Recipe: Stand-up Roast Chicken

Whole chicken is one of the best value meats you can buy at the moment and not just the scary battery birds – no thanks.

You can buy a free-range chicken in Dunnes for only €5.99 and this is a big fella that will stretch to a couple of meals, sandwiches and of course the all important stock.

I love roast chicken on a Sunday but my husband thinks roast chicken is boring and dry so I try and come up with new ways to fool him into eating it. Thinking it was just a gimmick, I tried this stand-up chicken recipe at the weekend but I was amazed at the results.

By placing a can half-filled with water into the cavity of the bird and cooking it standing-up, the meat came out really succulent and moist. It did look bizarre and I did feel a little weird sticking a can up a bird but it’s certainly worth a go and this particular recipe has a lovely rotisserie flavour.

I first saw a stand-up chicken being prepared in a odd but hilarious You Tube clip of the actor Christopher Walken making stand-up chicken with pears. It’s hard to belive it’s actually him – check it out.

Stand-up Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 free-range chicken
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 330ml can, half-filled with water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 200C and position one oven rack on bottom adjustment, removing others.
2. Line a baking tray with tin foil.
3. Remove bag of giblets from chicken cavity, if present, and wash chicken inside and out with cold water.
4. Slip your fingers underneath skin covering breasts and separate skin from flesh but leave skin intact.
5. In small bowl, mix together salt, black pepper, paprika and brown sugar.
6. Rub seasoning inside chicken cavity, underneath skin onto flesh, and on top of skin.
7. Place can on baking tray and slide chicken tail-down onto can so chicken stands up on baking sheet.
8. If breast meat is exposed, stretch skin over flesh and secure with toothpicks.
9. Roast and juices run clear instead of pink.
10. Remove from oven and wrap loosely with foil. Let chicken sit for 10 to 15 minutes to allow juices to redistribute.