Why stuff a chicken

For the stuffing, melt the butter in a frying pan over a low heat, add the onion and cook until soft and translucent. Put the onion in a bowl and allow to cool, then mix in the lemon zest, sage and breadcrumbs. Season well with salt and pepper and add the egg, mixing thoroughly. If making the sausagemeat stuffing, do exactly the same, mixing the fried onion with the sausagemeat, apple and herbs.

Fill the cavity of the chicken with the stuffing, making sure you leave a little air between the stuffing and the top of the bird to allow the air to circulate. If you have any stuffing left over, you can stuff it into the neck end.

Rub the butter over the chicken, then squeeze the lemon juice over it and put it in a roasting tin. Remove the bird from the tin, cover with foil and set aside to rest. Pour off the tin juices and strain off any fat, then set aside. To make the gravy, sprinkle the flour over the tin.

Stir over a low heat to make a roux with the scrapings in the bottom of the tin, then pour in the wine. Trussing might seem a bit fiddly, but a trussed bird will produce an evenly cooked bird.

And, hey, it looks pretty when serving. Place your chicken on a cutting board or clean surface and with the legs facing towards to you, place the string underneath the front of the bird and secure the string behind each wing.

Pull the string over and around the wings and pull back towards the legs, crossing the twine underneath the breast at the opening of the cavity and pull tight. Turn the chicken over and tie a very tight knot around the tail so it closes off the opening to the cavity. Trim off any excess string and roast as described above. It requires a little extra effort than just putting the chicken in the oven, but the result will be a juicy, crispy bird.

A spatchcocked chicken also requires less time in the oven, which is a bonus. Repeat with other side. Turn the chicken over, open it and press down firmly on the breast bone to flatten. Place in a pan or dish so that the bird is able to lie spread out. Brining will produce, bar none, the juiciest bird by infusing the meat with moisture, usually with a salt solution, aka a brine, which is otherwise lost during the roasting stage.

The liquid solution adds moisture, while the salt prevents the meat from drying out as it cooks. Make sure to wash up well when handling raw chicken, including washing counters with warm soapy water and a cap of bleach. Watch the video for a step-by-step tutorial of how to easily make a stuffed roast chicken. You can also brush up on your whole chicken carving skills with this tutorial , and really impress your friends and family at your next gathering!

For the former, go for about degrees for 1. That should do the trick, respectively. Let your chicken rest! After it's done cooking and before you cut it!

Cover it in a little tin-foil tent, and let it chill for minutes before cutting into it. Here's a play-by-play of what you need to do to carve your chicken efficiently when dealing with a full bird, of course :. Heat up your serving platter for five minutes before dropping your bird on it. It's super easy! And a nice, Martha Stewart-esque touch that will leave everyone thinking you really have your shit together.

Which is what adult life is about, really. Now go follow this recipe! Wil Fulton is a staff writer for Thrillist. You should probably check your blood sugar after reading this. Follow him: wilfulton. Skip to main content Eat. You're not using a cast-iron pan. You aren't preheating your pan. You're not letting it rest in the seasoning. You aren't patting that sucker dry before you season it.

You don't know about the dry brine. You don't use aromatics in the cavity. You aren't burnishing the bird with fat. You aren't spatchcocking if you don't mind opening up the bird. If you are keeping your chicken intact, you are trussing the long way.

You aren't using an instant-read thermometer.