A Chicken Dinner
Cooking Skills: Chicken 1
Chapter 8 · A Chicken Dinner
Skill goal
Plan, time and serve a chicken dinner, use the whole bird across the week, and store chicken safely.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
A chicken dinner is a timing exercise. The chicken needs about 1 hour 20 minutes and then a 20-minute rest, and everything else must be ready around it: potatoes roasting alongside, vegetables prepped, gravy made from the tin while the bird rests. Write the timeline backwards from the moment you sit down, and give each task a start time.
One chicken can give three meals: the roast dinner, a cold or reheated second meal (see chapter 7) and stock from the carcass (Cooking Skills: Soups and Stocks 1, chapter 1). This chapter brings the whole course together: Cooking Skills: Chicken 1, chapters 1 to 7. At the end you write a signature dish: your own cut, method and sauce.
The method
- Plan the menu and timeline backwards from the serving time.
- Get the chicken in first; everything else fits around it.
- Check the chicken at 75°C in the thigh, then rest it for 20 minutes.
- Make the gravy and finish the vegetables while the chicken rests.
- Carve, serve and clear up, then store the leftovers within 2 hours.
| Day | Meal | From | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Roast chicken dinner | Chapter 2 | Cook a big bird; save the leftovers |
| Monday | Coronation-style sandwiches or salad | Chapter 7 | Cold, from Sunday's chicken |
| Tuesday | Chicken stock and a broth | Cooking Skills: Soups and Stocks 1, chapter 1 | From the carcass |
| Wednesday | Chicken thighs grilled or pan-fried | Chapters 3 and 4 | Fresh thighs |
| Thursday | Chicken casserole | Chapter 6 | A one-pot dinner |
Raw chicken, timing, storing and freezing
Raw chicken: the safety rules: raw chicken often carries campylobacter and salmonella. Never wash it (the splashes spread bacteria around the kitchen), keep it covered on the bottom shelf of the fridge, use its own board, knife and tongs, wash your hands, boards and tools in hot soapy water afterwards, and never put cooked food back on a plate or board that held raw chicken. Use it by the use-by date, or freeze it on the day you buy it.Is it cooked? Use a thermometer: chicken is safe when the thickest part reaches 75°C (or 70°C held for 2 minutes), the meat is white all the way through with no pink, and the juices run clear (general guidance, in line with current FSA advice). Push a probe thermometer into the thickest part without touching bone, and for a whole bird check the thickest part of the thigh. If in doubt, cook it longer.
Leftover chicken: cool cooked chicken quickly (within about 1 to 2 hours), cover and refrigerate, and eat within 2 days. Reheat only once, until steaming hot all the way through. Never leave chicken on the table for more than 2 hours. Cooked chicken can be frozen for up to about 3 months.
Freezing and defrosting chicken: freeze chicken on the day you buy it, in flat, labelled bags, for up to about 9 months raw or 3 months cooked (general guidance). Defrost it in the fridge on a plate on the bottom shelf, never on the worktop, and cook it within a day. Do not refreeze raw chicken that has defrosted unless you cook it first.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
A Sunday chicken dinner for four
Roast chicken with roast potatoes, carrots and green beans, and gravy made in the tin. Follow the timeline: the chicken goes in first, the potatoes join after 30 minutes, and the vegetables and gravy come while the bird rests. Carve at the table.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 1.6 kg whole chicken
- 900 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
- 4 carrots, cut in sticks
- 200 g green beans, trimmed
- 50 g butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 400 ml chicken stock, unsalted
- Roast the chicken at 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6) as in chapter 2, for about 1 hour 20 minutes. After 30 minutes, add the potatoes (par-boiled) in oil to a separate tray, and the carrots to the chicken's tin.
- When the thigh reads 75°C, rest the chicken for 20 minutes under foil. Boil the beans for 4 minutes and make the gravy in the tin with flour and stock.
- Carve and serve with the potatoes, carrots, beans and gravy.
Hot oven, raw chicken and timing
Raw chicken: the safety rules: raw chicken often carries campylobacter and salmonella. Never wash it (the splashes spread bacteria around the kitchen), keep it covered on the bottom shelf of the fridge, use its own board, knife and tongs, wash your hands, boards and tools in hot soapy water afterwards, and never put cooked food back on a plate or board that held raw chicken. Use it by the use-by date, or freeze it on the day you buy it.Hot oven and hot trays: ovens, trays and tins are hot enough to burn badly. Use dry oven gloves (a damp cloth conducts heat), pull the shelf out a little before lifting a tray, put hot things on a heatproof surface and keep children away.
Is it cooked? Use a thermometer: chicken is safe when the thickest part reaches 75°C (or 70°C held for 2 minutes), the meat is white all the way through with no pink, and the juices run clear (general guidance, in line with current FSA advice). Push a probe thermometer into the thickest part without touching bone, and for a whole bird check the thickest part of the thigh. If in doubt, cook it longer.
Resting: resting lets the juices settle, but it is not a safety step: the chicken must already have reached its safe temperature. Rest it on a warm plate, loosely covered with foil, and keep it out of the 'danger zone' for no more than about 30 minutes before carving and serving.
Level 2 · Plan
A week of chicken meals
Plan five chicken meals for two, starting with a big Sunday roast. Use the leftovers on Monday, the carcass for stock on Tuesday, and add fresh thighs for Wednesday and Thursday. Freeze anything that won't be eaten within 2 days.
Ingredients (5 meals for 2)
- 1.8 kg whole chicken (Sunday)
- 6 boneless thighs (Wednesday)
- 8 bone-in thighs (Thursday)
- 1 pack of tortillas or bread for the leftovers
- 1 pack of freezer bags and a marker
- On Sunday cook the big chicken and strip the leftover meat within 2 hours. Chill it, and put the carcass on to simmer for stock.
- Write the plan: day, dish, cut and chapter. Check what is in the freezer.
- Each evening cook the planned dish and tick it off. Freeze whatever won't be used within 2 days.
Raw chicken, storage and freezing
Raw chicken: the safety rules: raw chicken often carries campylobacter and salmonella. Never wash it (the splashes spread bacteria around the kitchen), keep it covered on the bottom shelf of the fridge, use its own board, knife and tongs, wash your hands, boards and tools in hot soapy water afterwards, and never put cooked food back on a plate or board that held raw chicken. Use it by the use-by date, or freeze it on the day you buy it.Leftover chicken: cool cooked chicken quickly (within about 1 to 2 hours), cover and refrigerate, and eat within 2 days. Reheat only once, until steaming hot all the way through. Never leave chicken on the table for more than 2 hours. Cooked chicken can be frozen for up to about 3 months.
Freezing and defrosting chicken: freeze chicken on the day you buy it, in flat, labelled bags, for up to about 9 months raw or 3 months cooked (general guidance). Defrost it in the fridge on a plate on the bottom shelf, never on the worktop, and cook it within a day. Do not refreeze raw chicken that has defrosted unless you cook it first.
Cooling and keeping stock: stock is an ideal place for bacteria to grow. Strain it, then cool it quickly in shallow containers or an ice bath, chill within 1 to 2 hours, and use within about 2 days (fish stock within 1 day) or freeze it. Never leave a big pot to cool slowly on the hob or worktop overnight. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.
Level 2 · Freezer
Freezing and defrosting chicken
Buy a family pack when chicken is on offer and freeze it in portions on the day you buy it. Wrap each piece tightly to avoid freezer burn and label with the date. Defrost in the fridge overnight, on a plate on the bottom shelf, and cook within a day.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 8 chicken pieces (thighs, drumsticks or breasts)
- 4 freezer bags
- 1 permanent marker
- 1 plate for defrosting
- Pat the chicken dry. Put 2 pieces in each bag, press out the air, seal and label with the cut, date and use-by.
- Freeze flat on a tray for 2 hours, then stack. Use within about 9 months for raw chicken.
- To defrost, put a bag on a plate on the bottom shelf of the fridge overnight, and cook within a day.
Freezing and raw chicken
Freezing and defrosting chicken: freeze chicken on the day you buy it, in flat, labelled bags, for up to about 9 months raw or 3 months cooked (general guidance). Defrost it in the fridge on a plate on the bottom shelf, never on the worktop, and cook it within a day. Do not refreeze raw chicken that has defrosted unless you cook it first.Raw chicken: the safety rules: raw chicken often carries campylobacter and salmonella. Never wash it (the splashes spread bacteria around the kitchen), keep it covered on the bottom shelf of the fridge, use its own board, knife and tongs, wash your hands, boards and tools in hot soapy water afterwards, and never put cooked food back on a plate or board that held raw chicken. Use it by the use-by date, or freeze it on the day you buy it.
Leftover chicken: cool cooked chicken quickly (within about 1 to 2 hours), cover and refrigerate, and eat within 2 days. Reheat only once, until steaming hot all the way through. Never leave chicken on the table for more than 2 hours. Cooked chicken can be frozen for up to about 3 months.
Level 3 · Signature
Your signature chicken dish
Choose a cut, a method (roast, pan-fry, grill, poach or stew) and a sauce or flavour, then write the recipe as you cook it. Make it twice, changing one thing. A signature dish is one you can cook without a recipe.
Ingredients (your choice)
- 1 cut of chicken (about 150 g a person)
- 1 method from chapters 2 to 6
- 1 sauce or flavour of your choice
- 1 notebook and pen
- Choose your cut, method and sauce, and write them down before you start.
- Cook it, noting the times and temperatures, and checking it reaches 75°C.
- Cook it again with your change, then write the final recipe on a card.
Raw chicken and allergens
Raw chicken: the safety rules: raw chicken often carries campylobacter and salmonella. Never wash it (the splashes spread bacteria around the kitchen), keep it covered on the bottom shelf of the fridge, use its own board, knife and tongs, wash your hands, boards and tools in hot soapy water afterwards, and never put cooked food back on a plate or board that held raw chicken. Use it by the use-by date, or freeze it on the day you buy it.Is it cooked? Use a thermometer: chicken is safe when the thickest part reaches 75°C (or 70°C held for 2 minutes), the meat is white all the way through with no pink, and the juices run clear (general guidance, in line with current FSA advice). Push a probe thermometer into the thickest part without touching bone, and for a whole bird check the thickest part of the thigh. If in doubt, cook it longer.
Allergens: chicken itself is not a major allergen, but the dishes around it often contain milk, gluten, egg, mustard, celery, soya and sesame. Check stock cubes and sauces, tell guests what is in a dish, and use separate tools for anyone with an allergy.
Experiments
Experiment
A timed dinner
Planning.
- Cook a full chicken dinner with a timer, writing down when each task started and finished.
Look for: The chicken sets the pace; start the slow items first and give each task a time.
Experiment
Swapping the cut
Flexibility.
- Cook the same recipe with thighs instead of breasts.
Look for: Thighs are more forgiving and tastier but take longer; note how timing and flavour change.
Experiment
Freezing against fresh
Quality.
- Cook a fresh thigh and one frozen for a month, the same way.
Look for: Well-wrapped chicken loses very little; badly wrapped is dry at the edges. Wrapping matters.
Experiment
Your own signature dish
Making it yours.
- Cook your signature dish for a friend and ask for one comment.
Look for: A repeated dish improves every time. Write it down.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday chicken dinner | ||||
| Week of chicken meals | ||||
| Freezing and defrosting chicken | ||||
| Signature chicken dish | ||||
| A timed dinner | ||||
| Swapping the cut | ||||
| Freezing against fresh | ||||
| Your own signature dish |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken ready but sides not | Poor timing | Write the timeline backwards |
| Cold dinner | Plates cold or rest too long | Warm the plates; rest for 20 minutes only |
| Dry frozen chicken | Freezer burn | Wrap tightly; use within the time |
| Gravy lumpy | Flour clumped | Whisk into the fat first, then add stock slowly |
| Leftovers go off | Kept too long | Eat within 2 days or freeze |
| Week plan falls apart | Too ambitious | Plan fewer cooking days |
Storing, freezing and allergens
Leftover chicken: cool cooked chicken quickly (within about 1 to 2 hours), cover and refrigerate, and eat within 2 days. Reheat only once, until steaming hot all the way through. Never leave chicken on the table for more than 2 hours. Cooked chicken can be frozen for up to about 3 months.Freezing and defrosting chicken: freeze chicken on the day you buy it, in flat, labelled bags, for up to about 9 months raw or 3 months cooked (general guidance). Defrost it in the fridge on a plate on the bottom shelf, never on the worktop, and cook it within a day. Do not refreeze raw chicken that has defrosted unless you cook it first.
Allergens: chicken itself is not a major allergen, but the dishes around it often contain milk, gluten, egg, mustard, celery, soya and sesame. Check stock cubes and sauces, tell guests what is in a dish, and use separate tools for anyone with an allergy.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can plan a dinner backwards from serving time.
- I can cook and rest a whole chicken.
- I can freeze and defrost chicken safely.
- I can use a chicken three ways.
- I have a signature chicken dish.
Next chapter
Congratulations: you have finished Cooking Skills: Chicken 1. Chicken 2 (spatchcocking and butchery, fried chicken, curries and stir-fries, world chicken dishes) is planned separately.