roast chicken

Season 2, Episode 4. How ’bout Them Apples
Guest: Samin Nosrat

This is my first, What Not To Do blog.

Overall, I felt so good about following The Duchess’ instructions.

Handling the full carcass of a lil chicken was smooth sailing.

I’m definitely going to give it another go.

And also…

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Jump To Recipe

This is what my babies had for dinner that night.

I prepped my chopped veg between sessions earlier in the day. Made sure I had everything ready to go to hop straight in following my last client, because I knew I’d participate in some Procrastivity, which I definitely did.

Hello, laundry room.

But overall, the process was completely worth what was promised to be fantastic meal, and I found a great deal of joy in the process.

Here’s the thing.

I bought the chicken last week when I thought I’d be able to use it that very night, but life, as it so often does, said, “Nope. Not tonight.”

No worries, into the freezer she goes.

Except.

Two days defrosting in the fridge was most definitely not enough time for the defrosting.

I pulled her out after the initial 60 minutes, slid in the internal thermometer, saw it start at 120 then dip swiftly to… 39 degrees.

What?? Oh no, it’s still frozen on the inside!

90 minutes.

Still frozen.

120 minutes.

Up to temp, so we cut her open! Thanks for the carving skills, Honey!

Definitely still pink. And in parts, bloody.

And I have to imagine, dry as sand paper since she had to be in the oven SO long, but we haven’t gone back and warmed her up to taste yet at the time of this writing.

The lesson here: Don’t purchase your bird until you’re ready to use the bird. Plain and simple. Don’t put her in the freezer, and the entire first part of this blog will be of no use to you!

Onto happier moments!

As I mentioned, I prepped the veg between client sessions earlier in the day, and I always encourage y’all to have as much of your prep done ahead of starting when possible. For me, it keeps me focus up and the momentum going!

Celery, carrots, onion – I used white because they’re my favorite + Austin despises red – go into the pan with a generous amount of olive oil. pepper, and flake salt.

What privilege, I have most of these herbs in my garden!

Thyme and rosemary grow in abundance in my part of Texas, which just makes the process so much more fun for me than pulling from my pantry or ordering fresh from the grocery. But of course, use what ya got!

Prep the bird, get her nice and dry with a paper towel, then get all over that with some more olive oil to add the gorgeous fat to get that golden skin and flake salt, generously.

Here is where Meghan gives the heads up –

“If you have an aversion to touching raw meat, this is probably not the dish you should make.”

I was curious how I’d behave in this moment, and I’m happy to report it went like gangbusters! The bird cooperated with me, and I flew through lifting the skin off the bird with zero Ick Factor and zero issue!

Author’s Note: I’m wearing a glove on my right hand because I sliced my index finger open on a lemon tree spike when I was fertilizing it two days before. Not because of an aversion to touching the bird, as you can see with my left hand!

I used the same amount of butter the recipe calls for, but I also got a kick out of how much butter it looks like is going into this chicken’s skin. And since Austin loves butter so much, he’d eat it with a spoon, I took a pic to share with him.

Please ignore how much rosemary I have jutting out of the bird. The thing to do here would have been to cut it down more, but I just didn’t!

I tied up the legs with kitchen twine and excitedly put the bird in the oven – legs to the back, of course – and set about watching Chelsea lose to FC Bayern München and a couple other kitchen activities you’ll see on my Insta and this blog in future.

Then, as you’ve seen above, I learned the internal temp after an hour was barely above freezing.

We don’t need to rehash. Y’all already read the, let’s not call it a failure, but rather, a moment for growth, right?

I still haven’t seen Julie & Julia, but I imagine any blog you enjoy most isn’t pristine in its perfection. I love sharing where I have bumps in the road, and after all, the entire point of this account is for me to share my learning process. Well, here’s a big one for ya!

“Flavorful, delightful, delicious.”

I’ll let you know when I do this again, with a fresh/unfrozen bird. I’m feeling confident she will be all those things!

Roast Chicken