The Sunday roast, done properly: a chicken, a tin of potatoes and no shortcuts
Two hours, one oven, and the only rule is that the potatoes go in hot fat
There is no mystery to a good roast. There is only time, heat and the willingness to do things in the right order.
Take the chicken out of the fridge an hour before it goes in the oven. Salt it generously. Put it in at 220C for twenty minutes, then down to 180C for an hour, breast up, on a bed of onion halves.
The potatoes are the point. Peel and quarter them, boil for eight minutes, drain, and shake the pan until the edges roughen. Meanwhile heat a tin of fat, beef dripping if you have it, until it smokes. Tip the potatoes in and do not touch them for 25 minutes.
Rest the chicken for twenty minutes under foil. Make gravy in the roasting tin with a spoon of flour, a glass of wine and the water from the vegetables. Serves four, with argument over the crispest potato.
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