Cooking a whole chook is dead easy. Once you do it once you will be addicted!

Tarragon goes really really well with chicken!! The smell of a roasting chook in the oven with butter and tarragon... sublime! A good trick is to wedge some butter under the skin of the chook between the breast meat and the skin. You sort of work your hand in there to loosen the skin then push the butter in. It keeps the chook really moist. Then add a dash of oil and a sprinkle tarragon over the top of the bird, remove the giblets (v good to remember LuLu!), shove the lemon in the bird (a la marcellus) and a little oil in the pan and away you go. It is difficult to give a time in the oven as it depends on the oven and the size of the bird etc but the packet on the chook usually gives some times.

While it is cooking, pull it out every 20-30 min or so to baste it.. (dripple pan juices over it) this also helps keep it moist and helps the skin crisp up. The way to test if it is done is to break the skin where the leg joins the body. If the juices which escape run clear (not pink) you should be done!

yummy!