Yummy – A Traditional Sunday Roast

Celebrated chef Heston Blumenthal makes a few suggestions for cooking a chicken for that perfect Sunday roast;

1 – Brining

Soak the chicken in an 8% salt solution – so the flesh will hold on to more moisture.

2 – Rinsing

Immerse the chicken in clean water for about 2 hours. Changing the water every 15 minutes.

3 – Blanching and Icing

Boiling for 20 seconds. Plunging into iced water

Repeat

4 – Refrigerate overnight

Cover and place in fridge (To help the skin dry out and therefore crisp up better)

5 – Low temperature cooking

Cook the chicken in a 60° oven – allowing the thickest part of the chicken breast to reach 60° naturally. Then to maintain that for 15 minutes.

This will probably take about 6 hours.

– Whew! That’s some intensive chicken-work! Tried this a little while ago. It was the first time I’d tried to do a roast chicken – and I was pretty pleased with the results. Nice and tender and a crispy skin.

Of course, some might say that the best way to cook a roast chicken is to get someone else to do it!

or, you could just stick it in a slow cooker, if you can’t be bothered.