The timing on the label of my Waitrose free range organic chicken which weight 1.625kg state to roast for 2 hours 10 mins at 200 degrees in a fan oven!

TWO HOURS TEN MINUTES!!! Really? It’ll be all dried out and tough.

I make it more like 1:30, 1:40 maximum and 20 minutes to rest.

I know they have to cover their arses but why do supermarkets massively obverstate cooking times?

Stick in oven, cook until juices run clear.

That’s far too long.

I never bother with the packaging instructions they like to cover themselves and always get you to overcook it. Jamie Oliver is who I take my instruction from Re cooking meat. He says a good quality free range bird needs much less cooking and a lower temperature inside than cheap poultry. I’d probably do it for a little over an hour at 220. But use a meat thermometer myself to decide when done.

Slice a lemon in half. One half in to the cavity, then tons of garlic, then fill hole with other half of lemon. Stays lovely and moist, and the flavours cook through the bird.

20 mins per lb of bird.

It’s done when the thermometer says it’s done and not before.

20 mins per lb plus 20. Plus rest time, unless you’re hungry 😀

Though generally for 1.5kg, roughly 1.5hrs is plenty at 180C fan oven.

Or when juices run clear.

Some say to start at 200C and then drop later. Can’t be bothered with that. My oven also has a rotisserie kind of option, except the rotating involves manually turning the chicken. However it does state it can be set to 150C in this mode and don’t need to wait for the oven to heat up first.

Anyway, 2hrs+ sounds like way too much.

Is it also in a bag to protect numpties who can’t cook safely and add to further packaging waste?

Should add, I don’t know about organic. Probably requires some special treatment and a visit from Prince Charles to approve it.

I thought it was an hour per pound, but then I’ve been vegetarian for a quarter of a century, so I wouldn’t listen to me if I were me.

20 mins per lb plus 20. Plus rest time, unless you’re hungry

This

Delia is the place to get the answer to this question

http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/chicken-and-other-poultry/how-to-roast-chicken

Aye, 20 plus 20 is what I’ve always used for poultry.

This evening I went with 1 hour 30 mins. A full 40 mins less than the packaging.

If anything it was still slightly overdone.

It’s insane to put 2:10 on the packaging. Some people will actually follow those instructions and be left with a a few dry bits of chewy stuff.

https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Meat_cooking_time_calculator_Metric is what I always used to use for roasts and seemed to work out about right

I’ve been vegetarian for a quarter of a century

I’d hazard a guess that’s simply because according to your calculations, you’re still waiting for 1991’s Christmas Turkey to crisp up.

I’ve been spatchcocking chickens recently, cooks much quicker and easier to marinade

I’ve been using the method from the Hugh Fearnely Whitingstal meat book, it’s great. In fact as a carnivore I’d recommend his meat book avidly.

Slice a lemon in half. One half in to the cavity, then tons of garlic,

then make gin and tonics with the other half. When you run out of gin take the chicken out of the oven.

Ooopsh, forgot to put chicken in the oven.

Stick a thin blade into the thick part of the breast and leg after 90 minutes. Do it so the cut is horizontal-ish. Squeeze a bit and look at the colour of the juice that comes out. If it’s the least bit pink put it back to cook a bit more.

When you’re carving, if you get down to some bits that are still a bit red, keep going and put those slices on a plate back in the oven for a few more minutes until the pink goes away. Meanwhile, enjoy munching on the crispy skin and the parson’s nose while sipping a little fino or amontillado and finishing the gravy and bread sauce.

Have you taken it out yet?

Jamie Oliver tip peel the skin back and stuff it with fresh herbs including sage, also slice the things so the cook as fast as the rest of it along with a lemon inside