Roast chicken with Jura French cognac cask whisky

If there is any cooking advice that I can give before the festivities is one, please put all your care when roasting your birds, as simple as it looks, it only takes a few minutes to get a dry overcooked mess instead of a juicy succulent feast out of them.

This year I went for a whole roast chicken for 4, cooked with root vegetables, marinated with a simple dry seasoning and covered with fresh pork pancetta to both protect it from drying and flavour it at the same time. What really made this roast spark was the final touch, the sauce that was deglazed and flavoured with Jura French cognac cask whisky. Once the alcohol evaporates and burns off, the whisky reduces and the sauce is enriched with its spicy and fruity flavour leaving you with a mellow and full-bodied sauce.

It goes without saying that this scrumptious roast is best to be enjoyed with your friends and family as it is the perfect get-together dish, and I strongly recommend to serve a shot of Jura French cognac cask whisky along with it to sip while you enjoy your roast.

Chef’s tip: Rember that a medium sized chicken once roasted needs to rest at least 20/25 minutes before carving into it to allow its juices to redistribute uniformly. It won’t get cold, simply leave it in a warm place in your kitchen.

Serves: 4 // Prep. & cooking Time: 2.5 h

Ingredients:

• 1 whole medium chicken, about 2,5 kg

• 8 slices of fresh pancetta or bacon

• About 300/400 gr celeriac

• About 300/400 gr pumpkin

• About 300/400 gr leek

• 1 garlic head

• 1 sprig of rosemary

• 1 sprig of sage

• 1 sprig of parsley

• ½ a lemon

• 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

• Salt & Pepper to taste

For the sauce

• 1 tsp of cumin seeds

• 1 tsp of grainy mustard

• 30 ml of Jura French cognac cask Whisky

• About 500 ml of chicken stock

• 40 gr of unsalted butter

• 10 gr of plain flour (optional)

• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Before starting, make sure the chicken has all feathers removed. Rub the chicken with salt and pepper, remove the innards and season the inside too. Place half a lemon, half a garlic head and a Buquet made of rosemary and sage in the chicken cavity and let it sit on the side while you prep the vegetables.

Rinse, peel, trim the vegs and cut them into big uniform chunks. Season them with salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and add a few garlic cloves. A teaspoon of cumin seeds and little lemon zest is a option, but a good one.

Mix well and once seasoned place the vegs onto an oven-safe dish large enough to accommodate both the vegs and chicken. Carefully place the chicken on top of the vegs making sure it sits cozy and straight upright. Now layer the bacon slices on top of the chicken to protect the delicate white meat of the breasts during the cooking time. This will also infuse extra flavour. Make sure the slices overlap well tightly. Drizzle well with olive oil and either cover with a lid or a double layer of baking parchment and foil to seal well before baking. Bake at 170 degrees C. for at least 1h than remove the lid and keep cooking for another 40/50 minutes until the vegs are soft and cooked through and the bacon-covered chicken is nicely browned and roasted to crispy perfection. While the chicken cooks all the fats and drippings will stay in the tray and flavour the vegs as well as creating a tasty base for the sauce.

The roasting timing of the chicken is the most delicate part of this recipe and I need you to use your best chef’s instincts as time vary according to the size of the birds but also the type of your oven, tray as well as if the chicken was cold from the fridge or not. Help yourself with a thermometer probe and stuck it into the thicker part of the chicken, if you have reached about 70 degrees stop it, it is cooked and more oven time will only dry it out. On the other hand, prolong the cooking time if needed and cover the chicken again with parchment if it is browning too much. Good luck.

Let the chicken rest in the tray for at least 20 minutes than carefully remove the bacon and lift it to place it on a serving platter and keep it warm (perhaps in the tuned off oven). Remove the vegetables and do the same, simply sprinkle them with a little chopped parsley.

Now the sauce. Bring the chicken tray with all its liquids onto to the stove on medium heat. Deglaze with the Jura French Cognac cask Whisky and let the alcohol evaporates for about 30 seconds on the heat. At this stage pour in the stock, mix 10 gr of melted butter with flour to create a roux (to thicken the sauce a little) and add that to the sauce. Let it simmer until reduced by half and slowly thickened as the roux cooks and dissolves. Chop the retained bacon and add it to the sauce along with a teaspoon of mustards. Now check the sauce for seasoning and finished it with a sprinkle of chopped parsley. 

Carve the chicken on the table and serve it with the chunky sauce, roasted vegs and a glass of Jura French Cognac cask Whisky for each of your guests.