I don’t like Turkey. Cooked a leg on Christmas Day once, wasn’t impressed and I’ve never looked back. Chicken, now that’s a different matter entirely, and here’s how I cook mine. (This is a large bird, available from all high street supermarkets)
Mix a heaped tablespoon of soft butter with half a teaspoon of dried herbs. Sage is my fave, but experiment – chicken can take some big flavours. The important bit – take the string off! Smear that lovely herby butter all over the skin, along with a crack of salt n pepper. Stick it on the middle shelf of your oven… 180 degrees C should do just fine. Leave it to do it’s thing, and turn the dish around every 30 mins or so. This saves the leg nearest the hottest part of the oven going black and ensures even cooking throughout, and about 2 hours should do it.
That chicken will start releasing some lovely stock – feel free to baste the bird! Treat yourself to a thermometer, the last thing you want to do is guess whether it’s cooked correctly. 75 degrees Celsius at the thickest part should be just fine, or when the juices run clear. Transfer to a plate, drain the juices and gnarly baked on bits into a jug or pot, and cover your lovely roasted chicken in foil to rest. It’ll stay warm for ages, leaving you to get on with other stuff. All that juice will make a lovely gravy too, and can be frozen in a container until required.
As chief cook, you also get to eat the chicken oysters – by far the juiciest succulent part of the bird, they are found on the underside, just by the legs. MUCH easier than turkey…. Kate 🙂
