Baked Chicken

I wanted to title this "the evolution of a chicken," but realized this should be several posts since it's technically different recipes... so here we go.

Chicken has got to be one of the most versatile things to cook with. There are about a gazillion ways to cook and serve it. And, there are ways to do it cheaply.

I always buy whatever cuts are cheapest by pound (that means my kitchen never sees the boneless skinless chicken breasts). Usually that's thighs, legs, or leg quarters. Now I realize that there is more fat in the dark meat, but there's also more flavor, so you can get away with putting less into whatever you're making and still have that good chicken-y flavor while saving some bucks!

We rarely eat a meal that has a chunk of meat as the star of the meal. That's what we always had as I was growing up, so this is a change for me, but I don't miss it often. This is one meal that's an exception.

I got 6 cheap leg quarters on sale the other day and began plans for several meals. Here's meal #1:

Baked chicken - this is so stinkin' easy. The worst part is taking the chicken out of the packaging and washing it. I really hate touching the raw meat (even writing that is making me cringe....ewwww), so I get a kid to do it when I can - haha. I run it under tepid water and gently scrub off any ick that may be on the skin. I also attempt to tear off any obvious chunks of fat. Those go in the garbage (rather than down the drain).

Then just put the chicken in a baking pan - skin side up (I use a stoneware 9x13 cake pan that has a stoneware cover - makes a nice little stone oven thingy - but you can just put it in any pan and cover with foil (shiny side down - you want to reflect the heat back into the pan - not away from it). If you have a rack to keep the chicken off the bottom of the pan - great. If not, it works just fine. You can also use an onion and/or a potato as a rack. Cut them in big pieces to cover the bottom of the pan and lay the chicken on top. Usually those aren't great to eat afterwards, so I don't do that often (I hate wasting food).

Plan for it to bake about an hour at 350 or so. Again - temperature and time is all relative. Lower temperature/longer time and vice versa. You DO need to have a meat thermometer. Don't fool around with undercooked chicken. Be sure that your chicken's internal temperature is at least 180°. If you've not used a meat thermometer before - never fear! It's not hard. Just pull your pan of chicken out for a minute and set on top of the stove (you can check the temp while it's inside the oven, but you lose a lot of heat out of your oven that way - and you run the risk of bumping your hand against a hot part of the oven and getting a nasty burn. Might as well just take it out for a sec). Find the thickest part of your fattest piece of chicken - usually the fat part of a thigh or thick part of a leg - then stick in the thermometer so that the tip is near the center of that thickness. Stick it in at an angle so you can get as much of the thermometer into the meat as possible. You don't want the tip to touch bone or to come out the other side and touch pan. Either of those scenarios will mess up your reading. I usually test a couple different places to make sure I've got an accurate reading. Once you're at 180° - you're good to go.  Some say to take it out a few degrees before 180° - that it will continue cooking for a few minutes out of the oven. I guess I'd rather have it a smidge dryer and be sure that I'm avoiding the salmonella. But of course, all of this is up to you! :)

Browning is also a subjective thing. If the chicken's internal temp is 180°, the chicken is done. Even if the skin is lighter than you think it should be. If you like the outside of your chicken to look browner, then take off your cover/foil during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking - you'll have to guess, of course, because you're going off temperature, not time. It's really flexible. Don't worry.

If the chicken was baking down in the fat & juices, I will take each piece out with tongs and pat it on a paper towel before putting it on the serving plate.

Like I said before, we don't eat a lot of meat by itself, so this is a big treat meal for our family. I make mashed potatoes, a vegetable or two, and cranberries. If I'm really in a mood, I'll make rolls. The little kids each got one drumstick and the bigger people each got one thigh. We fill up on the vegetables. The rest of the chicken has quite a life ahead of it - so I don't let folks pig out on the meat.

If you're doing your math - then you'll realize I still have three thighs and 4 legs left over. These go in the fridge (along with the bones from the pieces that were eaten - really!). Tomorrow we make broth! :)