Monday, September 26, 2011

Chicken

I’m afraid of chickens.  Okay wait…I’m afraid of the whole chicken, that’s dead and uncooked.  For some reason I can never cook them correctly.  Some parts are always dry, some undercooked…I mean how hard can it be?  So I stopped trying for a really long time and today I finally revisited the dreaded whole chicken.

After searching the internet for some tips and tricks I decided to go for it. 

chicken-1

Dead and cold.  Not very intimidating.

chicken2-1

Per.fection.  I’m not kidding it was so moist and juicy and delicious.  I did it!  I mastered the poultry. (My husband just made fun of me for writing that sentence.)

So here is what I did:

Preheated oven to 425*.

I used a 6 lb free range organic roasting chicken I bought at Trader Joe’s.  Love that place.

Slice some onions and layer onto the bottom of your roasting pan before you add the chicken.

Let the chicken come to room temperature, rinse and pat dry with paper towels.  Remove giblets and other weird/scary things from the cavity.

Cut several garlic cloves in half and insert into cavity.  Add some fresh herbs as well; I happened to have thyme.  Throw in some halved citrus like lemon or oranges (all into the cavity.)  Salt and pepper the inside.

Take some softened butter and rub that chicken all over like you’re a masseuse.  Then liberally sprinkle with salt (I used a LOT of salt…trust me the more the better) and some pepper as well.  Then place the chicken breast side down on top of onions. 

I made a foil tent over the chicken and roasted it for about and hour.  After an hour I removed the foil, added some chopped potatoes and carrots and placed it back in the oven for another 30-45 minutes.  Using a digital meat thermometer is what helped me know when it was done.  The chicken is done when the thigh reads 190* and the breast reads 180*.  I took the chicken out a little bit before it reached this temp and let it sit under the leftover foil for a good 10-15 minutes.

And you’re done.  It was so easy and soooo good.  If I can do it, anybody can!

3 comments:

Lindsay said...

I don't think I knew you had issues with chicken, too. The only way I can cook it is in the crockpot. Or I can grill it, I've discovered. Yours looks really good.

KickButtMommy said...

I'm pretty scared of chickens myself.

TheKeilShpeel said...

You are brave.. unless it's already in little breasts I can't touch it. It looks to much like the real thing. I couldn't even eat it. Turkey's scare me the most.. I am not sticking my hand up that.. I don't care about stuffing that much :). It looks really good though.

LW

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