The perfect... Roast chicken

Your cut-out-and-keep guide to the fundamentals of cooking

With roast chicken, people get nervous about the dangers of undercooked chicken and they take it a bit too far the other way. Then it’s dry, and you lose that lovely succulent flavour. Putting lemon, onion, mixed herbs and a bay leaf in the chicken’s cavity are key to boosting the flavour of the bird. Lemon is used with chicken all over the world, and the onion and the bay leaf are a nod to the very traditional, old-school Sunday-roast flavours. There are some birds that don’t need basting, but chicken does. It’s not a fatty bird, so you need to baste it at the start with some oil to help seal the skin and make it crispy. Basting halfway through is also key. A good hot oven at the start will instantly crisp the skin and seal in the juices. It’s important to have the chicken at room temperature putting it in the oven. A cold bird would make the oven temperature drop, which would result in you having to cook the chicken for longer and risk drying it out. With any piece of meat, when it’s in the heat of the oven, the muscle will tighten up. Resting it when you take it out of the oven allows the muscle to relax, and that way you get a softer, more tender piece of meat. Also, that resting time is valuable for finishing off vegetables or making gravy. People say, “I don’t know how you get everything finished at the same time,” but that’s what the resting time is for. Serves 4.

You will need:

2 cloves 1 bay leaf 1 medium onion, peeled 1 whole chicken, approx 1½kg (3lbs) 1 bunch of fresh mixed herbs (thyme, rosemary, bay leaf or sage) ½ a lemon 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season Potatoes and vegetables, to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 230°C, 450°F, Gas 8. Use the two cloves to pin the bay leaf to the peeled onion. Place the onion, bay leaf and cloves inside the chicken’s cavity, along with the bunch of fresh mixed herbs and the lemon half. Glaze the chicken with the rapeseed oil, season with the sea salt and the freshly ground black pepper and put it in a large roasting tray. Place the tray in the preheated oven on the middle shelf. Turn the heat down to 190°C, 375°F, Gas 5 and cook the chicken for 90 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time, baste the chicken with the rapeseed oil and juices from the roasting tray. When the chicken is cooked, the juices will run clear. Transfer the chicken to a board and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. When you’re ready to serve the chicken, remove any string and take off the wings. Carefully cut down between the leg and the breast. Cut through the joint and pull the leg off. Repeat with the other leg. Then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick so you end up with four portions of dark meat from the two legs. Carve the rest of your chicken. Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then carve the other side. Serve the chicken with potatoes and vegetables.