Alternative to White Wine for Slow Roast Chicken

Asked by nazishbutt. Answered on 3rd October 2013

Full question

Hi, I wanted to know if there is a substitute of white wine in Nigella recipe of Slow Roast Lemon & Garlic chicken. Can I use white wine vinegar instead? Many Thanks.

Our answer

Nigella's Slow Roasted Garlic And Lemon Chicken (from Forever Summer and on the Nigella website) involves slow roasting the chicken in a moist, covered environment to prevent the chicken from becoming dry. To create this Nigella puts wine in the bottom of the roasting pan and covers the pan with foil.

It is not essential to use wine for this recipe, however we feel that 150ml/2/3 cup white wine vinegar will be a little too acidic for this dish, particularly with the lemons. We would instead suggest using either a vegetable or chicken stock (preferably a low salt variety if using a powder or cube). You could also use just plain water as an alternative.