Steam chicken to keep from being dry.

[Andy Hamilton]

I was talking to a chef at the weekend who informs me that after roasting a chicken you can steam it for a little to put the moisture back in, I always end up with pretty dry chicken and this seems like a good remedy. Not tried it yet though.

[Shirley]

Oh... never heard of that before. I would have to take the skin off before I did that because the crispy skin of a roast chook is the best bit LOL.

[Stonehead]

I was talking to a chef at the weekend who informs me that after roasting a chicken you can steam it for a little to put the moisture back in, I always end up with pretty dry chicken and this seems like a good remedy. Not tried it yet though.

This sounds like reversing the order to me.

To get a really moist roast chicken but with a nice crispy skin, you place it in a roasting pan with a lid (or use foil). You bake it with the lid on (and the giblets in the pan) for a couple of hours (depending on weight).

Then, you take the chicken out, turn the oven up, and drain off the juices for use in gravy, stock, soup, etc. Then you put the pan (lid off) with the chicken back in the oven for 15 minutes to crisp up.

[Andy Hamilton]

I am with you shirley on the crispy skin.

Chicken is one of those things that I want to be able to cook properally and still eludes me. As Emma is vegetarian and good organic free range meat is really expensive I tend not to eat it as much as I would really like to.

That does seem like less of a polava doing it your method stoney.

[wulf]

Here's my method:

Set the oven heating to about 200C and prepare the chicken. For the one I cooked on Sunday, I put salt and pepper along with half a bulb of garlic (cut across so all the cloves were exposed, like a dried sunflower head) in the cavity, gave three slashes to each leg (helps heat to penetrate and also provides a place to shove more seasoning, and then rubbed the outside with olive oil, salt and pepper. I then decorated it with the rest of the garlic (all those half cloves left over), rosemary and capers and put it in my lightly oiled basting basting tin with torn up fennel arranged round the base.

By the time all this is done, the oven was pretty much to temperature. I put the chicken in, uncovered, and set the timer for about 15 minutes. This gave time to wash, cut and parboil the potatoes (I don't normally bother with peeling them). Two or three minutes before the timer went off, I stuck a roasting tray with some olive oil onto the top shelf in the oven.

At the sound of the timer, out came the roasting tray, filled up with potatoes (all liberally anointed with hot oil) and then back in. I then took out the chicken (which was beginning to change colour), added a couple of glugs of cheap sherry and returned it to the oven, this time with the basting lid on. I also turned the temperature down to about 175C and put the timer on for another 20 minutes.

When the timer goes again, I shook the potatoes (dislodging and reanointing as necessary) and gave them some more time, checking occasionally (using the timer to mark off 15-20 minute intervals). By the time the potatoes (and other veg) were starting to look tasty (but not finished), I had a check on the chicken, which was pretty much cooked.

The chicken went back without the lid to crisp off on top and I prepared the other veg (purple carrots being the highlight in this case) for stove top cooking. By this point, the chicken had a good colour so came out for resting on the carving board. I started cooking the veg on top and, as I recall, I also switched off the oven but left the potatoes in there (to keep them warm but avoid overcooking them).

The result was delicious and succulent - the high initial temperature gets things going well, the longer period covered at a lower temperature in a dish with steam circulating around keeps it moist and the final stint adds colour without drying it out too much (as long as you don't leave it in too long).

Wulf

[Shirley]

oh boy - now I am starving!!!!!

I do mine in an open roasting tin... will definitely try covering it for part of the cooking next time.

How long per lb is the cooking for these methods? I use 20 mins per lb plus 20 extra

[wulf]

I tend to get a "large" or "medium" sized bird - we can get plenty of meals out of that, including a good stock. However, I'm afraid my cooking times are fairly approximate. By experimentation, I have discovered that my present oven will do the average chicken by about the time the potatoes are done.

I use a knife stuck in the thickest part of the joint between the leg and body to test it - if the juices are clear, then it is cooked enough to move onto the final browning.

Wulf