Scared to Roast a Chicken?
Cutting through the crap of overcomplicated recipes and the need for perfection will help you find your feet in the kitchen.
The internet can be a great source of advice and inspiration but blogs, cooking shows and social media tend to engender a rather frustrating thirst for perfection.
After spending their days gawking at flawless images of oozing cheese and perfect patisserie, our kids come home with lofty expectations. The mentality that everything must be the best or the tastiest leads many parents to rein in their gastronomic endeavours for fear of disappointment.
With limited experience in the kitchen, many people already suffer from a real lack of confidence and need little or no excuse for resorting to pre-prepared meals or home delivery — they can’t be blamed if the kids don’t like it.
This is, of course, a vicious circle as the culinary skills of the parents don’t progress, the kids don’t witness fresh food being prepared, no one is eating a balanced diet and the kids enter adult life with little understanding of food, zero cooking skills and unhealthy eating habits.
In reality you don’t need an encyclopaedic knowledge of food to survive on a menu of delicious, freshly prepared meals. You just need to master about 12 simple dishes, allow yourself a takeaway once a week and work on a two-week cycle.
I am lucky enough to enjoy cooking and have the time to try out lots of new dishes. I score new recipes out of 10 for tastiness, simplicity and value, multiplying the three scores together and dividing by 100. Anything below 3.5 is a fail.
Roast chicken probably scores as close to 10 as any dish I make.
The Simplest Way to Roast a Chicken
Take the chicken out of the fridge at least half an hour before cooking, remove any packaging, place in a suitable-sized roasting tin and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt.
Preheat the oven to about 170C (340F) Fan (ovens vary).
Place the chicken in the oven.
After 40 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven and spoon over the pan juices.
Return to the oven for 10–30 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Approx 25 mins more for a 4lb (1.8kg) bird.
Remove from the oven again and check the temperature of the chicken — if not with a temperature probe then by inserting a skewer into the thickest part of the breast. You really want the probe to read over 70C (160F) or for the juices to run clear.
Once cooked, leave the chicken to rest for 15–30 mins if you can resist.
A lot of people don’t cook chicken because they are scared of food poisoning but a temprature probe can give you total peace of mind. I can’t recommend enough and you can use them for all sorts of things — bread, cakes, even potatoes. They are available for under £10.
Now you have several delicious options…
Tear meat from carcass and shove in baguette/bun/wrap/mouth.
Tear meat from carcass and add to a sauce — chicken curry for example.
Tear meat from carcass and refrigerate for packed lunches over the next few days.
Carve meat and lay neatly on a plate accompanied by some vegetables and gravy.
You get the drift…
Of course, you should also use the bones to make a delicious chicken stock but let’s take one step at a time
Roast Chicken is simple, tasty, cost-effective and versatile. The kids are sure to love it too.
So what are you waiting for?
