzles and
spatter a bit.
Place in a hot oven on the middle rack. After 15 minutes remove the pan and turn
the oven down to 180° Baste the chicken with pan juices and return to
the oven after 2 minutes and cook, basting every 20 minutes. Total cooking time will be 1 hour and then 8 minutes extra for the legs and thighs.
Remove
the chicken from the pan to a cutting board. Remove the thigh and leg in one piece
(both) and return to the roasting pan skin side up. Baste and return to the oven for 8 minutes. Let
the chicken and then the thighs stand covered for 30 minutes before serving.
Collect the pan juices and drain of excess fat. Make into your favourite
gravy.
Free range roast chicken recipe
This is the way to roast a chicken