Cooking chicken...jeeez it's not rocket science is it?

[Mosschopz]

My DH reckons you must never, ever cook a raw chicken and potatoes/other veg in a roasting dish as it will at least give you food poisoning if not kill you instantly.

Sounds daft to me...

Take last night, I bought raw 'rotisserie' (basted) style chicken from M&S. Cooking instructions said to roast in its bag and on its tray but I took it out of both, chucked it in a big roasting dish with spuds and garlic, two hours later it was cooked and delicious.

No-one died.

Why on earth wouldn't you? If you're cooking it it's going to kill all the bacteria etc that could be on it anyway!

Sounds daft to me too but then I'm a chef with a level 3 in food safety so I know, I suppose people who haven't been 'officially trained' might just be over safe :D

Well I cooked a chicken and parsnips together today....we're all still here. And dinner was lovely

I always think my dh is overly cautious, but then he is a scientist and knows a whol;e heap more about bacteria than I do

That's very silly. The best thing about roast is that you can sling all the veg in around the chicken in a single pan. Given that four generations of my family have been doing it for at least the last 70 years, I'm struggling to locate any reason that it might be unwise...

I could imagine doing my rosties any other way. The chicken juices add flavour to the roastie or and make an amazing gravy.

According to a chef I once worked with, it is!

We had 4 plates sent back with undercooked (as in blood still in it) chicken breasts. He got really nasty and sweary at me and the other waitress, I lost my temper and said how hard is it to cook a fucking chicken breast? And he left on the spot! He had been there 2 days, turned out his references were false and he had actually failed his chef course thing at college...big surprise!

I always cook my roasties on the same tray as the chicken. Wouldn't be enough space in the oven to do them seperatly!

How did he think most of populace cooked roast spuds?

Silly arse.

Sorry for thread high jack, but since there are many experts around - why are my chicken pieces or chicken fillets always tough? Am I cooking them at too high a temperature, ie too quickly, or too long, or what? Like if I make a chicken curry, my chicken is always so dry and unpleasant.

Paul Newman's marinade wouldnt spoil it

Has he heard of a company called KFC? OK that's frying not roasting but surely the same principle.

My DH says similar ridiculous things too but I take no notice. He once told me if you ate fish with any milk product you would get poisoned. I told him we had been eating fish pie for years without being ill but I still couldn't convince him - lol

Prima chicken thighs are so much tastier than breast meat, and so much more tender. And much cheaper. Win, win, win.

The cost of chicken breasts baffles me.

If you shouldnt put them altogether how come its ok too when making a chicken casserole?!!

Utter, utter rubbish. There's zero problem with cooking veg together with the chicken, so long as everything is thoroughly cooked.

Thanks for the tip! I will switch to thighs and report :)