Incredibly stupid question about cooking chicken.. please help!!?

Question

Hi, I am an incompetent college student who does not know how to cook normal foods yet. I mean, I know how to cook chicken breasts in a pan, but I don't know how to bake a whole ginormous chicken. My mom always did it for me. Yes, I am ashamed, but I will learn, hopefully.

It's for my French class, so I need to finish it before tomorrow.

So what do I do with this big raw chicken?

1) Do I cut the string thing off of the legs before baking it?

2) Are there weird parts inside of it that I need to take out like in a turkey?

3) How long should I cook it for? It's medium sized.


Thanks for any help!

Thanks! very helpful replies so far :). I think I can cook it now

p.s. yeah i wanted to get the pre-cooked chicken but they were out. but it's ok, i should learn this eventually

UH oh...ok guys I tried to follow the advice about the giblets.

It turns out, there is no string tying the legs together, I just had assumed there was.

There's no real opening between them. Do I have to cut open the raw chicken to get the stuff out?? This is getting grosser and grosser, haha.

The package says "whole chicken, with giblets"

and I bought the chicken for only 5 dollars, so maybe I have to do everything myself? If so, what should I do to get the giblets out?

Answer 1

The part that says with giblets means there is a bag inside the body cavity with the neck, the gizzard, the heart, and the liver in it . You don't have to open it, or you can cook it in some water and feed it to your cat. To get it out, stick your hand in between the legs- believe me, there is a space there, there's just a flap of skin covering it. Don't worry, it won't jump up and bite you. grab the bag, and just pull it out. Do it over the sink, and rinse the chicken inside and out. Then follow one of the recipes you've got here. They all look good. German style is fool proof and has less ick factor. Just salt and pepper (you can use season salt or a combination of Mrs Dash and salt and pepper. Put the whole chicken in a large covered pan in the oven at 350 degrees for one and a half hours. You can serve it like this, or add flour and water together in a jar, shake well, strain, add to pan juices, bring to a boil while strirring, and voila you have gravy. Add more flour/water mixture to make it thicker. If its too thin, add water and chicken bouillon until it tastes good. Or....
for easy and a French flair do this:

Chicken Tarragon

One whole chicken, 3-4 lbs
salt and pepper
two carrots, cut into coins
one onion, chopped
two - three teaspoons tarragon
about a half cup sherry or marsala, if you have it.
oil and butter for browning
two tablespoons cornstarch
chicken bouillon, enough for one cup broth
water

Read all directions before starting!
Take any string off the legs, and check the insides for "weird parts", we have them in the U.S. Salt and pepper the inside of the bird, add a teaspoon or two of tarragon to the body cavity, too.
Add a total of about two tablespoons oil and/or butter to a large pot. Turn on the burner to about medium- lay the chicken in the pan for about 5 minutes a side more or less, until the skin is brown. While it is cooking, chop the carrots and the onions. Take the chicken out of the pan with a big spoon through the inside, put aside on a plate,or some foil. In the same oil (there's more now, from the chicken), cook the carrots and onions until the onions are translucent. Don't let them get brown. That will make it bitter. Add another tsp tarragon, and 1/2 tsp salt to the vegetables. Stir. Put the chicken back in the pot on top of the vegies. Put on a lid or some aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for one and a half to two hours. I'm pretty loose on this- the worst that will happen if you cook it too long, is that it will fall into pieces and just not look as pretty when serving. It will still taste great. But check after an hour and a half. You could serve your chicken just like this, skimming the fat off the vegetables, and serving those along with it. But for really good sauce:

Pour pan juices into a narrower container (like a measuring cup). Let stand while you gather together cornstarch, chicken bouillon cube, sherry or marsala, or apple juice in a pinch, and water. Skim the extra fat off the top of the pan juices. put in a sauce pan. Add about a cup of water and either a chicken bouillon cube or its equivalent in bouillon paste or crystals. Add the wine or apple juice, another teaspoon of tarragon, and bring to a boil. Put a tablespoon or two of cornstarch in a half cup water. Stir until smooth. Pour half into your boiling sauce, stirring as you pour. In a minute or two the sauce will thicken. If its not thick enough, stir your cornstarch mixture again, and add it, boil a minute or two. Check for salt and pepper. We serve it on the chicken with rice or egg noodles, but the sauce is good with roast potatoes, too.

Answer 2

Leave the skin on during cooking to retain the natural succulence of the chicken meat and to prevent dry or tough cooked chicken, even if you decide to throw it away after chicken has cooked.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Season the inside of the chicken by rubbing with salt and black pepper. Rub the outside with olive oil and rub salt and pepper into the outside of chicken as well. The better quality salt and pepper the better flavor, as with any ingredients. You may also use herbs and spices at your discretion. Thyme and rosemary compliment chicken nicely. You would apply them the same as you would the salt and pepper

Place the whole chicken in a roasting pan (tip: leave the string around the legs. it stops it from falling apart while cooking)(but make sure you remove it before serving lol)

Cook the chicken for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 180 for thighs (taking the reading in the thickest part). If you do not have a meat thermometer you can test for doneness by cutting into the deepest part of the thigh. If the meat is no longer pink and juices run clear, it's done. This should be done later in the process so the juices do not run out of your chicken while it still has a lot of time to cook.

You will want the chicken to rest for about 10 minutes before carving to let the juices and heat redistribute.

P.S~ Theres nothing inside the chicken that you have to remove


Hope this helps )

Answer 3

Hi! Put out some appies and serve them a drink when they get there.... If you have a barbecue grill, here's something all guys love!!! You throw on some big potatoes to bake for an hour at 400F on the grill (just coat them with some olive oil, salt and pepper first) and throw on beef tenderloin steaks (no more expensive than ordering pizzas!) and cook 'em medium or however they like them, make a salad with romaine, tomatoes and cucumbers (have a few dressing choices available as guys like to slather some disgusting store-bought dressing on their salads - don't know why!), and some corn on the cob can be done in 2 minutes per ear in the microwave! (just wrap a damp paper towel around each cleaned ear of corn). I never met a guy (or girl) that didn't enjoy a good steak (have some creamed horseradish sauce on the side for the steaks! Yum!) and baked potatoes and salad and a tender juicy corn on the cob!!!! Just have some sour cream mixed with chopped chives ready for those spuds!!!! ;) For dessert, you could make a tiramisu the day before! Everyone seems to love that!!! Hey, summer's coming and this is a great way to open things up for the season! Your company will love the summertime atmosphere!!! Don't forget to have the Corona's ready!!! ;) Good luck! Since everything can be ready to go on in advance, you'll get to join your company instead of acting like the cook for the night!!!

Answer 4

You might want to take the string off the legs because most whole chickens have the giblets stuffed inside. Some people use them, but to bake a whole chicken, you don't need them. Just rinse the chicken inside. Place on a flat baking pan tht you have rubbed with a little oil, do not cover with foil, bake at 350 degrees until the the drumstick pulls off easily. If it is say a three pound chicken, bake an hour at least. Good luck and good eating!! Don't be ashamed - we were all clueless at one time.

Answer 5

the best baked recipe is drunk chicken.youll neeed a 16 oz. can of any beer.preheat oven to 350 . open beer and drink approx. half, then take 1/2 cup butter and melt in microwave. pour butter in 1/2 beer place in center of cake pan. untie legs look inside for giblet pack, some do some dont.spread legs and place over beer and butter can. i season the outside lightly with johnnys, pepper, garlic powder. place pan in oven and bake approx.40 mins. remove from oven and let rest on can for 10-15min. remove from can and carve. the flavor from the beer absorbs into the meat. if you dont drink dont worry the alcohol is cooked out of it

Answer 6

I am the same, not good at cooking. I always go to the Food Network and they have a recipe search that is great for me. Here is a link to the site if you want to take a look. Hope this helps.

http://web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/searchResults?searchString=whole+chicken&site=food&searchType=Recipe&gosearch.x=13&gosearch.y=13

Answer 7

All fruits are fruit and vegetables. A "vegetable" is a plant, any part of which can be used for food.

Answer 8

In the superstore, fruits are usually picked out far too soon. Some are rocks, many are bad. Some of the fresh vegetables are generally right (zucchini, onions, garlic, lettuce, greens, and a few others) so I'd have to go with vegetables.

Answer 9

once you have followed these nice peoples' advice turn the bird on its back and allow it to rest for 30 min. this allows the juices to flow back into the meat.

Answer 10

If it were me I would buy a precooked one from Safeway.....