Okay 2 stupid questions about chicken, no 3 actually...

[mamadiva]

1. Can I roast a chicken without tinfoil? Is raining bad, don't drive and DS is asleep.

1. How long do I cook a small-mediim chicken for?

1. I defrosted it overnight last night if I cvook it today can I stilluse some of the left overs tomorrow night or is it not okay ecause has been more tha 24 hours since defrosting??

[fruitful]

1. yes
   
2. 45 minutes per kg, plus 15 minutes, at 190C
   
3. don't know

[fruitful]

3. I think you can cos you've cooked it since?

[mamadiva]

Aah thanks am new to chicken LOL.

So do I just put it in oven as normal without tinfoil, like just ion the roasting dish thing on it's own or do I need to put something in with it??

[throckenholt]

put it breast side down to begin with and turn it over halfway through - that helps it to stay more moist. No need for tin foil. Put it in the tin on its own.

I would cook for about 1.5 to 2 hours probably on a medium oven.

Left overs - fine so long as you put them in the fridge with a cover over them - they should be fine for a couple of days. Cooking will have killed off any bugs, and as long as it is kept cool and covered no new bugs will get a chance to grow for a couple of days.

[mamadiva]

thanks a lot

[Jux]

I don't time the chicken. I have the oven on at top temp, put the chicken in and turn the oven down to gas 3 and then leave it for a long time, several hours at least! It's falling off the bone gorgeous. Don't forget to baste it, and you can rub butter under the breast skin.

You will be able to use it for left overs for more than a couple of days as long as you keep them in the fridge and only take out what you want each time. I generally get a roast Sunday lunch, chicken risotto on Monday, chicken sandwiches for most of the week and chicken soup some evening when I can't be bothered to cook.

I take all the meat off the chicken once it has completely cooled, and break the carcass up completely to get at it all (the oysters are the best bit and underneath).

The bones, skin and gristly bits go into a big pan with lots of water, some peppercorns, garlic, onion, carrot (celery if you like, I don't) and gets boiled for a few hours, then strained and you have chicken stock for making chicken risotto, or chicken soup. You can chuck in a stock cube if you think it needs it.

[Bucharest]

If I haven't got any foil (almost always) I do a "wet roast" ie after the first rolling round to start the browning process, I sit the chick in a pint glass mixture of white wine, a stock cube, bit of butter etc which stops it catching, and you can use the liquid for basting.