When I am stumped over what to cook, I usually turn to that delicious standby, roast chicken.

It requires very little work but the dividends are huge. Done right, there’s the pleasure of tucking into crisp skin and juicy meat. The brown bits at the bottom of the roasting pan are easily transformed into a delicious sauce with a bit of wine and butter.

Leftovers can be made into chicken salad or used for sandwich fixings. Throw the carcass into the stock pot together with the neck and feet to make chicken stock to use for other meals.

There’s also the flexibility. Want to keep it simple? Just season with salt and pepper. Want to dress it up a bit for company? Tuck some fresh thyme into the cavity of the chicken together with a cut-up lemon.

Want to make something really fancy? Slip sliced truffles and butter between the skin and breast meat.

I usually season the chicken with Maldon salt, available in some Cold Storage and Market Place supermarkets, and a few turns from one of those mixed spice blends that come in disposable grinders.

Another good seasoning is paprika, which gives the roast chicken a great colour.

But for such a simple dish, there sure are a lot of do’s and don’ts.

Some recipes call for brining, where the chicken is immersed in salted water. Okay, this ensures a juicy chicken but it means you have to plan ahead. Others call for roasting it on a rack, or for flipping the chicken during cooking. There are also recipes which recommend trussing the bird.

Too. Much. Fuss.

There are only two things I do to ensure a perfectly roasted bird.

One: get a good chicken. Two: make sure it’s at room temperature when it goes in the oven.

A good bird is easy to find. The larger FairPrice supermarkets stock Sakura chickens from Malaysia, which are not injected with growth hormones or given antibiotics. Instead, they are fed a strain of probiotic called Sakura lactobacillus, which keeps them healthy.

It’s the only kind of chicken I buy these days. I like that there is no gamey smell when I open the bag. The chicken stays juicy no matter what I do to it.

They also tend to be larger than other supermarket chickens – perfect for roasting.

The other tip is really crucial. If you have ever roasted a chicken and then found it pink or red in the middle, it’s likely the bird was still cold when it went into the oven.

The trick is to rinse it under running water then leave to drain for at least 30 minutes or until the chicken is at room temperature. Pat it very dry with paper towels before proceeding.

I always roast a chicken in my trusty stainless steel roasting pan from Ikea. One chicken fits snugly in it and the pan can go from oven to stove without buckling or warping. As it isn’t much larger than the chicken, the drippings don’t burn. They just stay brown and provide a good foundation for the sauce.

Speaking of sauce, the usual way is to add flour to the drippings, then stock and wine. I can’t be bothered to do all that.

Instead, I pour some wine into the pan, bring it to a boil, scrape up the brown bits and let it all reduce a bit. Then in goes a knob of cold butter, which melts into the wine to create a quick sauce.

It is more tangy than gravy, but you can always fix that with a bit of sugar.

If you don’t want to open a bottle of wine for roast chicken, then just buy one of those mini bottles available in the wine sections of many supermarkets.

And one more thing – that skin isn’t going to stay crisp forever, so after resting the chicken for about 15 minutes, eat it.

Make it yourself: Roast chicken

Ingredients

1 Sakura chicken, about 1.5kg
1 large or 2 medium onions, cut roughly into chunks
1 large carrot, peeled and cut crosswise into 6-7 equal pieces
30g salted butter, softened
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper, paprika or other spice seasonings
1 lemon
180ml white wine or chicken stock
20g salted butter, cold

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 deg C.

2. Using a pair of kitchen shears, cut off the neck and feet of the chicken. Discard or use to make stock. Rinse chicken thoroughly and leave to drain until it gets to room temperature.

3. Sit carrots in the middle of a roasting pan. Scatter onions around the pan.

4. Pat chicken very dry with paper towels. Gently separate the skin from the breast meat using your fingers, or the blunt end of a wooden spoon. Do not tear the chicken skin.

5. Slip half the softened butter in between breast meat and the skin, massage to spread butter over the whole breast area.

6. Mix salt and spice seasoning together in a small bowl. Rub half all over the cavity of chicken and the other half over the outside. Cut lemon in half and put into the cavity. Rub the rest of the softened butter all over the chicken, then sit the bird on the carrots, breast side up.

7. Roast about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until chicken is golden brown. Check after 1 hour. Wriggle the drumstick. If it moves easily, the chicken is done. Or pierce the thickest part of the thigh. If the juices run clear, the bird is ready. If roasting a smaller bird, check after 50 minutes.

8. Remove roasting pan from oven, move the chicken onto a large plate, set aside to rest 10-15 minutes. Add the carrots to stock pot if making stock.

9. Place the roasting pan with the onions on the stove over medium high heat. Pour in the wine or stock and bring to a boil. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up brown bits on the bottom of the pan. When the sauce has reduced slightly, add cold butter. Swirl it around the pan, stirring constantly to make sure the sauce comes together. When all the butter has been incorporated, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. If the sauce is too tart, add a little sugar. Pour into a bowl.

10. Carve chicken, and stir any accumulated juices into the sauce. Serve chicken with sauce on the side.

Serves three to four.

This article was first published in The Sunday Times on July 20, 2008.