Recently, Hy Vee had whole chickens on sale so I randomly bought one. I've never cooked a whole chicken before and I wanted to try it out. Here is how my experience went.
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book
1 3 to 3.5 pound whole broiler-fryer chicken (mine was slightly bigger)
2 T butter or margarine, melted
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning or black pepper
1. Rinse inside of chicken. How do I rinse inside the chicken? Why do I need to rinse inside the chicken? I guess I'll just run some water over it. Eww...I can tell exactly where they cut the head off. Maybe I should be a vegetarian. Pat dry with paper towels.
2. Skewer neck skin of chicken to back (see photo 2, page 441) First of all, I don't have any skewers. Second, where is the neck skin? That photo is not helpful at all. I guess I'll skip that step.
3. Tie legs to tail. How in the world do you tie chicken legs together? Where is the tail? Yep, not doing that either.
4. Twist wing tips under back (see photo 4, page 441). Aren't the wings already under the back? How do I twist them a different way? I feel like I'm pulling them off the chicken. That photo doesn't help either. I guess I'll just leave them how they were.
5. Place chicken breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Which side is breast side up? It's not like you can see a nipple or anything. And, as I'm writing this blog, I just noticed it said to put it on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. I just pulled out my roasting pan and asked Justin if it looked shallow.
6. Brush with melted butter. I don't have a brush for melted butter. Justin, I want a pastry brush for Valentine's Day.
7. Rub garlic over chicken. With my hands?
8. In a small bowl stir together basil, salt, sage, thyme, and lemon-pepper seasoning. Woohoo something I can do! Rub onto chicken. Back to the "with my hands?"
9. If desired, insert a meat thermometer into center of an inside thigh muscle, not touching bone. Okay, I do have a meat thermometer, but do I really need to stick it in now? I'm just going to use it to check it later.
10. Roast, uncovered, in a 375 degree oven for 1.25 to 1.5 hours or until drumsticks move easily in their sockets and chicken is no longer pink (180 degrees). Really, I'm not going to rotate the drumsticks to see if it is done. I'll just check the temp.
11. Is that chicken cooking? Is it supposed to be sizzling like that? Aria thinks it is raining. It sure smells good, at least. What is the temperature now? Only at 130, got a ways to go. Now we're getting there, 160. It's done--185!
12. Remove chicken from oven. Cover; let stand for 10 minutes before carving.
13. I took the lid off...Now what? How do I cut this thing up? Well, I like the legs, so I guess I'll cut one of those off. Then, I'll cut some of the breast meat for Justin. (Yes I did figure out the breast.) This isn't pretty, but it does taste pretty good!
14. Wow! Aria actually ate some without me telling her too! This is really good! Not sure it was worth all the work of cutting, but it was good! Maybe I can do this again! :)
In all honesty, I'm not quite as unable to prepare food as I make it sound. I think I have grown leaps and bounds in the area of cooking since we've been married and I'm willing to try a lot of different things. This was an interesting experience. I think I need a few more kitchen tools and maybe to do a little more research before I try it again. Nevertheless, it was a cheap, healthy meal and I can now say I've cooked a chicken; a whole one!
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