Golden Roast Chicken

This recipe is derived from the recipe contributed by Hamizah a few posts ago. She said that it was the basis of her "mummy-style Ideal chicken" and I must say, it certainly is sweet enough. My siblings said that it didn't taste much like Ideal chicken though, sorry Mizah ;) Although, that might have been partly my fault. The original 'recipe' only had four ingredients, and short ingredient lists make me nervous. So I took the liberty of adding a few more things. Oh well... Live and learn ;)

What you need:
1 whole chicken
Golden syrup
Minced shallots
Minced garlic
Salt
Tomato ketchup
Soy sauce (light, with a splash of dark)
-> All ingredients should be used according to your own taste. Bear in mind that golden syrup is almost pure sugar...

What you do:

1. Combine all ingredients (except the chicken) in a bowl and mix well.
2. Pour over the chicken in a small bowl, or even better, a container. Marinate for at least one day in the fridge.
3. Check that the chicken hasn't frozen in the fridge. If it had, defrost, then pop in an oven heated to 180 C.
4. Roast for about 1 hour, or until the chicken juices run clear. Baste the chicken with the extra marinade once in awhile during the cooking process, to achieve a nice go lden colour.

My main mistake in making the marinade was that it didn't have enough salt. The chicken had flavour, but only of sugar. Not very pleasant for someone who doesn't really like sweet things. So if I make this again, I would add more salt.

In fact, I would add more of everything else as well, particularly the minced shallots and garlic. I'm a big fan of them now, haha, and I didn't quite get a taste of them in the chicken. All I tasted was sugar, sugar and more sugar. The marinade smelled really good while I was making it, but I should've had a taste, just to make sure. The presentation of the chicken sure turned out well though, mostly due to the basting of the chicken with the marinade while it was cooking. So I fully recommend you do this, although it can be quite troublesome, I admit.

While marinating the chicken, turn it once in awhile, to make sure that all parts of the chicken absorb the marinade. Or, even better, place in a plastic bag that is just big enough for the chicken, and make sure the marinade covers the whole chicken once the bag is closed tight. Feel free to use chicken pieces (instead of whole chicken) if you want. They'll take a shorter time to cook, so check the oven once in awhile.

Personally, I did think it tasted like Ideal chicken, but no one else agreed. Oh well, to me, all sweet chicken taste almost the same, haha. I would like to add more ingredients (with perhaps less of the golden syrup) next time. It won't be much like Ideal's chicken then, but I think this would be a good base for sweet chicken. Just add your own flavourings :D

And on a side note, no water supply for more than 36 hours now, and we're still counting. Apparently, its a problem with the pump now, no longer the electricity. FUNtastic, yea? ;) Or rather, SMELLerific, haha. Or FUMEtastic... or PONGtastic? hahaha, that was a particularly good one. Right.... I am just babbling now... I'm off!

Quote of the day: When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time!