What do you do to your roast chicken to make it extra yum?

[Holymoly321]

Doing a roast chicken on Sunday, but wondering if we are missing any tricks to make it extra yum. What do you do to yours?

[whinegums]

Buy the best quality chicken you can get - free range minimum. It won't be extra yum if it's a cheap one that's been fed pellets that make it taste of fish.

Apart from that - here's a few things you can try:

Mix chopped fresh herbs into butter. Ease your fingers under the skin on the breast and push the butter in between the skin and the meat. Smear your buttery fingers over the rest of the chicken and grind salt and black pepper over it.

Shove a couple of wedges of lemon and a clove of garlic cut in half up its bum, along with some lemon thyme sprigs and/or rosemary if you have it.

Put a few thick slices of onion and carrot in the bottom of the roasting tin and put the chicken on top - gives extra flavour to the gravy.

Make a paste with a good quality chicken stock cube and olive oil, and smear over the chicken before you cook it - don't add any extra salt if you do this.

[missorinoco]

Whinegums has said most of my tricks. (Almost word for word - made me chuckle.) I use liquid stock which also makes fab gravy. I put my potatoes around the chicken in the dish to give them more flavour.

[HeadFairy]

The garlicky herby butter under the skin is the key thing... plus the lemon and garlic in the body cavity. Result = one lovely moisty lemony garlicky chicken with fab crispy skin!

[missorinoco]

Sorry, sleep deprived brain. Didn't read the last paragraph. I don't smear liquied stock over the chicken! I use it for gravy; a good quality stock makes a difference.

[ChopsTheDuck]

I do the butter thing under the skin with sage leaves from the garden and a little grated orange. I also stick an orange in the cavity. Stuffing up the bum.
I make the trivit from onion, celery, and carrot and plonk the chicken on that.
When it comes to the gravy, I mash up the veg fromt he pan, add redcurrant jelly and stock.

[MrsGladpuss]

Agree with all of the above, but my best ever tip is...

Roast it upside down for the first 3/4 of the cooking time, then turn it the right way up. It makes the breast lovely and moist and gives really good crispy skin. Ridiculously easy but it works!

[whinegums]

Ah, maybe we have come up with the MN prescribed way to roast a chicken between us!

Final tip is to let it rest in a warm place for about 20 minutes before you carve and eat it.

So, what time are you expecting us all on Sunday so we can come and test it for you?

[SomeGuy]

I roast mine over charcoal and beer, using one of these:

www.birstall.co.uk/zoom.html?img=prodimages%2Fxl%2Fweber_poultry_roaster_xl.jpg&return=%2Fproduc ts%2Fweberpoultryroaster_.html

Beer mixture goes in the central well, then the chicken impaler on top of that, then the chicken on top of that, with the plug to seal the neck to reduce evaporation.

I would echo what others have said about garlic mixed with butter, but I use a bulb of garlic, not a clove!

Mash the garlic, mix with butter, lemon, sage, thyme and rub it in.

[JulesJules]

When I do roast chicken for everyone else, I get at least a free range corn fed birdy, preferably organic, i.e as happy a hen as possible. Then butter and garlic as described above, plus a lemon up its bottom. A couple of rashers of bacon over the top. Veggies and herbs from the garden in the roasting tin to give flavour to the gravy. Leave to rest for a good 20 minutes before carving, with a bit of foil over the top to keep the moisture in.

Apparently it's yummy

Will try with an orange next time!

[LottaRump]

can i ask a question. I remember a friend advising me to stick half a lemon and half an orange up the turkeys bot bot, and my goodnesss you could taste the lemon, it was awful, so where did i go wrong?

[SomeGuy]

You're not supposed to eat the lemon?

[LottaRump]

no i didnt but the meat was really bitter and just tasted of sour lemons, so must have done something wrong somewhere.

It had seaped all through the breast meat.

[SomeGuy]

I dunno, I think the whole lemon is a bit OTT myself. I just mix the juice with the butter and rub it over. I think I may have experienced it being bitter as well.

Cooking over a beer well keeps it moist anyway.

[Holymoly321]

Thanks ladies! The roast is always ok, but I'm sure it will taste even more delish using these top tips!

[kathyis6incheshigh]

I find butter makes it too rich. I do mine with olive oil, herbs and lots of lemon. Then I squeeze all the lemons into the gravy at the end.

[Hulababy]

Scrunch up half a pack of butter with some lemon zest, seasoning, chopped bacon and thyme. Then push some under the skin of the chicken, and the rest pat all over the top of the chicken. I then give it a squeeze of the lemon all over and place the rest of the lemon inside the carcass.

I then tend to cook the roast potatoes and veg under the chicken for the last 40 minutes or so.

[Overmydeadbody]

whole cloves of garlic stuck under the skin.

Lots of the tips already here.

Most of all though, make your own gravy. It makes all the difference.

I do the same thing as MrsGladPuss, turning it over halfway through cooking time.

[MrsGladpuss]

Ah overmydeadbody you are very wise!

[SomeGuy]

you can make bread sauce from a packet too

[MadameCastafiore]

Breadsauce is the most vile thing ever invented!

[PestoSquallyMonster]

rosemary

[PestoSquallyMonster]

sticks of it, fresh-picked from the garden

[Hulababy]

I love bread sauce!