Brined Roast Chicken

The smell of cinnamon is in the air. The fire place crackles. Sitting in two large sofa chairs in red velvet robes and smoking large pipes are your friendly neighbourhood food lovers, Adam and Candice.

Candice smiles, “Come everyone, let us tell you a wondrous story!”

Adam smiles and takes a deep breath from the pipe. “Yes... a story abou...” Adam starts coughing profusely from the smoke.

Candice smiles again, “Don’t worry, I got this. A wondrous story. It all started when…”

Adam and Candice were on their way home after their long days at work. "No time to relax, we have to get started on our preparations for tomorrow!" Adam said, opening the front door to their home. It was seven ‘o’clock, Christmas Eve, and they had promised to put on a scrumptious feast for tomorrow's lunch. Not a worry in their hearts, they smiled, having done their shop a few days before. "Ok, so we need to brine the chicken, get the potato salad done, make some candy bacon and… "Candice freezes as a horrible pungent smell hits them. She quickly tries to turn on the lights, but no luck, their home has lost power. She looks at Adam. "Uh oh! Quick, check the fridge!"

Adam runs over as quickly as he can. He opens the fridge that has no lights and sighs as he looks at the spoiled food. “Everything’s gone rotten! Just smell that chicken! This holiday is ruined!” Candice with a look of determination says, “It’s a long shot, but we are just going to have to try and find a shop that’s open!”

So in the car they hopped, hoping with all their heart that they could somehow find a shop that was open on Christmas Eve. They drove and drove, but after many hours of driving, they could not find one store. With deep sighs and long faces, Adam and Candice started the long drive home. Then… suddenly… something… miraculous happened! In the darkened street, they saw a small wooden food stall that was still open! They pulled over and…

“I got the rest of this story, Candice!” Adam smiles and takes a long, deep puff from his pipe. “They pulled over and…” Adam starts spluttering and coughing, choking on the smoke. Candice smiles, “Where was I…”

They pulled over and started walking towards the stall. "This is our last chance! It's nearly midnight; we've been searching for hours. If this place doesn't have chicken we will have to give up..." Adam says to Candice. They start walking closer, when suddenly…

"Hello, my friends, can I interest you in some laffa bread?" Adam and Candice both shout out, “Magical laffa man!” Magical laffa man smiles. “Here, take what you need…” Suddenly, the wagon is covered in all kinds of wonders, eggs, mayonnaise, bacon and most importantly a large chicken! Everything that had been ruined was now available.

"This is amazing!” Candice exclaims. "Please also have some laffa bread and dip! Tuck in my friends!"

"We'd love to magical laffa man, but we are in a bit of a hurry, we need to start brining our chicken and preparing all our other meals. But you are most welcome to join us for lunch tomorrow! We are cooking! The more the merrier!"

They started walking away, big smiles on their face, their bags full of groceries. Adam and Candice turn around to wave goodbye. Magical laffa man… had disappeared.

Candice lowers her pipe and smiles, “Was it a miracle? Was it a dream? Did magical laffa man decide to help his old friends out? Or did he organise all this just to get invited to lunch? Who knows? Either way Christmas lunch was a success! The End...”

Or is it? We think the magic of magical laffa man has just begun! This recipe is two recipes combined! The brine came from the people out at twoyolks and the roast chicken was from Jamie Oliver. We hope you love this chicken recipe! From Adam and Candice, we'd like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy holidays!

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Brined Roast Chicken
 
Servings                          
8
 
Prep Time:       24:00    
Cook Time:      04:30
 
Main Ingredients 

For brining:
 
1 cup of kosher salt
½ cup of sugar
1 bunch of fresh thyme
1 bunch of fresh rosemary
1 bunch of fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
2 heads of garlic, cut in half
1 onion, sliced
3 tbsp of black pepper
2 lemons, cut in halves
water
1 whole chicken, 1.5 to 2kg
 
For cooking:
 
2 white onions
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 bulb of garlic
1 lemon
1 bunch of fresh thyme
1 bunch of fresh rosemary
1 bunch of fresh parsley
olive oil

Preparation

Brine the chicken

1. First you need to brine the chicken! Brining is fantastic, because you are soaking the chicken in all the delicious flavour, so when you finally do roast, the flavour is all through the chicken! Put all of the brining ingredients in a large pot, except for the chicken. Make sure you squeeze the lemons before putting them in! Add water until the pot is about halfway full to three quarters of the way full. You’re going to eventually add the chicken to this pot and you want it to be submerged in water!
   
2. Put the put on a high heat and allow to simmer until the salt and the sugar have fully dissolved.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool. Transfer the pot to the fridge until it is chilled.
4. You then want to add the chicken to this mixture. Hopefully the water is fully covering the chicken, otherwise add some more water. If you need to, add a plate on top of the chicken to keep it submerged. Leave this mixture for about 18 hours.
5. Remove the chicken from the pot and pat dry with paper towels. Discard all ingredients from the pot. Allow the chicken to sit, back in the fridge for 6 hours before roasting. Your chicken is now brined and ready to go!

Roast the chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 110 to 120 degrees celcius, non-fan forced.
2. Take the lemon and stab with a knife all throughout. Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
3. Take the lemon and all the herbs and put it into the chicken’s cavity.
4. Take the garlic and brake into cloves and put on the bottom of a roasting pan. Add all of the vegetables to the bottom of the pan as well. Drizzle all of this with oil.
5. Put salt and pepper onto the chicken and transfer to the top of the pan. Drizzle the chicken with oil and make sure it’s completely covered.
6. Transfer pan to the oven and cook for 4 hours.
7. Turn the heat up to the top temperature and change it to fan-forced. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, making sure the chicken isn’t becoming overly burnt. We love the tender inside and the crispy outside!

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