Anyone have any good tips for cooking a whole chicken for the first time?
I generally buy thighs due to getting them cheap but I want to try out a whole chicken, if for no other reason than to get some fresh stock.
To roast whole:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/09/perfect-roasted-chicken-recipe.html
If not prepping overnight (see below), preheat oven to 425F, 450F if you have enough ventilation to deal with smoky smells.
Dry the skin with paper towels, or just sit uncovered in your fridge for overnight.
Season the outside and inside with salt and (the rest is optional) ground black pepper, garlic powder, sugar. You'll want to go pretty strong on the salt (or overall seasoning), maybe a bit less if you do the salt step overnight. Doing it overnight means you have to think ahead -- though you can combine this with the overnight drying step -- but I think it seasons the meat more thoroughly. But feel free to experiment and just do it right before roasting. I know Ruhlman doesn't insist on overnight salting, but I think he's saying that because it's slightly easier not to have to plan for overnight.
Tie the legs together or put a lemon (halved) or onion (halved) into the body cavity. Might as well throw some garlic cloves in there too. You don't have to peel cloves that you're going to roast; they'll practically squish out of their peels afterwards.
Roast 1 hr in an ovenproof skillet, then let rest 15 min (by "rest", I mean transfer it to a cutting board and cover with foil, wait 15 min).
An "ovenproof skillet" means the whole thing can go in a hot oven. Probably it can't have plastic or even wooden handles. At this temp, it shouldn't be a cheap nonstick skillet either; you don't want to burn off the teflon into airborne poison.
Digression: you should have an ovenproof skillet! Cast iron is great esp if you can pick it up and are good at taking care of it. Otherwise, get a three-layer pan, aluminum clad with stainless steel on both sides with a metal handle.
Ruhlman's recipe specifies a skillet because he then makes a
pan sauce from the drippings:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/09/pan-sauce-for-roasted-chicken-recipe.html (besides being tasty, deglazing also helps clean the pan.)
To carve a roast chicken, follow one of these guides:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyrkjvr23Qc
http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to-carve-roast-chicken.aspx
The carcass of the roasted chicken can then be made into stock. If you're fastidious about cutting the meat off the bones, you could also save the leg bones for stock too. Bones can also be frozen if you want to collect enough for stock.
Then in a pot you can put the back, neck, any of the organs that come with the bird, cover with water and simmer for a few hours. You can put a bay leaf, onions, garlic, and salt and pepper in there too if you like.
Few hours later you have stock! Strain it through a sieve if you want it clear and stick it in the fridge, or if you want it to last a while, freeze in an ice cube tray, and when it is frozen put in a ziplock bag.
I think if you want to make stock from a raw carcass, you may have to skim the gunk more. Or blanch the bones first (bring to a boil in water barely covering the bones, then discard that water as soon as it reaches boiling, rinse the bones, and make stock with a new pot of water.
I think a French stock uses onions, carrots, and celery. A Chinese stock uses green onions and ginger, which tells us that onions are the most universal...
anyways, I wrote all this out and then I searched Serious Eats some more and Ruhlman also talks about making stock. No skimming with his recipe:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/09/easy-chicken-stock-recipe.html
