Roast chicken and bird s#*t

The main event of the day was my attempt to roast the whole chicken I purchased at the farmer’s market. Overall, it went pretty well although I was a little nervous about cooking it thoroughly. I ended up taking the temp three times until it got to the recommended165 degrees and still had to throw the leg I ate in the microwave before eating it... Kevin is recooking the remaining pieces as we speak (I also had trouble trying to break it down, so I gave up and let him do it this evening). I think I will do a couple things differently next time: first, buy a smaller chicken (this one was 4.5 lbs, I think I’ll go with 2.5 to 3lbs next time) to speed up the cooking process; and second, increase the oven temp by about 50 degrees. Although I had trouble with the temp, the flavor was really good so I included the preparation below.

Also, the carrots I cut up didn’t quite cook properly; I think that’s because they were old and getting a little dry. Typically I would have put more veggies under the chicken (probably a mirepoix which is a combination of carrots, celery and onions), but I only had carrots on hand from before I started this challenge so I went with them and their lack of quality and freshness was clear.

Kevin’s Roast Chicken

Start with a brine the night before you plan on cooking the chicken:
Fill a pot large enough to fit your chicken about halfway with water, add salt (about 1 cup), and 5 whole cloves.
Bring to a boil and turn off heat.
Be sure you cool the water down before placing the chicken in the pot (otherwise it will begin to cook), we added ice cubes until the brine was cool.
Let sit overnight, but dump out brine first thing in the morning.

Chicken Prep:
Stuff with a handful of thyme, oregano, rosemary and one lemon or lime cut into quarters.
Coat skin with olive oil and light salt and pepper.

Cook to appropriate temp.

If you’ve read this far then you get the gratification of hearing the chicken s#*t portion of the title. While the chicken was cooking I went outside to read and enjoy the sunshine. I cleaned off the table and chair and practically skipped with glee into the house to grab a book and some strawberry rhubarb crisp. I got back outside and sat down without a second thought, directly onto a fresh pile of bird poo. Apparently they were protesting my new found interest in cooking their feathered friend.

For the record, I’m not above eating a pigeon.