Preparing a chicken

Practical cooking tips How to make your chicken work for you

Email this page

Contents:

Date Published:
07/01/2008

Roasting a chicken needn't be difficult. Here's a simple step by step guide to preparing the perfect bird, from choosing it to using leftovers to make stock and gravy

Gravy

Line the base of your roasting tray with chopped carrots, celery and shallots. Sit the meat on top of the vegetables, then add chopped-up chicken wings to the tray making sure that they don't touch the meat of the roast itself. Add butter and a little water. Don't add salt; you can always season the gravy later, but you can't remove it. Add a glass of wine half way through the cooking time to keep everything moist.

Advertisement

When the meat is cooked take it out of the tray. Put the tray with the rest of its contents onto the hob and cook for a few minutes to let the flavours bind. Add more wine and seasoning according to taste. Drain the mixture through a sieve and discard the chopped vegetables, the bones and the trimmings.

Lift the fat off with a spoon. You will be left with a nice brown liquid, this is the jus. Bring it to boil in a pan. Don't be tempted to thicken it with gravy granules or corn-flour. The gravy as it is at this stage is thinner but intensely flavoured.


Download our poster guide how to handle your bird

Check out our great chicken recipes here

Your Comments

Post your comment

Please note: In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in to Channel 4:

Sign In Here or Register Here

Comments closed

Comments are closed at the present time

Your comments

Post your comment
By posting on this website you are agreeing to abide by our Comments Policy.
Mandatory Fields are marked with *
Your Comment (Maximum characters: 4000) *
You have

Comments

Thank you for your comment!

Your message will be reviewed and the best ones will be published below.

If you intended to make an official comment to Channel 4 please contact us.

Comments

  1. hi how-tos my name is jake and i love eating and preparing food your website and i want to cook it so if you get back to me that would be coooooool!! pce.
    Posted by jake.lenstra on 23/04/2009 20:22:21
    Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment

Recipe Finder

Show only:

Advertisement

Missed a show? Get onto Catch-up

Channel 4 food shows

How To Hints

Latest Features

Need inspiration? Check these out...

Food for thought

Kellybronze turkey Win your Christmas turkey ...and tuck in

Alsace wine Spoil yourself... with Alsace wines!

Advertisement


Food

Skip Channel4 main Navigation
Explore Channel4
Food
Homes
Film
4Car
News
See All

Channel 4 © 2009. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.