The first thing you've got to think about is getting yourself a nice, free range bird. Go to a butchery and ask the butcher how long it will take to cook the bird and at what temperature. Butchers know these things.
If you're in the stupidmarket and have no butchers on hand, the sizes equate to weight in kilos - ie: a size 16 bird weighs no less than 1.6kg. Per kg expect it to take about an hour at 220ºc. I usually start testing the chicken for doneness from 1 hour into the cooking. To test a chicken, insert a long skewer into the chicken around the fattest part of the thigh. If it comes out red, put your chicken back in the oven. When the chicken's juices run clear when you stab it, pull the leg away from the body and cut down toward the hip joint. If it's fluffy white without any bloodiness, your chook is cooked. I have a crap oven that doesn't seal properly, so if you have a modern fan forced oven, your bird may cook a fair bit faster.
Cooking a bird does involve a fair few hygiene considerations.
Firstly, NEVER stuff a bird until you are ready to cook it. If you stuff it ahead of time, you're just giving food to bacteria. Don't do it.
Secondly, always keep your chicken chilled in the fridge until you're ready to use it. If you're going to be diverted on the way home from the supermarket, ask the butcher to give you a cold pack to keep against the chook until you get it home.
Never cook a chicken that is partially frozen. If you have to use a frozen bird, give it a day or two to thaw slowly in the fridge. Don't thaw it at room temperature, there's too much room for bacterial bloom if you let it thaw that quickly. My advice is to avoid frozen chickens purely for hygiene reasons. Fresh birds are far superior.
The last thing for you to think about is whether you prefer crispy skinned chicken, or super juicy flesh. You can have both, but the technique for highlighting one or the other of these characteristics varies slightly.
If you want a juicy bird, cook it in a crock pot. Brown it on the cook top in a little melted butter on all sides first. Cook it in the oven with the lid on the crock pot for an hour. Take the lid off for the last 20-40 min to help crisp it up a bit. It will be nice and juicy.
If you want a crispy bird, cook it in a baking dish with no cover. If it starts looking dry, baste it and then cover it with aluminum foil for a while to keep the juices in.
The crispy bird will mean that you'll have to clean the inside of the oven, because it does spit a bit. Do it sooner than later so it doesn't go all charred on the inside of the oven and turn into a real chore.
I alternate techniques depending on my mood.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 lemon
Olive oil
Salt
Herb stuffing
2 pieces of stale bread, ground into crumbs
1/4 cup of pine nuts, whole
1/2 - 1 cup of continental parsley, chopped roughly
1/2 a lemon - zest and juice
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 egg
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Clayton's stuffing - the stuffing you have for when you can't be stuffed making stuffing.
1 lemon, cut in half.
1 whole onion.
1 bay leaf.
Gravy
1 tablespoon of plain flour
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1/2 cup of white wine
1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
OR
Instant gravy powder if you're being lazy
1. Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Clean and prepare your bird. Wash the outside and the cavity with running cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. Trim any excess fat away from the neck. Lift the skin away from the breast and back and push little knobs of butter up under the skin.
2. Make up your stuffing. If you don't have a blender, use a mortar and pestle to grind everything up. Mix all ingredients together and then spoon into the cleaned cavity. Fix the cavity closed. Some people take the time to sew it closed. You can just use a moistened skewer to fix it closed. Or if you don't have any of the above, just remember not to stuff it too full, and you'll be right. If you're using Claytons stuffing, just slice the lemon and the onion in half and pop 'em in the cavity.
3. Brown off the chicken on a cook top if you like (see photos) turning it so that each side is allowed to be sealed before entering the oven. Pop it in your prefered cooking vessel and put it into the oven. Put the timer on for 20 minutes.
4. Once your timer goes off, turn the chicken and return it to the oven. Continue turning the chicken every 20 minutes until it runs clear when stabbed on the inside of the leg. First poke it with a skewer, and if that runs clear, lift the drumstick away from the body of the chicken, and cut down toward the hip joint. When hip joint is no longer pink or bloody, your chook is done.
5. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for at least 10 minutes on a serving platter before carving it. Whilst waiting for the bird to rest you can make gravy. Take the cooking pan and pour off the fat but try to retain the juices and add just a little water to it to deglace it. Scrape the blackened bits up. Pop it on a cook top and scatter in the flour. Make sure that the flour is fully incorporated into the slurry and that there are no lumps. Add tomato paste and white wine. Stir for a little while. Add a the stock gradually, stirring all the while. If you want to have a thick gravy reduce it for longer. If you prefer a thinner gravy, call off the cooking earlier. If your gravy goes lumpy, wizz it with your noise on a stick (hand held blender) for a second. If you're being lazy, just pour off the fat, sprinkle the gravy powder into the pan juices, and stir thoroughly to avoid lumps. Serve in a jug to accompany the chicken.
6. Don't use an electric cutting knife because it will rip the flesh of the bird. Cut gently with a very sharp knife. First, glide the knife through the breast. and cut slices of breast meat for everyone to share. Then with a heavier movement, joint the chicken at the drumstick, wing and thigh.
*If you're watching your waistline, then save the wings for stock, because they are fatty little bastards. When you've taken as much meat from the chicken as you can, use the bones for chicken stock.
*I like to serve with roast spuddies (I like Dutch Creams or Kenebecks for roasting). In another baking tray, toss the peeled potatoes in salt and olive oil and pop them in the oven whilst you're cookin' le chookin. The potatoes can be turned when you turn the chicken. 80 minutes in the oven will make 'em good and crunchy on the outside and fluffy fluff on the inside.
*Gravy can be made with white or red wine. I like white wine better for chicken gravy, because it doesn't compete so much with the flavour of the chook.
*A slice of bread to mop up the gravy is always a good idea. Yum yum.
