Thursday Tip #2 : Chicken, good Chicken

Hello!!

Today I'll share with you my best tips for a nice roasted chicken. Maybe you can try some of these this weekend for your Sunday Roast?!

First of all, how to keep your chicken : 

• Keep it in the coldest part of your fridge, up to 3 days. If you're not going to eat it in the 3 days following purchase, I recommend to freeze it. 
• If you freeze it, please take it off its packaging and put it in a freezer bag. When defrosting it, place it overnight in your fridge in a plate.

Now for the preparation part : 

• Take the chicken from the fridge half an hour in advance to allow it to be at room temperature.
• For a crispy skin but a very moist meat, mix together butter, salt, pepper and some herbs or spices of your choice and rub it under the skin. Be carefull! You don't want to pierce the skin and see all this precious butter running in the pan! Then, do a little massage to your chicken.
• If you like it, stuff your chicken with some pork mince, mixed with salt, pepper, diced onion, mushrooms and a splash of madeira wine.
• Cut big slices of onions to make a seat in the roasting pan for your chicken.
• Don't forget to add salt and pepper on the skin and then a quick drizzle of oilve oil followed by another little massage (That's a pampered bird!).

Now, let's get cooking :

• I like to cook it at 220° for half an hour to have a crispy skin then I reduce the oven at 180° for more or less an hour, depending on the size of the chicken. 
• From time to time, baste with juice.
• To know if your chicken is cooked, check its temperature. No kidding! Use a meat thermometer insert between the breast and the thigh and when the temperature reaches 80°, your chicken is ready.
• If you don't have a meat thermomether, you can pick the thigh with a knife and if the juice is still pink, get the chicken back in the oven. When the juice is clear, the meat is done.
• Then,take your roasting pan out of the oven, wrap it in foil and let it rests for 10min. This allows the juices to go back into the chicken for a really moist and tasty meat.
• A good trick learned from a Jamie Oliver's TV show : add big nice cubes of bread in the roasting pan for the last 20 min of cooking to end up with deliciously tasty croutons!
• Then for the carving, start by cutting the thighs & wings, then slice the breasts and serve! And don't forget the juicy meat under the carcass!

Then comes the eating part : I can't help you there !

See you next Thursday for another tip!

If you have any question regarding baking/cooking, please send them to cindy.foodforthoughts@gmail.com and I'll try to answer them here!

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