Stuffed chicken in the oven is a delicious, juicy, appetizing dish for the whole family, which you can use to decorate a festive table or pamper your family at the weekend.
The advantages of chicken are undeniable: tender meat, golden brown and crispy crust, subtle aroma of spices and garlic, as well as a minimum of calories, since excess fat comes out during baking. To make chicken your signature dish, there are some cooking rules you need to follow.
To make chicken your signature dish, there are some rules to follow.
It is best to buy steamed or chilled chicken. Unlike frozen poultry, the meat of such poultry is more tender and nutritious, has a rich taste and aroma. The best option is a young broiler chicken, weighing no more than 1,6 kg, with a well-developed breast, without protruding bones. You should be careful about a cheap product – sometimes such a bird is so saturated with various preparations that the taste of chicken practically does not remain.
It is important to pay attention to the freshness of the meat. The chicken should be pale pink, with a yellowish tinge, fat and meat of an even tone, without spots and unevenness. Bright yellow fat, a grayish tint of the skin, an unpleasant odor, the smell of spices or vinegar should alert you, it is better to refuse such a purchase.
You can bake chicken in the oven in a special dish, on the grill or on a wire rack. The best baking dish is a ceramic or cast iron dish: thanks to even heating, the chicken will not burn and will bake evenly. Glass or metal cookware is also suitable, but requires constant monitoring of the baking process. If you bake your chicken frequently, you can get a special deep shape with a high cone in the center.
You can simply bake the chicken on a baking sheet, in which case it should be constantly watered with the juices that stand out, otherwise the meat will be tender below, and dry in the upper part. To make the crust evenly crispy and ruddy, it is worth trying to cook the chicken on a wire rack in the oven or on a brazier; there must be a baking sheet at the bottom to drain the juices.
Rinse the chicken carcass well and pat dry with a paper towel. To make the meat more tender, you can soak it in a saline solution (70 g of salt per liter of water), leaving it in the refrigerator for 1–5 hours. After the procedure, you need to rinse the carcass again and dry it.
If the chicken has not been presoaked, it should be rubbed well with salt, ground pepper, chopped herbs and other spices. You can make small cuts in the skin and fill them with pieces of garlic, onions, carrots – they will absorb excess fat and make the taste richer. To get a golden brown crust, the chicken can be greased with a thin layer of sour cream, melted honey. You should not use mayonnaise – the chicken will be ruddy, but more oily, an unpleasant vinegar smell will appear.
Fillings can be very different, chicken goes well with many fruits, cereals, vegetables, meat offal, mushrooms. Since chicken itself is a rather fatty bird, it is better if the filling is rather dry: it will absorb the juices of baked meat.
The most popular combinations in the filling:
mushrooms with potatoes
rice with apples and raisins
stuffed pancakes
cheese and nuts
mushrooms with cabbage
zucchini with cheese and tomatoes
The filling should be prepared in advance – boil cereals or vegetables, fry onions, carrots, mushrooms, cut fruits or citrus fruits, such as apples, lemons, oranges. Mix the filling and fill the inside of the chicken. Some cooks also fill the subcutaneous space by making several incisions in the skin.
Sharp sharpened knives with short blades are essential when skinning a chicken.
There is also another way to stuff chicken, which requires more preparation. To do this, you need to carefully remove the skin from the chicken carcass, leaving the wings and legs intact, starting from the lower leg. It is important not to damage the integrity of the skin, it is better to cut for meat. As a result, you will get a kind of leather bag with a thin layer of meat, which can be filled with any filling, and all holes can be sewn up with thread.
The chicken is considered fully cooked when the temperature in the center of the carcass has exceeded 85 degrees; professional chefs use a special culinary thermometer to measure the temperature. However, you can determine the readiness of the meat in other ways, for example, piercing the chicken with a toothpick. If a clear juice is released without a pink or cloudy shade, then the meat is ready.
To check readiness with a thermometer, you need to insert it into the middle of the thigh, the temperature should be at least 85 degrees
As a rule, stuffed chicken requires 40 minutes of roasting for each kilogram of weight at a temperature of 180-200 degrees, plus 20 minutes to the total time. It is important not to overexpose the chicken, otherwise the meat will become harsh and dry. If the filling requires heating (for example, contains raw meat), add another 15 minutes to the total time.
The chicken removed from the oven should be left for 10 minutes, covered with foil or baking paper. Thanks to this, it will cool slightly and become juicier.