Anxiety for the most inane reason

[Mary Terry]

Tortoise, you CAN do this. It's just not hard. Use the steps below:

Turn oven on to bake. Set temperature at 400 degrees.

1. Take a pan that has about 2" sides and cover the inside with tinfoil wrapping it around the top of the sides so no cleanup.
2. Unwrap the chicken and pull out the bag of innards and toss in garbage.
3. Place bird in pan flat side up.
4. Drizzle olive oil over the chicken and smear it all over (using those disposable gloves).
5. Take some small red or gold potatoes and wash. These usually don't need scrubbing like baking potatoes. (No need to peel as the skins are thin and soft.)
6. Place around the bird in the pan. Drizzle them with olive oil.
7. Place pan in oven and set timer for 1/2 way (using 30 minutes per pound)
8. When timer goes off, take out bird and turn over using a long cooking fork. drizzle some olive oil over top of bird and put pan back in oven.
9. Set timer for balance of time needed for cooking
10. When timer goes off, pull out oven rack- if bird is browned stick cooking fork in between leg and body of bird and pull down on the leg. . If the leg comes down really easily or if the juices run clear, the bird is fully cooked.
11. Remove from oven, put bird on platter and let sit a few minutes (5 minutes) before carving.

If you don't know how to carve the bird, watch a You tube video to see what to do.

I save the chicken neck and other innards (except the liver) in the freezer. When I have accumulated a big bag of parts, I make chicken stock with it, and freeze the stock.

 

[LucyPurrs]

Mary Terry, I do too sometimes but didn't want to get into that if people are squeamish about handling the innards.

 

[Mary Terry]

I save the chicken neck and other innards (except the liver) in the freezer. When I have accumulated a big bag of parts, I make chicken stock with it, and freeze the stock.

Also, I like to cut a lemon in half and put both halves, along with half an onion and fresh spices such as a rosemary sprig and thyme inside the chicken cavity before roasting.

One other thing - I always dry off the chicken skin before roasting so it will brown and get crispy.

 

[Mary Terry]

Mary Terry, I do too sometimes but didn't want to get into that if people are squeamish about handling the innards.

LOL. There isn't much that intimates me in the kitchen.

I help my husband field dress deer, too. Now THAT is pretty gross when he dumps out the guts into a large tub, smells bad, too.

 

[LucyPurrs]

Mary, you got me there- have never field dressed a deer, only cleaned fresh caught fish! Don't think I want to do the deer thing, especially as I don't like venison.

But actually, I do season roast chicken- was trying to keep the recipe as simple as possible.

 

[Mary Terry]

I've written down simple recipes for my sister-in-law. She has executive function issues so I make the recipes as simple as possible with specific cooking times written down so she can set a timer to make sure she doesn't forget a step. She cooks chicken and beef roasts in her Crockpot because she can set the timer to automatically turn off the Crockpot when the food is cooked. I also gave her a casserole recipe that uses raw hamburger and potatoes so she doesn't have to brown the beef first. It is an oven recipe and takes about 2 hours to cook in order to get the meat well done. Her oven has a timer, too, so it turns itself off.

 

[Mary Terry]

Mary, you got me there- have never field dressed a deer, only cleaned fresh caught fish! Don't think I want to do the deer thing, especially as I don't like venison.

But actually, I do season roast chicken- was trying to keep the recipe as simple as possible.

I understand about the need for simplicity.

I've caught and cleaned a lot of fish in my time, too. Not my favorite task so I do it outside by the hose so I can rinse them off and keep the flying scales out of my kitchen.

 

[Mary Terry]

Cooking fork:

Baking pan:

Or you can buy a disposable aluminum pan in the supermarket baking section , wash after cooking and reuse.

We call those forks "granny forks". My grannies and my mother always used them.

 

[the_tortoise]

Oh Tortoise, I'm sorry, I misunderstood- I thought you were saying you didn't cook because of the challenge of recalling the steps. Well, hope you cook a bird because they are so good to eat!

That’s okay; It was kind of you to try to help me and I appreciate it even though it was not help I required

There are only three animals I eat and all of them are fish, but I have cooked birds for my cats and they wholeheartedly agreed with you about how good birds are to eat.

 

[Mary Terry]

LOL. There isn't much that intimates me in the kitchen.

I help my husband field dress deer, too. Now THAT is pretty gross when he dumps out the guts into a large tub, smells bad, too.

I meant "intimidates", not "intimates". LOL I need a proof reader.