One of the undoubted favourites in Thai cuisine, leaving aside touristy stuff, is grilled chicken. It is usually served with som tam (Thai papaya salad) and sticky rice (glutinous rice).

Getting a good recipe is difficult. I have 3 from my collection of Thai cookbooks, and they can be best described as not having any commercial potential. So, I have been experimenting, with a fair degree of success, but still not at the point that I can say “This is it”.

Last night I made another change to my recipe, and instead of grilling the whole chicken, I just roasted it. To be honest, I was lazy to set up the rotisserie and just used the smaller oven. The fan supposedly gives the effect of a rotisserie, but moves the air around the chicken instead of moving the chicken - so the manual claims, doubtless with input from the marketing department.

Anyway, I decided to try the circular heating element in addition to the upper and lower elements, and this time I positioned the roasting tray on the lowest rack level. This positions the chicken so that most of it is directly in front of the fan. Not a good idea. Within 20 minutes it became apparent that spots were going to char long before the chicken would be done. I dropped the temperature from 180°C / 360°F to 160°C / 320°F for 10 minutes and raised the rack 1 level so that only the top third of the fan blew directly at the chicken.

When I was comfortable the chicken would not char, I raised the temperature to the original setting. By then my calculated timing was out of course, and I was flying by the seat of my pants. No matter, at least I had things under control. (For more on the circular element and timings, please see my earlier post under category “roast chicken”).

The chicken was done 10 minutes later than I expected, though I must say that I was deliberately trying to get the breast meat to the point where it just crosses from ‘moist’ to ‘not moist’. You see, Thai grilled chicken is usually served with a dipping sauce that is bottled and sold commercially under various brands, and it is a real treat. So, having the breast meat just ‘not moist’ would I thought go well with the sauce. Of course, leg meat remains moist even so, but that is OK.

We ate it with jasmine rice and raw vegetables, with the dipping sauce of course.

I ate most of it with a knife and fork, but as with all good grilled or roasted chicken, at a certain point you are better off using your fingers, which is what I did. I enjoyed it very much, and pretty much picked the bones clean.

And the crying dogs? Apparently in Thailand when you pick the bones clean and leave no meat for the dogs, some people call it “making the dogs cry”.

Last night, I decided to try a regular roast chicken (not rotisserie as I have been doing), using a V-Rack to hold the bird, and the Fan function in my smaller oven.The manual calls it ‘Hot Air’ function, as opposed to ‘Conventional’. I only used it with the upper and lower elements, not including the circular element around the fan. Visions of a smoke filled kitchen made me try it 1 step at a time I guess.

Well, the fan does speed up cooking time. For a 1.545 kilo / 3.4 lbs chicken, I would have had to roast for about 80 minutes. I got it done in about 70 minutes, and that included an extra 5 minutes because the cavity juices were still a little red.

I roasted at 180°C / 360°F, started it breast side down, basted after 20 mins, turned 10 mins later (ie 30 mins roasting time), then basted 10 mins later and left it at that.

While the chicken was resting, I made a pan gravy. First I poured off most of the oil, then added 500 ml / 17 ozs water. Brought that to the boil, then stirred in 1 tbsp flour, made into a paste with a little water.

As the chicken was with spices (powders - coriander, cumin, paprika, ginger, garlic, chilli, pepper), all I needed was boiled potatoes and a plain salad to go with it.

Turned out nice and juicy, though I would have ‘done’ the breast a little less had it been the rotisserie I was using. Something to bear in mind the next time, as well as a reminder why I love the rotisserie so much.

Also, need a smaller bird next time I cook for 2, though they are not that easy to find in the supermarkets.

All said and done, it was an easy meal to prepare and good for a weeknight dinner.