Homemade Roast Chicken

Was thinking to roast a chicken for ages, in fact as long as anything using oven, because it suits my style: slow cook and also can cook in larger batch at once. So decided to borrow mom's kitchen for this brand new dish. Im going to cook for 5 professional housewife this time so i decided to add a small trick to surprise them :) Im looking for crisp skins and succulent meat even the chicken breast. For seasoning it will just be simple black pepper and salt as the dominant flavour. Lets back to the basic. 

Thermometer as precaution measure. Watching the transformation is fun.

Ingredient:

• Whole chicken, skin on, neck/foot chopped, pref around 1.2kg 
• 1 Lemon/Orange 
• Salt and pepper 
• 8 Shallots
• 2 large carrot
• 2 large leek 
• 6 cloves of garlic 
• knob of unsalted butter
• sunflower seed oil (drizzle)
• 1tbsp each dried thyme
• Baking tray
• Butcher's twine

Method:

1. Optional: Brine the bird for 12-18 hours (depending on size). Click here for my previous post about brining. 
2. Sprinkle generously salt and pepper into the chicken's cavity and then stuff in the half cut lemon
3. Truss the bird to ensure uniform heating, click here for how to truss. Set a side to leave it air dry to room temperature (90min-120min). Optional: Hang and fan if you need to speed up the process
4. Preheat the oven to 240 degree Celsius with the fan on to evenly circulate the hot air
5. Roughly chop the shallots, carrot, leeks and garlic and put it on the tray. Add in a knob of butter and season with salt and pepper (these will be a delicious side later on)
6. Bird on the veg bed, breast side up, sprinkle salt and pepper from high to ensure uniform contact. Sprinkle too the thyme and drizzle with oil. Rub evenly.
7. Into the oven. Reduce the heat to 200 degree Celsius as soon as you close the lid. The initial high heat will yield a brown crisp skin. 
8. A 1.2kg whole chicken will take about 60 min - 75min. Check doneness with a poke in thermometer. When the reading reach 75 degree celsius (inner tight), the bird is cooked. Or pierce the same location and if clear juice flows out, done. 
9. Take out and let rest for 10-15min with aluminium foil cover. This is for even distribution of the juice within the meat. 
10. The baked veg can be a great side. And while resting, squeeze the lemon/orange juice to mix with the bake juice and can reduce the juice to about half. The acidity will improvement the flavour to next height ! 

So in 1 cooking you will end of with 3 components: the meat, the veg and the sauce. So try today at home with this simple to make roast chicken :) Bon Appetite


Useful Tips:

1. Around 1.2kg is the idea weight, do not buy if got a lot of fat underneath the skin. 
2. Always cut the bird's joint in stead of bone.
3. Breast on top when place on the veg bed. 
4. A good cutting will yields 2 tights, 2 wings and 2 breasts. (see below pic)

Hang and Fan on for 2 hours. Air dry is important for a crisp skin

Seasoned veg bed: Leak, Shallot, Carrot

Trussed and seasoned bird. Ready to be roasted

I forget to turn on the fan so the browning was not really even :(

Reassemble the cuts and the veg with reduced juice and sprinkle
with chopped coriander.