Roast Chicken with Stuffing

Method

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6.

2. 2

   Trim off the wingtips and keep them for the tin, then remove the wishbone. Loosen the neck skin and pack the English Stuffing into the neck end, over the breast. Fold the neck skin under the bird and secure it with a cocktail stick or trussing string, so it holds when the bird is turned onto each leg. Leave the cavity empty: do not stuff it. You can put half a lemon in the cavity for aroma. Shape any stuffing that does not fit into balls and roll them in the sunflower oil on a separate oiled baking tray, not in the chicken's tin. Truss the chicken, or at least tie the legs together with string, then smear the butter all over it.

3. 3

   Season inside and out with salt and pepper.

4. 4

   Lay the bird on its side, resting on one leg, in a roasting tin on a trivet of the carrot (halved lengthways), the half onion and the trimmed wingtips.

5. 5

   Add the bay leaf and a cup of water to the tin.

6. 6

   Roast for 20–25 minutes, then turn the bird onto the other leg, baste and roast for another 20–25 minutes.

7. 7

   Stand the bird upright (breast up), baste and return it to the oven for the final stretch. Put the tray of stuffing balls in the oven for about the last 20 minutes, depending on their size, until golden and 75°C in the middle.

8. 8

   Roast for about 1¼ hours in total at 200°C, basting regularly and checking from 1 hour, until a probe reads 75°C in both the thickest part of the thigh and the thickest part of the breast, the juices run clear, and the centre of the neck stuffing (and any stuffing balls) reaches 75°C. If the bird is done but the stuffing is not, keep roasting until the stuffing reaches 75°C. The bird carries on cooking for about five minutes while it rests.

9. 9

   Lift the chicken out of the tin and rest it on its breast for 10–15 minutes before carving, loosely covered with foil, so the juices settle back into the white meat, as French butchers do.

10. 10

    For the gravy, tilt the tin and skim off most of the fat, leaving the browned juices in the tin. Set the tin over a medium heat, stir in the flour (25 g) to make a roux and cook for a minute or two until it turns golden. Add the wine (100 ml), scrape up the browned bits and bubble until reduced by about half. Gradually whisk in the stock (300 ml) and simmer for 5–10 minutes, until cooked out and the gravy coats the back of a spoon. Strain, taste and season.

Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.