Woznation

Im kicking off a 3 part series on the life of a chicken in woznation.  And by ‘life’  I mean once its already dead.  Part I consists of roasting the chicken.  Part II consists of breaking down the chicken.  and Part III consists of making chicken stock.  Enjoy!

I roast a chicken just about every weekend.  The main reason I do it is because we are soup junkies and making my own chicken stock is the most economically way to feed the addiction.  You can easily make chicken stock without roasting a whole chicken, but roast chicken is delicious, so if you have the time and a chicken, I say go this route.  Often, we dont even eat the meat of the chicken right when I make it (I usually make it at like 7am saturday morning and a ‘roast chicken breakfast’ is a little weird).  Its usually chopped up and used in various meals throughout the week.  Or it just hangs out in the fridge as phil’s  ‘snacking chicken’ whenever he is hungry.

Roast chicken can be as easy or as complicated as you want it to be.  It kind of depends what mood Im in.  Sometimes I do a beer can chicken  or I do a spatchcock chicken over vegetables. But most often I do it as easily as possible, which includes oiling, salting and peppering.  Then throwing it in the oven.  Here we go:

So, yeah, I wasnt lying.  All you need is a chicken, oil, salt and pepper.  In terms of tools though – I highly recommend a digital, leave-in meat thermometer.  In fact thats the crux of my roast chicken recipe.  If you dont have one, you may want to consult other instructions because I cant tell you cooking time per pounds of bird or anything like that because I always rely solely on the meat thermometer.

First, preheat your oven to 425.  Then you need to make sure your chicken doesnt have any giblets stuffed into the cavity (Ive forgotten to check before and cooked them right in the package.  Amateur hour…).

BTW – this recipe was one of the least appetizing processes to photograph, but Im posting it anyway because the end product is worth it.  Stay with me – its a quick process!!  Next rinse off the whole bird, inside and out  and then pat it very, very dry.

Make sure any time you touch the raw bird, to wash your hands afterwards before you touch something else so you dont contaminate everything with possible salmonella.  That would be bad.  Also please note that my arm is actually WHITER than the uncooked chicken!!  Dear lord I need to get me some sun.  Its been a long winter….

I told you this post was unappetizing until the end.  Anyway.

Next I oil up the bottom of a baking dish.  Then I place the dry chicken in and oil, salt and pepper the whole thing.  Inside and out.  Top and Bottom.

At this point its ready to go in the oven.  But here is where I utilize my very important leave-in thermometer.  It has a timing option that goes off at whatever temperature you set it at.  So I set my timer to go off when the temp hits 163  and then stick the probe into the thickest part of the breast.

Phil!  Dont forget to slide the ‘Temp Alert’ thing on the right over to ‘ON’.

Now place it in the oven at 425 for like 20 minutes

After 20 minutes, knock down the heat to 325 for the remainder of the cooking time.  Once the temp hit 163 the alarm will go off and you’ll have a delicious roast chicken:

I only set the cooking timing to 163 because the chicken actually continues to cook after you take it out of the oven.  So I take it out at 163 and within about 10 minutes of sitting it hits 170.

Told ya so.  There really isnt a copy/paste recipe to type out.  Its more of a method than a recipe.  Here is a quick recap:

Preheat oven to 425.  Unwrap chicken, take out giblets and rinse inside and out.  Pat chicken completely dry.  Oil bottom of a baking dish/roasting pan.  Place chicken in pan and oil, salt and pepper the entire chicken (maybe a teaspoon to a tablespoon of each?  However much you need for a sprinkle on all sides of the chicken).  Place leave-in meat thermometer into thickest part of the breast and set timer to go off at 163 degrees.  Roast chicken in 425 oven for 20 minutes and then decrease temperature to 325 for the remainder of the time.  Let chicken rest 20 minutes before serving.

Stay tuned for Part II and Part III of Woznation Chicken!