poultry essentials: easy peasy baked chicken

How To Make poultry essentials: easy peasy baked chicken

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  1

  PREP/PREPARE
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  2

  Gather your Ingredients (mise en place).
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  3

  Add enough cold water to a large bowl (like a mixing bowl), or a pot, to completely submerge the chicken, in my experience it will 3 – 4 quarts.
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  4

  Add the salt and honey, then whisk the mixture until the salt has completely dissolved.
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  5

  Chef’s Note: Many times, depending on the ingredients in the brine, I’ll heat it up on the stovetop, and wait an hour or two for it to cool down. In this case, the only solid is the salt, and with enough whisking, it will dissolve; even in cold water. That saves us a ton of time.
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  6

  Submerge the chicken in the salt/honey solution, and brine for 2, but not more than 3 hours.
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  7

  Chef’s Note: During this process, you will want to place the brining chicken in the refrigerator.
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  8

  Remove the chicken from the brine and thoroughly rinse, and then pat dry with a few paper towels.
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  9

  Add the quartered lemons to the cavity of the chicken and truss up the legs, and tie the wings to the body.
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  10

  Sprinkle the dry rub all over the chicken, and allow to rest while you get your oven, grill, or smoker ready.
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  11

  Chef’s Note: You could use a variety of dry rubs, or you could make one of your own. This is my recipe for an excellent dry spice rub:
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/seasoning-mix/rub-essentials-beef-pork-chicken-dry-rub.html
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  12

  BAKING THE CHICKEN
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  13

  You have three choices for baking this chicken. Method One: Place a rack in the lower position, and preheat the oven 235 (112c). Method Two: Heat up the smoker to 225 (107c). Method Three: Fire up your gas or charcoal grill to 225f (107).
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  14

  Oven baking will give you a great chicken, but without some of the additional flavor notes that can be accomplished on a grill, or in the smoker. For example, I use my smoker and 30-minutes into the cooking, I’ll add a handful of hickory chips. That’s just enough to give the chicken a “hint” of smoke without overpowering the bird.
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  15

  COOKING TIME: The chicken is done when the temp of the chicken breast reaches 165f (75c), or 175f (80c), at the thickest part of the thigh. Regardless of the method you are using, that should occur in 3 to 3.5 hours. Your time may vary, based on the size of the chicken, and the actual temperature of the gill, oven, or smoker.
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  16

  Remove the chicken from the oven, grill, or smoker.
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  17

  PLATE/PRESENT
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  Brush with the olive oil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving. Enjoy.
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  19

  Keep the faith, and keep cooking.
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