Bone chicken, reserving bones for Chicken Stock.

Bone chicken breast, reserving bones for Chicken Stock. Remove breast skin; reserve for Chicken Stock. Chop breast; reserve for Forcemeat.

Chicken Stock: Mince enough of white part of leek to make 1/3 cup/75 mL; reserve for Forcemeat. Place reserved bones and skin in large saucepan; add 6 cups/1.5 L water. Bring to boil; skim off foam. Add remaining leek, onion, celery, carrot, parsley, thyme, ginger, bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves and salt. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 2 hours. Strain, discarding solids; skim off fat.

Forcemeat: Meanwhile, separate chicken livers into 2 lobes, removing any connective tissues and veins. Place on foil-lined baking sheet; broil under high heat until just pink in centre, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool; chop coarsely.

In small skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat; fry reserved leek, shallot, garlic, salt, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, ginger and allspice for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly. Place in food processor with livers and reserved chicken breast; whir until smooth. Whir in sherry and egg until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in parsley, celery leaves and thyme.

Spread out boned chicken, skin side down. Spread Forcemeat over chicken, leaving about a 1-inch/2.5 cm border on all sides. Pull up cut sides to meet; with darning needle and kitchen string, sew up chicken. Truss chicken.

Spread half of the butter in roasting pan. Sprinkle chicken all over with salt and pepper. Place chicken, seam side up, in roasting pan; spread remaining butter on top.

Roast chicken in 325°F/160°C convection or 350°F/180°C conventional oven, basting with pan juices every 15 minutes after the first 30 minutes, for 1 hour. Flip chicken, seam side down; roast, basting, until thermometer inserted in centre reads 170°F/77°C, about 45 minutes. If skin is not perfectly browned and crispy, broil for 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to warm serving platter; keeping warm, let rest for 15 minutes.

Skim off all but about 1 tbsp/15 mL fat from roasting pan. Pour sherry into pan; stir, scraping up browned bits. Strain through fine sieve into clean saucepan; boil over high heat until reduced to 2 tbsp/30 mL. Stir in 3 cups/750 mL of the Chicken Stock; boil over medium-high heat until reduced by half. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir cornstarch with 2 tbsp/30 mL of the Chicken Stock; stir into pot. Simmer for 1 minute.

Remove string from chicken; carve body by slicing crosswise. Serve with gravy.

Makes 6 servings.

How To Bone a Chicken

1. Cut slit through skin lengthwise along centre of backbone. Running tip of sharp boning knife under skin, peel skin from backbone on both sides of cut.

2. With poultry shears, remove backbone. Reserve all bones for stock.

3. Through open cavity and using shears, split breastbone lengthwise, without cutting into meat, so chicken lies flat and skin side down on work surface.

4. Twist and cut out wing drumette bones from joints, leaving bones in top two wing joints.

5. Cut out wishbone and other bones connecting wings to breast. Sliding boning knife under bones, remove breast bone on both sides.

6. Disjoint both ends of thigh bones; cutting lengthwise along thigh bone, expose and remove bones. Cut out pelvic bones.

7. Check chicken for any other bones; only the wing tip and drumstick bones should remain.