Hi Ladies, So, I am a grown woman who has never once baked a chicken, and for some reason have decided to tonight :). I have a recipe (engagement chicken) but my question is-how do I begin? I am 100% clueless-grew up a vegetarian so this is all new. I have Tyson chicken, in a wrapper, that was frozen when I bought it on Sunday. It has been in the fridge ever since. So, how do I know if it's all the way thawed? What if it's not? Do I have to do anything to it (i.e. pull stuff out of it?) before I start the recipe or has that been done already? Any tips or pointers would be appreciated! Thanks so much!
Oddly enough, there was a recent post about an engagement chicken debacle:
http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/6950609281024655361
no one has mentioned this. It's better to let your meat sit covered on the counter or in the sink for a little while before you begin to cook it. Not long enough to breed salmonella! But long enough for it to come up to close to room temp. If you take meat straight out of the fridge and immediately put heat on it, the protiens sieze up and make the meat tough and you end up over cooking the outside or undercooking the inside. Especially if you think it's not all the way thawed. Leave it on the counter while you do the rest of your prep work. That will help you have more even cooking.
Welcome to my favorite dinner! I LOVE roast chicken -- so easy and yummy.
As I'm sure you've figured out by reading all the replies so far, there's no single best correct way to cook a chicken. Pick one that works for you and have at it.
Yes, it should be squishy to be thawed. Wiggle the leg. Yes, if there are giblets and/or the neck in the cavity, take 'em out. We sometimes boil them up and use that water for gravy (or even mash up the giblets and put them in the gravy).
Yes, let it come up to room temperature. Assuming your room isn't 90 degrees and you only do it for an hour or two, the salmonella risk is small. Yes, you should thoroughly clean your sink and your counter once that bird is in the over. By the way, any utensils you use with the raw chicken should not come in contact with other food or with the cooked chicken (again, to prevent cross-contamination). I use Chlorox CleanUp to clean my sink and counter -- a quick but thorough wipe with a paper towel dampened with the cleaner is good. Normally, I'm a "as few chemicals as possible" kind of girl -- but not when it comes to raw meat, especially poultry.
Yes, rinse it out inside a
Yes, most people plop it in a roasting pan, breast side up. Personally, I toss some veggies in the cavity (helps make the gravy tasty, also), sprinkle the top with some kosher salt and dot with butter. Pop it in a preheated 350 oven for about 20 minutes a pound (so, about an hour for a 3 pound bird). Internal temp should read about 160+ as registered on a meat thermometer (Low tech doneness tests: if you poke it where the thigh meets the breast, the juice shouldn't be pink; the leg should be fairly loose and wiggly). Once you take the bird out, let it rest for at least 5 minutes (preferably 10 or so) before cutting. This gives you time to oooh! and aaah! at your accomplishment.
The great thing about this is that it's really not difficult -- it just might sound a kind of overwhelming if it's totally new. Once you get the first one done, it'll get easier and easier.
Some great sites for cooking: foodnetwork.com (also rates recipes as to degree of difficulty); cooksillustrated.com (great teaching tool as well as great recipe source); allrecipes.com
Really -- you can do this. Enjoy it!
if the legs can be moved easily it is thawed, if they are stiff, not thawed
It should definitely be thawed by now. Take off the wrapper and pull out the giblets package from the cavity before cooking. It might have cooking instructions on the package that can be a guideline. I cook mine in the oven inside a dutch oven. I basically coat the chicken with olive oil and salt & pepper. Then I stuff the cavity with lemon & orange halves, springs of rosemary, and whole peeled garlic cloves (you're not going to eat any of that, you pitch it after the chicken is cooked). Cook, skin on, on 350 until skin browned - then you'll need to cut open the thickest part of the chicken to be sure you don't see any pink in the meat. You can use the juices that will cook off the chicken as a sauce to make the chicken more juicy when you serve it - delicious if you use some kind of citrus with the sauce. Basically you can pull the chicken out of the roasting pan while it's still hot and use either some dry white wine or veggie stock (or chicken stock) to deglaze the pan. Then just skim off the fat with a spoon before you use the chicken juices. So yummy. Good luck!
There should be a package of odds and ends inside the chicken, pull it out and throw it away (at least I do), the chicken SHOULD be thawed and what little it's not it'll thaw in the oven. Leave the skin on and season per your recipe, if you're not sure about pulling stuff out the chicken should be hollow or it will have a little pack of the nasty stuff no one eats, like i said just pull it out but if they chicken is already hollow don't fret!
rinse the bird well under plain water, I like to use a brine of sea salt & water to soak it a couple hours (I reuse an big folgers plastic coffee can, perfect size if its the big one, or use a bag, jug, whatever you have) the brine makes the chicken super juicy and yummy. Season with salt & pepper, butter under the skin, you can use rosemary, garlic, onions- whatever you like really, & bake uncovered at around 350, (about an hour or so, depends how big it is) I dont use a thermomiter (cant spell today!), I usually stab it the meatiest part and make sure the juices are clear. (I do watch it pretty closely, and put a sheet of foil to cover it if its browning too quickly or has browned enough. I dont baste small birds... The stuff inside, I cook it for the cats, they love it.
Poke the chicken with your finger; if it's cushy, it's thawed. Does the wrapper have directions on it? If it does, follow them. You'll need to wash the chicken inside and out, and sometimes you'll find chicken innards inside the body cavity. You do want to take those out. Some people use those parts to make gravy. There are many ways to bake chicken. You say you have a recipe; for another easy one, you might try this:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2007033115302...
well how much does your chicken weigh?? if its at big as a thanksgiving turkey it may not be thawed. reach in the insides and pull allthat gross stuff out and throw it away, then wash the bird (now with soap...just cool water) inside and out
fill the bird with onions, fresh garlic cloves and some oranges or apples if you want (or stuffing)
We always bake our chicken on the weber. after stuffing and prior to cooking we rub the chicken with peanut oil and lawrys salt, the we rebase the chicken with the peanut oil about even 30 mins to get the skin nice and crispy.
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