Cooking in plastic ...

... sometime last week a twerp, @becford74, mentioned oven bags and how she'd seen an advertisement for some. Ms @Becford74 believed she may have been feverishly hallucinating because nobody cooks in plastic bags, that would be madness!
Aha, fellow twerp @Reemski and I chimed in. Our mothers used to do it although we couldn't remember why. I tweeted I'd give it a go, should I find one of these magic bags at the 5th circle of hell that is Coles, at the weekend.
Find some I did, a packet of four. Not the same as those mentioned by @becford74, those came with "flavour sachets", something I'd not use anyway, so no loss. I popped them into the trolley, adjusted my weekly menu and went forth to score myself a mid-range, free-range chook. (Why, yes, I DID oil the baking dish, I was on automatic pilot, I rinsed and dried and started again, rest assured.)
Well, if it failed horribly it would be a $20-odd failure rather than a $35+ failure. One must be pragmatic about these things.
I read the package carefully, following the instructions fearfully, and then made a quick call to the mother just to be certain. I'm sure the manufacturers know their stuff but mother knows best. Really, she does!
Spoonful of flour shaken all about - checkPunch a few holes in the bag - check(ish) (Mum said she always put the holes at the twist tie end, I'd punched them all over. I feared the worst, exploding bag "splattering hot juices" all over the shop. "It WON'T explode" quoth the Mouse Mother!)
Bag tied shut with bit ripped off the bag - checkStuffed full of real life flavour enhancers, rather than chemical packet stuff, into the oven it went. (I'd forgotten you could put the spuds in the bag too, so the jacket potatoes and an eggplant for baba for later went into another tray. I'm nothing if not thrifty McHousewife, me!)
"But will it brown Mum?"
"Oh yes, it's a clear bag. It will brown beautifully."
"WHY did you cook in a bag?"
"It made the most wonderful terrine."
Yes, apparently if you cook a little over the recommended cooking time, despite the DIRE warnings on the box, the meat falls off the bones. You just wait until it's cool enough to touch, pull out the bones and pour the meat and all the juices into a terrine mould. When cool the gelatin in the juices holds it into a wonderful terrine, or brawn or whatever. That's my next trick!So, did it brown? Why yes, amazingly the skin was parchment dry, crisp and gobbly good.Were there juices? O my, yes, and easily poured out of the bag into the saucepan for cooking down with a little flour for the most wonderful gravy!
Was it good? Why yes, it was moist, even the breast meat and full of flavour (I'd have been pissed if it hadn't been I'll admit).
Will the Brown Mice do it again? You know, I think we might, the two smallest, furriest members of the household certainly think we should. Tummys full as butcher's kittehs!.