the maggie beer chook
First time to cook chicken or as Maggie Beer would call it chook. I had the chance to cook a whole chicken yesterday so I decided to cook it like what I saw in Masterchef Australai Season 3 (2011) Episode 6. So this is getting detailed.
So cooking the perfect Australian roast chicken.
Chook roasted with garlic and verjuice
or ROASTED Chicken
- less the garlic and the ver juice. The important part is just the cooking process of the whole chicken or should we say roasting it in an oven.
* Pre-heat oven (fan bake or roast setting) at 200 C (392 F)
* Prepare a whole chicken, de-frozen and in room temperature. Cut the strings if legs are tied. Tuck both in the wing on the underside (back part) of the chicken, not over the breast (under) front.
* Rub and massage chicken with olive oil mixed with salt and pepper. The salt will help the skin caramelized.
* Tuck inside the chicken's cavity a sprig of rosemary. Squeeze in a half lemon and leave inside the cavity.
* Cover the breast with aluminum foil.
* Put the chicken in a trevit (wire rack) and on a shallow baking dish.
* Cook in middle shelf of the oven for 40 minutes.
* Blanche (cook in boiling water) for 3 to 4 minutes 1 piece of chopped (just quartered) white onion.
After 40 minutes inside a 392 F bake set oven with fan guard. The aluminum covered breast is kept moist and from overcooking during this stage.
* Take out the chicken after 40 minutes of baking. Taking off the aluminum foil covering the breast and cover the legs next with this foil.
* Pour some water into the chicken and into the shallow baking dish. Put in the blanched onions in dish with the water as not to urn them.
* Rub the chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper.
* Bake or roast for another 20-30 minutes.
After 20-30 minutes of baking
* Remove the chicken from the oven after 20-30 minutes of roasting in the oven and rest for 40 minutes to 1 hour, flipping the chicken on its breast to keep it moist with the juices and cover it with aluminum foil. This residual heat during resting will allow the chicken to continue to cook and keep warm till carving.
* Use drippings and chicken fat on pan dish as jus with the onions and moisten the meat after carving.
MY VERSION POINTS
* slightly cold chicken not in room temperature
* bake setting at first instead of roasting with fan ON
* rosemary sprinkles used as in packed (like a McCormick) not fresh sprig was used
* no garlic so blanched onions were used instead
* no ver juice and garlic as ver juice as I was looking for a sub is just a mild flavor tinge of grape flavor so it can be out, again its not the flavor but the cooking and roasting process of the chicken, just water was used to pour over the chicken and the water also used in the pan dish as not to burn the onions when in the oven
* later part or the second part of the cooking was done in convection roast with fan guard
* additional 10 minutes was given after 20 minutes of the second roasting in the pan
* also additional storage of the chicken in a still warm oven after the 1 hour resting period to keep it from getting cold when serving
The JUS part was just the chicken fat oil I didn't add chicken stock to it
SHOULD HAVE
* refrigerate jus and separate fat from the jus
* warm with warm chicken stock
Is is almost there as it looked as it should be? I am proud this turned out to be perfecto to my standards. As it looked great for a first try. The breast looked moist and yummy and sorry I wasn't able to take a pic when we carved the meat (dinner time as its djahe to do some photo opping for a blog). And the fatty jus was a good sauce for the meat too!
TIP: Just pay attention to the heat in the oven and the timing, keeping watch as the bird cooks inside the oven.
So cooking the perfect Australian roast chicken.
Chook roasted with garlic and verjuice
or ROASTED Chicken
- less the garlic and the ver juice. The important part is just the cooking process of the whole chicken or should we say roasting it in an oven.
* Pre-heat oven (fan bake or roast setting) at 200 C (392 F)
* Prepare a whole chicken, de-frozen and in room temperature. Cut the strings if legs are tied. Tuck both in the wing on the underside (back part) of the chicken, not over the breast (under) front.
* Rub and massage chicken with olive oil mixed with salt and pepper. The salt will help the skin caramelized.
* Tuck inside the chicken's cavity a sprig of rosemary. Squeeze in a half lemon and leave inside the cavity.
* Cover the breast with aluminum foil.
* Put the chicken in a trevit (wire rack) and on a shallow baking dish.
* Cook in middle shelf of the oven for 40 minutes.
* Blanche (cook in boiling water) for 3 to 4 minutes 1 piece of chopped (just quartered) white onion.
After 40 minutes inside a 392 F bake set oven with fan guard. The aluminum covered breast is kept moist and from overcooking during this stage.
* Take out the chicken after 40 minutes of baking. Taking off the aluminum foil covering the breast and cover the legs next with this foil.
* Pour some water into the chicken and into the shallow baking dish. Put in the blanched onions in dish with the water as not to urn them.
* Rub the chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper.
* Bake or roast for another 20-30 minutes.
After 20-30 minutes of baking
* Remove the chicken from the oven after 20-30 minutes of roasting in the oven and rest for 40 minutes to 1 hour, flipping the chicken on its breast to keep it moist with the juices and cover it with aluminum foil. This residual heat during resting will allow the chicken to continue to cook and keep warm till carving.
* Use drippings and chicken fat on pan dish as jus with the onions and moisten the meat after carving.
MY VERSION POINTS
* slightly cold chicken not in room temperature
* bake setting at first instead of roasting with fan ON
* rosemary sprinkles used as in packed (like a McCormick) not fresh sprig was used
* no garlic so blanched onions were used instead
* no ver juice and garlic as ver juice as I was looking for a sub is just a mild flavor tinge of grape flavor so it can be out, again its not the flavor but the cooking and roasting process of the chicken, just water was used to pour over the chicken and the water also used in the pan dish as not to burn the onions when in the oven
* later part or the second part of the cooking was done in convection roast with fan guard
* additional 10 minutes was given after 20 minutes of the second roasting in the pan
* also additional storage of the chicken in a still warm oven after the 1 hour resting period to keep it from getting cold when serving
The JUS part was just the chicken fat oil I didn't add chicken stock to it
SHOULD HAVE
* refrigerate jus and separate fat from the jus
* warm with warm chicken stock
Is is almost there as it looked as it should be? I am proud this turned out to be perfecto to my standards. As it looked great for a first try. The breast looked moist and yummy and sorry I wasn't able to take a pic when we carved the meat (dinner time as its djahe to do some photo opping for a blog). And the fatty jus was a good sauce for the meat too!
TIP: Just pay attention to the heat in the oven and the timing, keeping watch as the bird cooks inside the oven.