Have I spent my entire adult life stuffing the wrong end of chickens?

[ReanimatedSGB]

(Non-meat-eating MNers may want to skip this thread)

One of those fairly rare Sundays where I have decided to do a roast chicken for tea. I made up the Paxo, put the bird in the roasting pan and happened to glance at the label I had just removed, which said: stuff the neck end. My policy has always been (at least in my head) 'Now you pull its feet out of its arse so you can stuff it.' Am I doing this wrong? Or is the end they tuck the feet into the neck end anyway? And if it's not, how the fuck do you get the stuffing in the other end?

(It's clearly not dangerously wrong as nobody has ever suffered from eating my bum-stuffed chickens.)

(And don't tell me to cook the stuffing in a separate dish, because that's just barbaric.)

I like an onion up the bum.

Make of that what you will.

I am flabbergasted that Mr Foo knew the answer to this and I didn’t.

Loving the humour here. Lost it at the clicking noises. 😄

Skirlie
Zukiecat, the first time I made skirlie, my husband asked what the hell it was. Hadn’t realised there was a north / south divide when it came to skirlie. 😂

arse end or neck end of the haggis

Surely it would be the end which has the short legs, not the long ones.

Actually I now want to know WTF skirlie is. I might even attempt to cook some the next time I do a roast chicken - as long as some of you can tell me whether it goes in my head or up my arse...

Vegetarian haggis stuffing, you genius.

You are all doing it wrong. I stuff a half full can of beer up the chicken's arse then cook the chicken 'stood up' balancing on the can. This means you get lovely moist meat and the skin crackles all the way around the chicken.

You do need an oven with some height though for beercan chicken.

Does it need to be beer?

Beer is best but cider would work. It needs to be a can with liquid in for weight and also so the beer evaporates into the meat. Thats what makes it so moist! I usually rub herbs into the skin as well before roasting.

The worst bit is sliding the pan into the oven without the chicken falling over. Usually takes me three attempts and much swearing.

Well I've learnt something knew as I always thought it was bum end!

You can do either but if you're stuffing the big end don't pack the stuffing in if you stuff it loosely the heat can still penetrate

Personally I like to shove a lemon or onion up there and have stuffing cooked separately. Because I worry about cooking through properly

Usually takes me three attempts and much swearing

I do very few things without much swearing. I can cope with that bit no bother!

Paxillin no, no, not because it sounds challenging at all, but because it all sounds so disgusting! If you actually think about it...

I see . I was at the market the other day, they had lots of chickens with feet and heads hanging over the meat counter, like a curtain. Every time someone bought one of them, the chicken curtain swung to and fro. I was handed my beef through them and had to pay and get my change through it, too. That was a bit borderline.

I still want to know what skirlie is, btw...

I encase the whole chicken in foil, seal it up as tight as I can. You get lovely juice to pour out for gravy/stock at the end and all the meat stays moist including the breast. You don't get crispy skin but I always remove it anyway because I loathe chicken skin. The stuffing always gets fried like a giant rissole.

This thread makes me feel so inadequate.

I've never stuffed a chicken my life.

[Slinks away in shame.]

Ethylred

You're stuffed.

I always remove it anyway because I loathe chicken skin

That's the best bit of the chicken!!!!!

Skirlie is fried oatmeal and onions OP, well-seasoned.

It can be very tasty indeed.

Or not.

Skirlie is fried oatmeal and onions OP, well-seasoned.

So a bit like vegetarian haggis?

I do a chestnut, mushroom, sage and onion stuffing but in a tray baked separately. It’s basically a nut bake so can be for vegetarians too although it tastes and feels meaty.

Paxillin yup, I'd call that borderline too 😁 my family talk about crispy skin, fat etc and I hear Hannibal lector 😬🤢 !

Always stuff a lemon up the chicken's bum. Heat creates steam and helps cook the chicken from inside