roasting a chicken...?

Question

trying to roast a chicken tomorrow for the first time... can anyone give me easy step by steps on how to do it. steps on how to make it as tasty as possible appreciated.

Answer 1

Step 1: Choosing your chicken. Most roasting chickens are 3 1/2 to 5 pounds and will say "roaster" on the package.

Step 2: Prepping the bird. Remove anything that may be stuck in the cavity. You wouldn't want the inside of your chicken to be plastered with melted plastic and inedible chicken liver or gizzards.

Next, completely rinse the bird with water, including the cavity. Pat dry with paper towels. This is also the time to remove any lumps of fat from inside the cavity on the tail end. From here, most recipes will either have you butter and/or season the skin, stuff the cavity with stuffing, onions or fresh herbs, or most likely both stuff and slather.

Now you're ready to put the chicken in its roasting dish. If the recipe calls for a V-rack and you don't have one (I certainly don't), celery sticks laid across the bottom of the roasting pan make a good substitute. As an added perk, if you're making gravy, the celery will help add flavor to the meat juices.

Step 3: Roasting the chicken. While there is no one perfect method, the best idea that I came across was to start the oven out at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees. This technique sears the bird and helps lock in the juices for more tender and moist meat.

From here, the chicken can pretty much be left on its own, except for periodic basting. Basting keeps the outer meat from drying out and contributes to that nice golden brown color. Baste about every 15 to 20 minutes. The time the chicken takes to cook through will depend on how large the chicken is, but just under an hour to 13/4 hours, or 18 to 20 minutes per pound, are good estimates.

To determine the doneness of the chicken, insert an instant meat thermometer deep into the thigh of the chicken. For the chicken to be safe to eat, the juices must run clear and the temperature inside the bird must be at least 180 degrees. At this point, the chicken is done and may be removed from the oven.

Step 4: Carving the chicken. Make sure that you let the chicken sit about 20 minutes before carving. This allows the juices to settle into the meat. As far as actual carving goes, though, I'm going to leave it to a pro. It's much easier to follow diagrams than to read a description. Check out www.jacquespepin.net/members/techniques/howtocarveachicken.html for step-by-step chicken carving as described by Jacques Pepin. One piece of advice that I will give, though, is not to try to twist off the chicken legs unless all you want is the bone. (I made this mistake when I roasted my first chicken last week.)

That's about all there is to roasting a good chicken. I was impressed with how well my first one turned out. Here is the recipe that I used. It's only mildly flavored, but because it's so simple, it's difficult to screw up.
Roast Chicken with Rosemary

1 roasting chicken (3 1/2 to 5 pounds), rinsed and patted dry
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter or vegetable oil
1 small onion, quartered
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Season chicken within the cavity with salt and pepper. Rub outside of chicken with butter or oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stuff onion and rosemary into large cavity of chicken. Place chicken on a V-rack in a roasting pan or in a baking dish over celery ribs and bake in preheated oven 15 minutes. Immediately reduce heat to 350 degrees and periodically baste for about 1 hour longer, or 18 to 20 minutes per pound, depending on size of bird. To check for doneness, insert instant-read thermometer into thigh meat (not touching bone); it should register 180 degrees. Juices also should run clear.

When fully cooked, remove from oven, let rest 20 minutes and then carve. Makes 3 to 5 servings

Answer 2

One 2- to 3-pound farm-raised chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons minced thyme (optional)

Unsalted butter
Dijon mustard
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.

Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. Trussing is not difficult, and if you roast chicken often, it's a good technique to feel comfortable with. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.

Now, salt the chicken — I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper.

Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. I leave it alone — I don't baste it, I don't add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don't want. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.

Remove the twine. Separate the middle wing joint and eat that immediately. Remove the legs and thighs. I like to take off the backbone and eat one of the oysters, the two succulent morsels of meat embedded here, and give the other to the person I'm cooking with. But I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip — until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards. Cut the breast down the middle and serve it on the bone, with one wing joint still attached to each. The preparation is not meant to be superelegant. Slather the meat with fresh butter. Serve with mustard on the side and, if you wish, a simple green salad. You'll start using a knife and fork, but finish with your fingers, because it's so good.

Answer 3

Simplest Roast Chicken
1 5-6lb chicken,wing tips removed
1 lemon -- halved
4 whole garlic cloves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter -- (optional)
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup homemade or canned chicken broth -- water,
fruit juice or wine, for deglazing






Place oven rack on second level from bottom. Heat oven to 500 degrees.
Remove the fat from the tail and crop end of the chicken. Discard the neck and giblets or freeze for making chicken stock later. Reserve chicken livers for another use.
Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the lemon, garlic and butter, if using. Season the cavity and skin with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken in a 12-by-8-by-1 1/2-inch roasting pan, breast-side up. Put in the oven legs first and roast 50 to 60 minutes, or until the juices run clear. After the first 10 minutes, move the chicken with a wooden spatula to keep it from sticking.
Remove the chicken to a platter by placing a large wooden spoon into the tail end and balancing the chicken with a kitchen spoon pressed against the crop end. As you lift the chicken, tilt it over the roasting pan so that all the juices run out of the cavity and into the pan. Pour off excess fat from the pan and put the pan on top of the stove. Add the stock or other liquid and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom vigorously with a wooden spoon. Let reduce by half. Serve the sauce over the chicken or, for crisp skin, in a sauce boat.

Answer 4

Use fresh rather than frozen chickens for better flavor. But you don’t need organic, free-range birds that have been sung to all their lives.

Herbs mixed with a little oil, or even water, area a great way to season the bird. On the outside of the skin, brush with melted butter or oil to achive perfect golden brown and delicious, between the skin and flesh, they work wonders. Or stick whole sprigs of fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary or tarragon into the cavity.

The chicken is done when an instant read thermometer stuck deep into the thigh reads 160 degrees, or when the juices run clear. Avoid opening the oven while the chicken is cooking, or the oven temperature will plummet.

The skin looks great when that roasted bird comes out of the oven (and let’s admit that it tastes great, too). But by tearing it off, you slash about 30 percent of the fat. Keeping the skin on while cooking is okay, though. It keeps the chicken moist.

Let the chicken rest about ten minutes before carving to let the juices sink back in. Add any juices that fall out during carving to the pan juices. Separate the fat from pan juices with a gravy separator or pour juices in a glass measuring cup and all fat to rise to the top for skimming.

Oven roasted potatoes or garlicky mashed potatoes make perfect accompaniments to roast chicken. You can serve a fairly substantial wine too, from a full-bodied chardonnay to a red zinfandel. My favorite is pinot noir.

Good luck!

Answer 5

When choosing a chicken for roasting, it is best to select a bird that is labeled a "roaster." Roasters are generally older birds with more muscle, flavor and fat. The fat is favorable for roasting because it adds flavor and moisture to the meat as it is cooking and will eventually melt off through the cooking process.

Roasting is accomplished by cooking the chicken uncovered in a hot oven. The chicken is cleaned, seasoned, stuffed (optional), and then placed on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. The rack is not necessary, but it will improve the quality by holding the bird out of the juices and allowing the heat to reach evenly around the entire bird, providing a chicken that is golden brown on all sides. It will also allow the juices to evaporate more easily, developing a caramelized layer, which will produce a very flavorful base for making a sauce or gravy.

The chicken should be cooked in at a higher heat, for a short period of time, to crisp the skin and seal in the juices to provide moist, tender meat. Generally roasting at about 450°F for 15 to 20 minutes is adequate.. The heat should then be reduced to 375°F for the rest of the cooking time. Basting the bird throughout the cooking time is not necessary, unless the chicken is smaller, generally under three pounds. The smaller birds do not have the fat necessary to flavor the meat and keep it moist. Cooking temperatures and times will vary according to the size of the chicken and varying recipes.

The length of time a chicken will have to cook depends on whether it is stuffed and/or trussed and on the quantity of other ingredients, such as potatoes and vegetables, added to the pan. The best way to determine if it has cooked long enough is to check for doneness. You do not want to overcook the chicken but if undercooked, it will not be full flavored and will not have the desired texture. It also needs to be cooked to the proper doneness to make it safe to eat. Shown below are some common methods used to determine doneness.




Visually check the skin, which should be golden brown and check the legs, which should move around easily in their joints.

When pricked in the thigh or breast, the juices should run clear, with no pinkish coloring. Tilting a whole bird up, so the juices from the cavity run out, should also produce clear juices.

To ensure doneness, check with a meat thermometer. A thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should produce a temperature of 175°F to 180°F or inserted into the breast it should produce a temperature of 170°F to 175°F.


When the chicken is done, it should be allowed to rest (a waiting period before carving) for 10 to 15 minutes. This allows the juices to be distributed through the meat before it is carved.

Answer 6

Wash it thoroughly and pat dry. Put salt and pepper on the inside and outside. Pick up the skin and make a little pocket that you can squish some butter into. Sprinkle outside with italian herbs in your spice rack. Take one or two oranges or lemons and cut them in half along with an onion and stuff them inside the hen. Rub the outside with a little cooking oil. Bake breast side down for an hour at 350 degrees. At about 45 minutes into the baking turn it over and let it brown on the top. You can tell it's done when you jiggle the leg and it pulls away a little from the rest of the chicken. You can mix orange marmalade and orange juice for a glaze and paste the chicken about half way through the cooking process for a nice brown sweet taste also. Yum!

Answer 7

Choose the Chicken of you're choice(the size and wieght you want!)

Defrost the bird say a day or or over night so that it's properly thored-out.(i suggest,put in in a big mixing bowl and place it in the kitchen sink or the fridge on the bottom shelf away from other un-cooked items!)

Ingriedeint's;

Lemon's(4)
Garlic(1 whole)
Peppers(2)
Onion's(1 or 2)
Chinese Soy Sauce(not the "Amoy" brand,it's crap!,Get the real thing from Continental Supermarket's,it's called;"Pearl River Bridge" and is usually approximetley 99p for a litre bottle.)

Oregano/parsely/Thyme(choose any three herb's you prefer)

Salt
Sage and Onion Stuffing (or what you prefer!)

Take Chicken out of fridge and wash under cold running water throughly.Take the skin-off (or leave it on if you prefer) and remember to remove the Bird's ***!-with a knife-be careful!!.Cut all the four lemon's in half and squeeze all over the chicken and wash it,(this help's get rid of any bacteria as when it was defrosting it was standing in it's own blood!) The water should run clear after a few times of doing this-that's when it ready to prepare.........

(Throw-away the used lemon's!)

Chop finely the two pepper's onion's and garlic(if you want them really fine you can use a grater-it's really saves time and does the job perfectly!)
Put them in a bowl for later..............

Foil an empty roasting tin,making sure there's enough to cover the Chicken!

Place the freshly washed bird in the roasting tin with the breast face-up and get the bowl with all the copped herb's you did earlier and empty all over the bird,make sure there's some underneath and inside! You can use you're stuffing at this stage,and place inside the bird.

Poure the Soy Saouce over the bird(about a tea cup full or two(don't go over the top!!) and sprinkle a teaspoon of the Oregano,Parsely and Thyme,and Salt over the bird making sure the bird is well coverd with all the ingredient's inside/out,back-to-front.(You can turn the bird over and back again to make sure it covered in it properly!)

Seal it with the foil(for best result's,leave over noght in the fridge so the bird can soak up the flavour of the seasoning.but if you want it on the same day leave it for an hour and it should be fine!)

Place it in a pre-heated oven on the middle or top shelf and plce on a slow cooking setting.(consult you're own cooker manual for guidlines)

After an hour or so,check the bird is cooking fine,check with a fork to see of it's going through and is not pink!
Turn it over and leave it to cook for another hour or less unless you smell it burning!-then take it out!!
Once the bird is cooked the meat should fall of the bone when a fork is pirced through it.If you want to brown it,Turn the oven down to the lowest setting and place the bird back in the oven with the foil scrunched down around the corner's and open for ten minutes max!!!!

That's it!, the chicken should be nice and tasty,enjoy it with veg and potatoes! Yum yum!

Answer 8

Herb Roast Chicken and Vegetables

Here's a great recipe to pop in the oven while you enjoy a little time in the garden.

Prep Time:20 min
Start to Finish:2 hr 5 min
Makes:6 servings

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram leaves or 1 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1 lemon
1 whole roasting chicken, 4 pounds
6 new potatoes, cut in half
1 cup baby-cut carrot
1/2 pound green beans

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Mix oil, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper. Grate 1 teaspoon peel from lemon; add peel to oil mixture. Cut lemon into fourths; place in cavity of chicken.

2. Fold wings of chicken across back with tips touching. Tie or skewer drumsticks to tail. Place chicken, breast side up, on rack in shallow roasting pan. Brush oil mixture on chicken. Insert meat thermometer in chicken so tip is in thickest part of inside thigh muscle and does not touch bone.

3. Roast uncovered 45 minutes. Arrange potatoes, carrots and green beans around chicken; brush chicken and vegetables with oil mixture. Roast uncovered 30 to 45 minutes or until thermometer reads 180°F and juice of chicken is no longer pink when center of thigh is cut. Let stand about 15 minutes for easiest carving. Remove lemon and discard.

4. Place chicken on platter; arrange vegetables around chicken. Serve with pan drippings.

Answer 9

Clean it out removing any giblets. Then fill with some garlic and lemon wedges. Tie the legs together and turn on it's tummy.

Put in a covered pot and roast until you can stick a knife in and the juices run clear. Make sure you test the thickest meat area.

Enjoy!!

Answer 10

FRUIT_STUFFED ROASTED CHICKEN:
RInse a 4 1/2-5 lb chicken, pat dry with paper towels.
Sprinkle body cavity with salt & pepper.
In sm. bowl, combine 2 tbsp melted butter,
2 tbsp of dry sherry, 1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried,
& 1 tsp of shredded orange peel (zest).
Brush mixture over chicken.
STUFFING:
In medium skillet, with 1/4 cup butter, cook until tender:
2 medium apples, peeled cored & chopped,
1 medium onion, chopped, 1/2 cup celery, chopped.
In a lg. bowl, combine apple mixture with:
2 cups french bread cubes,
10 pitted dried plums, 1 cup seedless grapes,
2 tbsp orange juice, 1/4 cup dry sherry,
3 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried, & 1 tsp orange zest.

Spoon stuffing into kneck cavity, pull skin to back & fasten.
Spoon remainder into body cavity, tuck drumsticks under
band of skin across tail, or tie drumsticks.
Twist wing tips under chicken, place breast-up on rack,
in shallow roasting pan. Insert meat thermometer in thigh.
Roast in 375F oven for 1 1/2 hours, cut string,
roast 30 minutes to 1 hour more, until drumsticks loosen.
& thermometer registers 180F, (stuffing s/b 165F).
Remove from oven, cover with foil, let stand 10-15 minutes.