To tin foil or not, that is the question

corblimey · 23-12-2007 04:44PM #1

I'll be roasting a few birds over the holidays. A goose, a duck and a couple of chickens, and watching the various food programmes on the telly, it appears to be completely random whether they use tin foil to cover the beast or not. Is there any rule for it? Should I always cover the bird (and then take it off for the last 20-30 mins to brown off) or does it matter? And if I'm covering it, should the tin foil be just over the roasting dish, loosely, or actually around the bird?

Dizzyblonde · 23-12-2007 09:27PM

I think nowadays people don't tend to cover them with foil. Years ago they did because they were so terrified of undercooking them, they left them in the oven for hours. If they hadn't covered them they'd have been incinerated.
If you rub the chicken skin with olive oil, lemon juice and rind, and if you want add crushed garlic and sage or rosemary, it will crisp nicely without drying up.

RAFC · 23-12-2007 09:33PM

I just bought some of the turkey cooking bags - are they any good?????

olaola · 24-12-2007 12:12PM

I think it depends on how big the bird is. We always get a whopper so it's covered for a while and then let to brown nicely.
Oh and I'd cover it loosely.

tSubh Dearg · 24-12-2007 04:53PM

RAFC wrote: »

I just bought some of the turkey cooking bags - are they any good?????

The Magic Cooking Bags? They are the bee's knees, my dad swears by them, we have yet to have a horrible dry turkey.

finbarrk · 25-12-2007 02:08AM

tSubh Dearg wrote: »

The Magic Cooking Bags? They are the bee's knees, my dad swears by them, we have yet to have a horrible dry turkey.

Yeah, they seem to work alright.
I think some people use tin foil to stop any grease, etc. spattering on the inside of the oven.

antoniosicily · 28-12-2007 12:24PM

it's simply a different method of cooking

To tin foil or not, that is the question

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