Roast Chicken for Dummies

Kevin & I love roast chicken. It's such a flexible dish, you can eat it anytime with almost anything. I would usually stay clear from roasting a whole chicken at home, opting to buy it ready made at the supermarket or store. I decided to try roasting a whole chicken a few days ago and it turned out pretty good. I guess it's not that difficult after all. If I can do it, anybody can. Let me share with you a step by step guide on how to roast a whole chicken (the simple but yummy way).

MARINATING THE CHICKEN (one day before)

• Firstly, you need to remove the giblets from inside the bird. It's usually prepacked in some paper. Some people would use the giblets to make gravy, but this is the simple and easy way, remember? So, just throw it away :P
• Rinse the bird and pat it dry with a paper towel.
• Loosen the skin of the chicken and poke tiny holes all over with a fork. This helps to drain the fat and it makes the skin crispier.
• Mix poultry seasoning ( can be whatever flavor you like but I used country chicken seasoning) with orange juice, brown sugar and some oil. You can also add in some chopped garlic, rosemary, sage, parsley and thyme.
• Rub the mix all over the chicken, inside and out.
• Put it inside a jumbo zip lock bag and let it marinade overnight in the refrigerator.

PREPING THE CHICKEN BEFORE ROASTING

• Cut one large apple, one tangerine and peel an onion ( I used two cos the onions were really tiny).

• Remove the marinated chicken from the zip lock bag.
• Stuff the whole onion, apple and tangerine into the cavity

• This is how the chicken looks like after stuffing. The fruits and onions will release extra flavoring during roasting.
• Some people recommend that you truss the chicken. When you truss the chicken, the wings and drumstick stays close to the body and the chicken cooks more evenly. I did not have any cooking twine, so I skipped that.
• Bast the chicken with butter and brown sugar.
• Coat the oven bag with a teaspoon of flour. This is to prevent the chicken from sticking to the bag.
• Put the chicken in the oven bag and tie the bag tightly. Poke a few holes in the bag to allow it to breathe. Roasting in an oven bag keeps the chicken moist and juicy.

ROASTING THE CHICKEN

• Preheat the oven to 350F
• Put in the chicken and set the timer to 1 hour
• Remove the chicken after one hour and open the oven bag. Be careful. It's really hot!
• Cut away the oven bag, exposing the 3/4 cooked chicken.
• Bast the chicken with brown sugar + orange juice mix
• Return the chicken to the oven and set the timer for another half an hour

• Bast the chicken every 10 mins with more brown sugar + orange juice mix
• The chicken should be done in about half an hour. The best way to tell if the chicken is done is to check the plastic pop up timer found on the breast of the chicken. If your chicken doesn't come with a timer, the basic rule of thumb for roasting poultry is 20 mins per lbs.

SERVING THE CHICKEN

• Let the chicken rest for at least 15 mins before you carve it. This allows the juices to settle.
• Carve chicken and serve.

There you go. Home made roast chicken that is so simple to make. It's really moist and juicy with yummy crispy skin. I served it with cornbread stuffing, butter & herb mash potatoes topped with chicken gravy.