Tom Parker Bowles

My Mother’s Roast Chicken

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Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Medium

  • Serves

    4

Appears in

top 1000Let's Eat

Let's Eat

By Tom Parker Bowles

Published 2013

  • About

My wife swore that if she heard me mention this dish one more time, she’d shove it where the sun don’t beam. Well, words to that effect. Because this was such a staple of my youth, I roll it out any time anyone asks if my mother is a good cook – which is pretty much all of the time. She is, although she was always less bothered with the cakes, puddings and pies side of things: anything that requires exact measurements. Which was fine by us. All my sister and I really wanted was Findus Crispy Pancakes and Ice Magic chocolate sauce. Sadly, we had to seek those illicit pleasures elsewhere.

This is a classic recipe, cooked in the top right-hand oven of the Aga. I’ve adapted it for normal ovens. My mother insists that chopping off that dangly bit above the cavity and putting it on top of the bird improves the flavour. As it releases about a ton of schmaltz, or chicken fat, I’d agree. Buy the best chicken you can afford. Rather eat one decent free-range than four of those flabby imported beasts with all the depth of a puddle.

Ingredients

  • 1 unwaxed lemon
  • 1 x 1.8 kg/4 lb chicken (the best you can afford), rinsed inside and out with cold water and then drained
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • about 75 g/3 oz butter, at room temperature

Gravy

  • 200 ml/7 fl oz dry white wine
  • 450 ml/16 fl oz chicken stock (a cube is fine)

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. Pierce the lemon with a small knife and ‘shove it up the chicken’s bottom’.

Season the bird with salt and pepper, inside and out, then massage the butter all over it. Cook for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and cook for a further 40 minutes. Poke a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh: the juices should be golden, not pink. If not, cook for a little longer, then retest. Let it rest for 15–20 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the gravy, spoon excess fat from the roasting tin, but leave a little in the tin. Put the tin over a high heat. When everything starts bubbling, deglaze with the white wine. Simmer while the alcohol cooks off, then add the stock, stirring all the time. Tip in any juices from the resting chicken. Boil to reduce a little, then strain through a sieve into a warm jug. Serve the chicken with the gravy.

© 2013 All rights reserved. Published by Pavilion.