Rhea Vs. the Chicken

Week Four, Tuesday

This is the week we got a whole chicken from Fair Shares. I was determined to butcher it into pieces, even though I had never done that before and had no idea what I was doing. Roy stood by me, provided moral support, read the instructions out loud, and took pictures when my hands were covered in chicken goop.

I've roasted a whole chicken before, but I didn't want to do that here. It said the giblets were removed, but I wasn't sure that meant everything inside was gone (it didn't). Plus, cooking the individual parts takes less time than doing the whole thing.

The instructions were from my Betty Crocker cookbook, and I had trouble with them. I couldn't find the joints, had to cut through the bone... Eventually I got the wings and thighs off. After trying to separate the leg and thigh once, I didn't try with the other. I ended up cutting the breast meat directly off the carcass, not even dealing with popping the breastbone out and deboning it. And did I mention that even though I put the chicken in the fridge to defrost on Friday, there was still a little frost on it, and my hands were freezing while I was trying to cut it up?



One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces

My results: two chicken wings, one thigh, one leg, one combined thigh and leg, and two boneless skinless chicken breasts.

There was more meat left on the carcass, but I had gotten enough out to feel productive and not wasteful.

Dinner itself was pretty easy after all that. I roasted the dark meat, and made potatoes, carrots, and celery as a side dish. I don't know if the chicken was the best I'd ever had, but it was juicy and the skin crisped up nicely. We were happy with it.

It was a relief tonight to put all the food in the oven, and know I was basically done with cooking for an hour. I had plenty of time to make salads for Roy and me, and I had time to sit down and eat it.

My Fair Shares foods used tonight were: mixed greens lettuce, mint, and olive oil in the salad, chicken and olive oil for the main course.

One of the reasons I wanted to do Fair Shares was to push me out of my comfort zone and expand my cooking skills. I think next time I'll find someone to show me how to really cut up a chicken or cook it whole, but I learned a lot tonight.