When I was growing up, our family always had a roast on Sunday evenings for dinner. It was either roast pork, roast beef or roast chicken with either a bread or meat stuffing.
My favourite was always the Roast Chicken with Pork Stuffing. The delicious aroma of the roasting chicken filled the house all afternoon.
This recipe will give the novice cook a step by step guide to roasting and stuffing a chicken. Often, meat stuffings are made with pork sausage. The problem with this, is that they are all seasoned differently. This Pork Stuffing is made with ground pork, so the seasoning that you add is what you want.
Pork Stuffing
Print recipeIngredients
- 1 Lb or 450 gm lean ground pork
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 1 stalk celery (finely chopped)
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 Large egg (beaten)
- 1 - 2 slices of white bread
- 1/8 Tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 Tsp salt
- good grinding of pepper
Directions
| Pork Stuffing | |
| Cook the onion and celery with the butter in a small frying pan on the stove top until soft or combine the onion and celery in a microwave dish; add the tablespoon of butter. Cover with wax paper and microwave on high for about 1 ½ minutes or until the onion is soft. | |
| Use a food processor or blender to make fresh breadcrumbs with the bread. | |
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Combine the onion-celery mixture (which has cooled), the fresh bread crumbs, the egg, spices and ground pork. Mix well. Stuff in the cavity until just filled. Sew it shut with string. If there is extra stuffing, fill the neck cavity as well.  | |
| If you have a small chicken, reduce the ground pork to ½ lb.(.45 kg); use only one slice of bread, but still use one egg. Reduce the salt to ½ tsp. For a larger chicken, increase the pork, but add no more than 2 slices of bread, one egg. The nutmeg should still be about ⅛ tsp., but I always adjust the salt to the amount of meat. | |
Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole roasting chicken
- 2 Tbsp butter
Note
Timetable for Roasting Chicken at 325 degrees F.
Weight Roasting Time
4-5 lb (1.8-2.2 kg) 2 3/4 - 3 1/2 hours
5-6 lb (2.2 - 2.7 kg) 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours
6-7 lb (2.7-3.2 kg) 4 1/2 - 5 hours
The timetable approximates 42 min./lb. or 19 min./kg.
For unstuffed chickens, deduct 5 min./lb. or 2.5 min./kg.
Directions
| Stuffed Chicken | |
| Prepare the meat or bread stuffing, if roasting a stuffed chicken. Fill the cavity with the stuffing until just nicely filled. If there is extra stuffing, then fill the neck cavity with the rest. | |
| Truss the Chicken Method 1 | |
| To truss the chicken, lay the bird on it's back, tie the drumsticks to the tail with a string. Bring the string up firmly between drumsticks and body, then over the wingtips to centre back and tie securely. | |
| Truss the Chicken Method 2 | |
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You can also use a poultry needle and string to sew through the tail and then wrap the string around each leg and pull up tight and tie off. Then put the needle through the bottom of the wing, then through the top of the wing and then through the body to the other wing top. Then thread it through the bottom of this wing and then through the leg joint, right through the cavity to the other leg joint. You can then tie this end to the end that started with the wing bottom.  | |
| Place the stuffed and trussed chicken, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Brush the skin all over with the butter. Cover loosely with foil. | |
| To brown the chicken, remove the foil 1/2 hour before roasting time is up. Baste occasionally. | |
| Test for doneness | |
| If using a meat thermometer, insert it into the thickest part of the thigh muscle (do not touch the bone). When the chicken is cooked, the thermometer reads 190 deg. F. If you do not have a meat thermometer, twist the drumstick. It should twist easily. | |
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If the chicken is done, remove it to a cutting board and cover it with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.  | |
| Gravy | |
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Pour off any fat that has accumulated in the roasting pan, being careful not to pour off the brown bits that have baked on. Put the roast pan on a burner and add to it about a cup of water to which 1 tbsp of cornstarch has been mixed). Stir and scrape up all the good bits. Add about a ½ tsp of salt. Then cook until it starts to bubble. You may need to add more water or more water with cornstarch depending on the amount required and the consistency. Never add the cornstarch directly to the gravy, because it will get lumpy.  | |
| Carving | |
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Pull the strings out from the cooked chicken. Cut through the wings at the shoulder joint and put on a platter. Cut off the legs at the hip joint and then cut into thigh and drumstick or you can carve the dark meat off the leg and platter it. Then cut the breast portion off in slices and platter.  | |
| Stuffing | |
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Gently remove the stuffing from the cavity and slice (if it is a meat stuffing) or scoop (if it is a bread stuffing) onto a plate.  | |