Roast chicken help please!

[maximo]

Hi all. I am making a roast chicken tonight for the first time (wayhay!). Now, I got one of the ready-stuffed ones you can buy, so I'm pretty sure I'll be ok with that, but how long should I cook it for? Is 20 mins per pound a good bet?
My main question is about the potatoes though, which I want to roast. Do I put them in at the same time as the chicken, or later? Do I boil them first? Do I roast them with oil all over the bottom of the tin, or can I just sprinkle some oil on top of them? Any help would be appreciated! Many thanks in advance.

[yolande]

Hello. You will normally find instructions for how long to cook the chicken on the label if it is from a supermarket. A medium sized one normally takes me about 90mins on 180c (Gas mark 6ish). You can do your potatoes how you like. I tend to cook them for about 15 mins (start peeling when the chicken goes in the oven), then toss them with some olive oil and crushed garlic. Then put them in the oven with the meat. If you want to go simple, you can just chuck them in the oven with the chicken without the boiling etc but they will not be so crispy. Good luck, it's making me hungry!

[maximo]

Thank you! Can't wait, hopefully it will go to plan! :-)

[hammerman]

For a bit of extra Mmmmm....try basting your chicken with runny honey and sprinkle with lemon thyme if you can.

For my roasts, i peel the spuds (try to get king Edwards) then i cut them into fairly small spuds....about 1.5" square. I then get some oil in a roasting tray....about 1/4" of oil is fine and heat it in the oven.

Boil or stem the spuds for about 10 minutes then drain and fluff them up against the sides of the saucepan (this makes them nice and crispy).

The spuds are then added to the hot oil along with several cloves of chopped garlic and several sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Roast for half hour, remove, shake to stop any sticking then carry on roasting until golden and crispy

[maximo]

Oooooh that sounds perfect!!! I'm going home now, to chain myself to the cooker for 2 hours...I'll let you guys know the results tomorrow. If I'm still alive. :-)

[Hammer Head]

I think that chicken tastes even better if cooked for much longer than usual. I would cook a 3-4lb chicken for about 3 hours. Obviously you have to reduce the oven temperature to about gas 4-5. I usually cook the chicken for about 1 hour then peel my potatoes (and parsnips as we love those) and boil them for about 5 minutes. Take a second roasting pan (yes I know) and pour the fat from the chicken into the second pan and add the vegetables. Baste them in the fat and put these at the top of the oven and increase the temperature to gas 6-7. Put the chicken on a shelf just below the vegetables and cook for about two hours or so.

The thinking behind this is that the best chicken I ever tasted was cooked long and low on a spit. over charcoal. It took about 3-4 hours and was juicy, succulent and gorgeous.

One more tip. Cook your chicken breast down for the first hour. Turn it over for the remainder of the cooking. Allow the chicken to rest for about 15-20 minutes before serving but when you take it from the oven turn it so it is breast down again. This allows all the juices to run downwards into the breast and keep the whole thing moist.

Good luck and welcome to the world of cooking.