Christmas Cockerel with Sticky Festive Glaze

Festive Glazed Christmas Cockerel

Ex-River Cottage Chef, Steven Lamb, combines the classic flavours of a glazed Christmas ham with our delicious Cockerels, to create an exclusive festive centrepiece.

Preperation Time: 10 minutes plus marinating

Cooking Time: 2 hours

Serves: 6

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Christmas Cockerel with Sticky Festive Glaze

Ingredients

Packington Free Range Cockerel

For the marinade

5 tsp orange zest (2 oranges)

125 ml orange juice (from the zested oranges)

65 ml cider vinegar (sub white wine, sherry or champagne vinegar)

100 g brown sugar,

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp ground ginger

2 whole star anise

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper 

To serve:

Cavolo Nero, toasted walnuts and pancetta

Roast potatoes

Braised red onions in cider

Method

  1. The day before, mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Place the Cockerel in a tray or container large enough to hold the bird and marinade.
  3. Pour the marinade over the bird and massage to coat thoroughly.
  4. Leave the Cockerel to marinate in a fridge for ideally 24 hours (or a minimum of three hours.)
  5. Once marinated. Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan) and line a roasting tray with foil then parchment/baking paper.
  6. Place the Cockerel on the roasting tray, then pour the leftover marinade from the container over the bird.
  7. Calculate the cooking time according to the weight of your bird. Allow 14 minutes per lb/450g plus 20 minutes.
  8. Baste the Cockerel with the pan juices two to three times while cooking until the bird is deep golden and sticky. At first, the juices will be watery but in the final 10 minutes or so, they will thicken and darken. Once this happens, baste more frequently and heavily.
  9. Before plating up, baste again with the sticky juices.