sorry that the picture quality isn't 100%, my husband took it with his phone just before he dug in. i could not have stopped him for a second longer to take a pic with my camera if i had begged him. and rightfully so--this bird smelled and looked amazing. i'm sort of shocked that he was able to stop himself long enough to snap a photo. but snap (and brag) he did.
so here's the deal-- i'm going to keep track of everything this chicken gets made into, and once it's all gone i will make a picture blog of the uses we got out of it.
but for now, let me give a few whole chicken tips:
*always start with a completely thawed chicken. 3 days in the fridge should do it, but heavier birds might take longer. don't rush it. i let chicken from the store thaw out for an extra day in my fridge just to be safe.
*once it's thawed, open up the cavity. you can remove the fat around the neck are if you wish. reach your hand in and scoop out anything that's remaining inside the cavity and rinse the bird in and out with cold water.
*pat it dry and start your seasoning process. the options here are unlimited, so i'm going to just break down into cooking styles and mention a few ideas in each one.
crockpot (or slow cooker)
*cook on high for about 6-8 hours depending on the size of your chicken and what your pot can do.
here's the beauty of a crockpot: your chicken is going to be insanely moist. so will everything you put in that pot. when you try to take it out, it will literally start to fall apart. crock pot chickens are perfect for tearing and shredding and adding chicken to other dishes like enchiladas, sandwich meat, and naturally soups.
you can make a soup in a crockpot in one day. stuff the chicken with a potato and season it with salt and pepper. add diced celery and carrot to the crockpot, put the bird on top, add a little water (or chicken stock!) and any herbs you might have on hand (thyme, rosemary or basil would be great) and set on high. cook for 6-8 hours. once the chicken is done, take it out to cool a bit. all of your veggies are cooked and you should have a decent amount of liquid. chop and add peppers and onion to the pot (and pasta if you want!) and then add enough water to double the amount of liquid that was in there. let it cook while you chop up the potato and shred some chicken. add both back in, set to warm, and voila: chicken (noodle) soup. you'll have plenty of chicken leftover and with any luck, some soup too. throw it into reusable containers and freeze it. it also makes a great (cheap!) gift.
other ideas: make a dry rub of 2 tbps chili powder, 1 tbsp garlic salt, and either 2 tsp black pepper or 2 tsp cayenne for a kick. massage the rub into the skin all over the chicken. put 2c water or stock into the crockpot and the amount of rice that would cook into 2c water according to the directions on the rice package. when all is said and done you can pair a tasty chicken breast with beans and rice, shred up some of the legs and wings and make into cheesy rice/chicken enchiladas, or toss some corn and black beans in with the rice, place a slab of chicken on top and squeeze lime juice all over the top! enjoy!!
roasted
this can work in an oven or a free standing roaster. set the apparatus of choice to 350, cook for 20 minutes per pound, plus 20 minutes. you might need more/less time, so make sure you have a thermometer to check the internal temp. you're looking for a temperature of about 170. you can cook the first or last 20 minutes at 450 to get a really crispy skin, but i wouldn't try that if you aren't familiar with your oven or if you aren't confident in your chicken cooking abilities. it's easy to dry chicken out, so do one at a constant temp first to make sure you know how long it takes :)
the glory of a roasted chicken v. a crock pot is that a lot of the fat sinks away from the meat rather than staying in the pot with it. when you roast a chicken, you want it elevated above a baking pan that's at least an inch deep. you can elevate it with a metal rack like this one. cheap!!!
roasted chicken screams classic to me, so i would definitely stuff the cavity with lemon and onion slices and sprigs of fresh herbs. brush the skin with olive oil (or vegetable oil. nobody is judging you here!) and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. you can roast vegetables in the bottom of the baking sheet. just clean and put them down there, no special work needed. carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash are great bets because they need a while to cook themselves and this is the perfect way to do a whole bunch at once. squashes will need to be cut in half and deseeded before roasting. everything on the bottom will pick up the fat that's being melted from the chicken, so the skins will get a nice brown crunch sometimes. yummmmm.
this is dinner by itself. take everything out, slice up the chicken and serve with vegetables. you can also drain the fat from the pan into a skillet and make gravy while everything sort of cools. if you roast white potatoes instead of sweet potatoes you now have mashed potatoes and gravy. and chicken. and a food coma.
my feeling on roasted chicken is that it deserves to be enjoyed in its purest form, so my suggestion for this is to use it as a show stopping centerpiece for a dinner with friends or family. save a few lemon slices when you cut them up to put into the cavity. if you take the bird off and surround it with the vegetables, you can garnish with those lemon slices and make a snip or two of the fresh herbs you used. that will impress the mother in law!
beer can chicken is a version of a roasted chicken. you essentially take a half full (how you get rid of the other half is really up to you.... ;) ) can of beer and place the chicken on top so the mouth of the can is in the cavity of the chicken. while it cooks the beer evaporates and the flavor only has one place to go: into the chicken. safety point: you need a contraption that will SAFELY hold the chicken upright for the duration of its cook time. something like this.
rotisserie
you have to have a special apparatus for rotisserie cooking. luckily for us, we have an attachment on the grill my dad so graciously gave us this summer. it does all of the work. rotisserie chicken is cooked by spearing a large bar through the chicken and rotating it near a single heat source. this is the classic cartoon of a pig tied to a stick hanging over a fire. except chicken, a metal rod, the heat source is on the side, and it's real life :)
this is another option that will allow the fat to melt away from the chicken. doing this on a grill also gives you that fabulous outdoorsy summer deliciousness. aaaaaaaah i love summer!!!! and grilling!!!
back on track!
there is no real wrong answer with this style of cooking. here's what we did: use a whole, uncut lemon or potato in the cavity of the chicken (lemon will be much easier to pierce) to keep the chicken filled out and prevent it from caving as it cooks. before you even begin the chicken, take 1/4c olive oil (or vegetable oil! again, no judgement here!) and add 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, 1 of rosemary, and 1 tablespoon minced garlic. you want to give all of the flavors time to sit in the oil and absorb. (you could also use 1 tsp dried thyme and 1/2 tsp dried rosemary. same amount of garlic) set up the chicken, sat and pepper it, and use a brush to baste on some of the oil you created earlier. about every 30 minutes baste again. keep cooking until the skin is a crunchy, deep golden brown and the internal temp of a thigh (not touching bone!) reads 170.
covering a chicken in a beloved bbq dry rub would be genius for a great summer treat. and we all know that bbq tastes better the next day. with how far you can stretch a 5# chicken, the flavor might reach foodgasmic.
keep an eye out for the picture post of all our chicken uses in a week or so! i will tell you that we made ciabatta crusted pizzas last night and they will be included on that post... and probably one in between...
ENJOY!
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