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Roast Chicken, Potatoes & Bread Sauce




Source of Recipe


Unknown






Recipe Introduction


This is a fairly long and involved recipe. Save it for a Sunday dinner. But it is very good and, I have been told, very authentic English roast chicken dinner. I am very sorry that I do not remember where I got this recipe. My copy is taped to index cards, but obviously Xeroxed from a book. I have presented the recipe practically verbatim, because the author’s voice is so distinctive and enjoyable.





List of Ingredients



• CHICKEN:
  
• 1 3-4 lb. fresh roasting chicken, with giblets
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 6 rashers (slices) bacon
  
• 4 small sweet breakfast sausages
  
• BREAD SAUCE:
  
• 2 c. milk
  
• 4 thick slices fresh or stale white bread with crusts
  
• 1 small onion, peeled
  
• 10 whole cloves
  
• 1 T. butter
  
• POTATOES:
  
• 2 lb. good, firm potatoes, peeled
  
• ¼ t. salt
  
• 2 c. corn oil
  
• GRAVY:
  
• 1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 3 T. flour
  
• 2 c. chicken stock
  
• salt and freshly milled pepper
  






Instructions



1. Timing is the most important and the most difficult thing in a meal of this nature – there seems so much to do. It’s easy if you follow these steps.
   
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. The chicken will take the longest time, so that must go in first and the other things can be done while it’s cooking. The conventional time rule for cooking poultry is 20 minutes per pound, but quite honestly I find I always need to cook it longer. Prepare the chicken for the oven by removing the giblets and thoroughly rinse the bird in cold water. Chop the lemon into quarters and tuck them inside the bird, where you found the giblets. Place on a trivet ((or rack) a trivet will raise the bird of f the base of the pan, allowing the heat to reach all around, and wills top the bird from stewing in its own juice – horrid) in the pan, upside down. By this I mean breast side down. This is a trick I’ve learned when cooking poultry – the juices run through the breast meat, making it white and delicious (thank you, Dorothy Hindley). Now place 2 rashers of bacon over the bird and place on a high shelf in the oven. Set your timer for one hour.
   
3. Next prepare the bread sauce. Into a 2 qt. heavy-bottomed pan, place the milk and the roughly broken up pieces of bread. Keeping the onion whole, push the cloves into the circumference so it looks like a sputnik, and place that in the bread and milk so that, if possible, it is immersed. Cover with the lid and leave in a warm place, like on the top of the stove. As you know, milk takes on the flavor of other storing smells such as onion, so leave the onion like this for one hour.
   
4. Now place the potatoes in a heavy-bottomed 4 qt. pan, cover with cold water and a little salt, and quickly bring to the boil. As this is happening, put the corn oil in a glass ovenproof dish. As soon as the potatoes come to the boil, drain them thoroughly and place them in the oil. (I use my suction baster to make sure that oil covers each and every potato.) Set the dish in the oven, on the same shelf as the bird, if possible.
   
5. Soon the timer will be going off. Take your little sausages and wrap a rasher of bacon around each. When the timer sounds remove the bird from the oven and turn it over. Baste well, remove the rashers of bacon on the bird and discard them, place the sausage/bacon accompaniments around the bird in the baking tin, and return it to the oven. Set the timer for 30 minutes.
   
6. When the potatoes have been cooking for half an hour, drain off the oil and return them to the oven (briefly baste again). Tidy the kitchen now, wash and put away what you can, or the place will start looking like a national disaster area.
   
7. Now you must keep a careful eye on your oven. The bird is coming to the end of its cooking period, and the potatoes should be starting to brown and crisp up – the aim is to have the bird ready a little ahead of the potatoes. Toward the end of the cooking I also remove the lemon to assist the final browning; it will have done its job by now. (You’ll need to use tongs so you won’t be burned.) The occasional basting helps to brown the chicken, but not much, as most chickens reduce quite a lot of fat and manage to baste themselves. Anyone hanging around the kitchen at this point has to be evicted.
   
8. When you are satisfied that the chicken is nicely brown all over, remove from the oven. Final tests for doneness are, first, smell (does it smell cooked?) and second, carefully push a small knife into the thigh area as deep as you can and check that the juice shows no trace of pink. Remove the chicken and the sausages from the pan and place on a wooden board to rest.
   
9. If you are preparing a green vegetable like cabbage or broccoli, do it now.
   
   
   
10. Remove the onion from the bread sauce, stir with a small wooden spoon, then place over low heat, add the butter, and stir occasionally.
    
11. Now make the gravy. Take the pan the chicken has been cooking in, remove the trivet, and then remove and discard about half of the grease. Be careful to extract only the pure great and none of the browned bits; they’re the tasty part. I do this using my suction baster. Using an oven mitt to hold the pan, place it on the stovetop over low heat, add the chopped onion and bay leaf, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle on the flour and don’t worry about lumps forming; it’s going to be sieved. Try and let some of the flour in the pan burn (Kim’s note: brown, not burn) a little; this will help to color the gravy. Then introduce the stock a little at a time, stirring all the time and all over the pan, moving the contents over the heat until the consistency that you like is reached. The more stock you add the thinner will be the gravy. Season to taste and pour through a sieve into a gravy boat.
    
12. By now the potatoes will be done, so turn off the oven (it will stay hot for ages) but leave the potatoes in. Put the gravy in the oven (cover it with a sauce to stop a skin forming). Now carve the bird. Slice the white meat, then remove the wings and legs in portions. When you have remv9oved as much flesh as possible, save the carcass for making stock and place the meat and sausages on a large oval platter. Arrange the potatoes around the edge. Cover the platter with foil and place in the oven.
    
13. Finally check the bread sauce. Stir well but don’t scrape the bottom, in case it burned a little. The bread should be completely integrated with the milk and be the consistency of oatmeal. Put in a serving dish and cover with foil.
    
14. The green vegetable will keep fresh and hot if you place it in a covered vegetable dish, preferably china.
    
15. Now clean up, have a drink and relax. The meal will keep fresh for at least 20 minutes. Summon the troops when you are ready.
    






Final Comments


Serves 6.