Confessions from a born-again chicken cook
Well. It’s time to admit it publicly, say it online for everyone to read: up until today, I’ve been cooking with chicken from the grocery store. You know, the nicely packaged boneless, skinless breasts that are so easy to cook with? No cleaning to do, nothing. Just spice them up and cook.
Those days are over. I swear. My guilt for buying factory chicken caught up with me, and I found a contact for free-range chicken here, and had my first two chickens (and one rabbit, but that’s a whole other story) delivered this morning. They also sell eggs, but I’ve still got some from my last purchase so I can’t report on those as of yet.
I’m going to go through the whole story, because 1. this is the first time I bought anything other than boneless, skinless breasts, and 2. this is the first time I baked a whole chicken. So this is “born-again” because I’ve kicked the factory chicken habit and committed myself to buying free-range chickens and eggs.
Preparation:
First, I preheated the oven to 350°F/180°C. The oven in my new apartment is electric, and I’m still not used to having to preheat it for so long.
The chickens arrived each in a plastic bag, with their insides neatly packaged in separate baggies and stuffed in the inside. I have absolutely no interest in eating organ meat, giblets, gizzards, or whatever, so the baggies went straight into the trash. That was the easy part.
My first dilemma? The feet. They were still attached (the head was not, thankfully), but they didn’t look like something I wanted to eat (yes, yes, I know they’re edible), so I cut them off and tossed them along with the internal stuff.
I washed the bird, then put it in a baking pan. I drizzled it front and back with olive oil, and salted it. Then I sprinkled both sides with pepper, oregano, crushed red pepper, and a spice mix that I have in a grater that includes lemongrass, sage, and mustard seeds. I put it in the oven for 20 minutes, during which time I sliced up two small yellow onions and three green onions.
During this whole process, I must have washed my hands about ten or twelve times, and then tossed the towel I used to dry my hands in the laundry so I wouldn’t re-use it again.
After 20 minutes, I took the chicken out, added the onions around the chicken, and sprinkled sesame seeds over the entire dish. I put a small amount of water in the dish, just to cover the bottom, and it all went back in for another 40 minutes. Since this was my first whole chicken, I checked it at the halfway point (after 20 minutes). All was well.
Now, here’s the part where you’re supposed take the chicken out of the oven and check it’s temperature by sticking a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the leg. It should register at least 180°F/82°C.
If you’re like me and don’t have a thermometer, just cut through the skin between the leg and the breast. If the juices that run out are clear and not cloudy, then the bird is done. Also cut into the meat and see if it’s pinkish, or white. My chicken needed more time, so I sent it back in for another ten minutes. And then another ten. Total baking time was one hour, 20 minutes.
I know, I know. This is really basic, but I suspected I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t baked a whole chicken before. So here you have it.
Next, the rabbit, which is eyeing me from my fridge every time I open the door (OMG, yes, the head is still on it).
Enjoy!
Nice job!
My granny used to cook whole chickens on weekends, and I used to watch her carefully for years. She used to buy them alive… and kill them by herself, until my mom freaked out too much and couldn’t do it anymore at home. Also… buying dead chickens became easier with time.
So, the difference with yours: she used to cut it first, then cook it. She separated the legs, breasts, wings, etc. and placed them on a cooking pan with some vegetable oil. High temperature oven, in the broiler. After a few minutes she would add potatoes and green apples (which I used to ate as desert, as I didn’t understand the sweet-savory taste).
Now: the secret of her delicious chicken: it was ultra fatty, and golden brown (a whole chicken takes a looong time to cook, it needs patience). On top of the chicken fat, she would add some oil, and the potatoes would cook on that fat + oil combination… Regarding the other parts of the chicken… my kitty would love them! you need to find a friendly cat instead of tossing them on the garbage
My mom, on the other hand, cooks the chicken on a bbq pan that drains the fat, so her chickens are dry and boring. She cooks the potatoes with spray oil… hard, dry and not tasty.
This post made me hungry! I’ll make my own experiments pretty soon. (but never with rabbit, they are too cute).
Here are my chicken tips:
When you roast it, do it sitting in a aluminum can. Some people use a beer can, we use sprite. I clean the can first and add a little lemon juice or some water or something. Not much. Plop the chicken on top of it. Oil, salt and pepper the body. Then stand it on your roasting pan inside your oven and roast away. All the parts get a nice golden color and you don’t have it sitting half way in drippings. Sometimes I find the bottom of my chicken is stuck in this fatty sludge, so this technique helps. Then, when you are done, you can clean out and recycle the can.
Chicken Carcass: Put the left over chicken in a pot and put just enough water to cover on. Add an onion, salt and carrots. Sometimes I just do salty water. It depends on what I have on hand. Bring it to a boil and simmer for about 1-2 hours. Then strain it into a bowl. Save the carcass and pick off the remaining meat and put it in a bowl. The broth can then be skimmed and frozen or used in a soup. I will make a chicken noodle soup or make a quick white sauce with the broth (instead of milk), add sauted carrots, potatoes and onions. Make some pie dough and do a pot pie with it.
I really like the frozen cubes of broth. Sometimes you just need a quick simple sauce. A little butter with flour and then some broth makes a good gravy for lots of things.
Oh, and my mom used to saute the chicken parts in a little oil and feed them to our cats…but she also says it is less stinky in the garbage that way. I couldn’t handle the chicken feet either. Sometimes my chicken that I buy will still have a few feathers on the ends…that grosses me out.
The chicken came out SO tasty. We loved it!! Julia, I loved the idea of using green apples. I remember my mother used to make pork chops with apples when I was a kid. I hated the pork chops, but I used to love the apples.
I must say, I cooked the chicken right in there with the fat, and it was so delicious that way. Maybe I’ll have to spend some extra time in the gym, but it totally beats dried out, fatless chicken.
Katie, thanks for the Sprite tip! Everyone has been recommending the beer chicken to me, so I think I’ll try chicken with a can of something next time. Also, thanks for the broth tip. I was just thinking of doing that with the carcass because I refuse to buy commercial chicken broth, hence I never have any for recipes that call for it. Also…the cubed broth idea is GREAT. Thanks!!