Roast Chicken

These are two spring chickens I roasted with corn on their cobs.

There are lots of shops around that sell roast chicken. There is the most famous Andok's which has become the national lechong manok of the country, Baliwag Lechon Manok which tails the former, Chooks To Go, a new comer, owned and operated by Bounty Fresh Chicken which claims that their roast chicken is delicious even without the sauce--a slight to Andok's famous lechon sauce where the delicious taste of Andok's manok comes from, some allege. There are hundreds more that sell roast chicken in every corner of the streets in every town and city.

Juicy and tender!

Mother and I buy roast chicken from the supermarket. WalterMart offers the cheapest at only P130.00 per medium size chicken compared to Andok's P230.00. We love it so much that sometimes we buy 2 pieces just for lunch for 3 persons and we eat it all in one sitting. Back when I was employed a few years ago, I had a daily schedule of visiting supermarkets to monitor our product's movements in the shelves so lunchtime was always spent outside the office. My most favorite lunch was quarter roast chicken with rice and honey sauce at any Rustan's supermarket. It was only P65.00 back then, plus a little more for water, I spend about P75.00 per lunch. Quite expensive at first glance. But you get to eat hot-off-the grill chicken so big you can save the other half for dinner too! Then there is Bok's chicken near the LRT-Buendia station. Bok's sell a small roast chicken for just P70.00, would you believe that!??? There are times that the queue at Bok's rival that of the LRT's! It tastes relatively fine considering the price.

This baste/marinade is made up of brown sugar, minced garlic, peanut butter, soy sauce, grated ginger and sesame oil.

Roast chicken is so prevalent and affordable that one wonders why bother roast your own at all? With the rising cost of LPG, that is really not an option. But there is nothing like home-cooked meal that you serve to your family. And nothing compares to the joy of making your own meal, especially roast chicken. all the marinating, rubbing, basting and the anticipation add to the thrill and excitement of devouring a meal you made yourself!

Look how fresh the chickens are! Marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours, overnight is ideal, so the flavors really get into the chicken meat.

Ive done it so many times and so many ways. Garlic and lemongrass, rosemary, honey mustard, plain salted, satay style with peanut butter, with sugar, with sesame oil, with five spice and what not. My most favorite is the lemongrass.

Oooops! I will never ever eat my own pet!

To save on gas, I accompany the chicken in the roast pan with all sorts of things like mixed veggies--bell peppers, carrots, leeks, potatoes, turnip, onions and others; also I like roasting with corn and the smell is absolutely delicious.

Basting the chicken with butter keeps it moist and makes it brown better. Also, put some butter under the skin.

I roast chicken at an initial temp of 450 degrees F or 220 degrees C then halfway, I lower the temp to just 350 degrees temp. I roast it for 1 hour 15 minutes max for extra juiciness. I place it on a higher level in the oven for a really golden brown effect. I let the juices drip onto the veggies below for a super tasty side dish.

In the oven.