Don’t be intimidated by the chicken.
Because if you can get a grasp on the chicken-November’s big day won’t terrify you.
Turkeys are in fact just giant chickens.
This will require you to get down and dirty with your chicken though. Time to get over your fear of touching raw meat. Just keep your sink clear and you’ll be fine. Remember to not let your raw meat on your vegetable board, and it’ll work out.
How to Roast a Chicken
Food:
Aromatics (things that make your chicken taste good while cooking): assorted, what you like: onions, lemons, fresh herbs like rosemary, garlic cloves
1 3-5 pound chicken, defrosted, without its inside bits (most don’t come with them anyway)
1/2 stick butter
all purpose seasoning mix (Mrs. Dash or similar)
olive oil
Other:
Cutting board
heavy can or jar
knife
13 x 9 baking pan
tin foil
How to roast a chicken:
Turn your oven to 350.
Take your butter out of the wrapper and place in a bowl to soften.
Line your pan with tin foil.
Take the chicken out of the wrapper. *You don’t have to wash it, and they actually recommend you shouldn’t.
Put your chicken in the pan, so the tips of the wings are pointing up. Find the neck opening, and reach into the chicken to make sure there’s nothing in there. Take out the packet if there is.
Start chopping and inserting your aromatics-onions just need to be peeled and quartered, garlic can just be smashed and peeled.
Easiest way to peel garlic that doesn’t need to be chopped-take your jar/can and literally just smash your garlic clove. Fresh garlic should be tough to peel, it’s one way you can tell it’s fresh. Just pick the garlic out of the peel once it’s smashed.
Just push them into the cavity with the rest of your aromatics. Lemons can also just be quartered.
Take your butter and your all purpose seasoning. Cover the butter with the seasoning (you don’t need to measure it, just sprinkle until your stick is covered). Roll the butter in the extra seasoning-that’s why it’s in a bowl-and cover all sides of the stick with the extra seasoning.
Now is the hardest part of the roast, and the slimiest. At the neck opening of the chicken, you should see flappy extra skin. Carefully pull that skin up and start to carefully slide your hand in between the chicken and the skin. Don’t worry if you rip it. You’re making a butter pocket. Just go down as far as you can.
Take a spoon and start fitting the butter between the chicken and the skin. You should be able to get all the butter in them, making sure to smush the butter all the way around. It’s a technical term, smush.
Once you get the butter under the skin, dribble olive oil over the skin and sprinkle with more all purpose seasoning.
Then carefully take your prepped chicken and flip it over so the tips of the wings are pointing down.
If you want, you can season the other side the same way as you did the top.
*You can also skip flipping the chicken over if you want. It’s a matter of preference.
Take another piece of tin foil and cover the pan. This is called tenting a chicken. If you like crispy skin, take the tent off an hour into cooking.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1 3/4 hours for a 3-5 pound defrosted bird. It’s done when you poke with a sharp knife and what bleeds out is clear. If you have a meat thermometer, the thickest part of the bird should have hit 165 degrees.
Once the chicken is out, let it sit covered for another 5-15 minutes to let the meat reabsorb the juices. Carefully take the tin foil off, and with a meat knife and fork, or a pair of tongs, flip the chicken back onto the flat side.
Horrific Knits 