Facing fears about chicken
I have never given it a try before; it seemed too complicated and overwhelming. I figured it was not worth the agony or the risk.
But given that yesterday was the first day of the new year and I was looking for something special to feed my sister and her family who were coming over for dinner, I figured why not - let's experience something new. So I drove off to Los Alamos Co-op to buy a whole chicken.
My new Martha Stewart cookbook was another influencing factor. The book has goregous pictures and the one of tortilla soup looked divine. Plus, Martha had given a step by step account of how to bone and cut a whole chicken - convincing me that even I could do this.
Still, I was hopeful the co-op would allow me to cheat by purchasing a rotisserie chicken. But no such luck. So I picked out one of the uncooked chickens. The meaty remains of the bird were pink and its skin looked goose-pimpled. All its' fleshy legs and wings were neatly tucked in Styrofoam and plastic wrap.
I took it home and put in the pot. Despite my lack of meat therometer, I was convinced I could succesfully cook the bird if I just set the cooking timer correctly.
According to Martha, you were suppose to "slip" the skin off when it was fully cooked and then removed the bones. I was not so lucky. The skin, which was stingingly hot, flaked off in slick pieces. The bones were another story. My hands shelacked in cooking juices, I gave up on turning the pages to see Martha's step by step guide to de-boneing a chicken and I decided to just tear the meat off in any way possible. I cracked the breast in half, my fingers rummage in between the bones of the wings in search of the meat. When finished, the carcass looked multilated. Stray ligaments and pieces of meat too stubborn to leave the bone stood out all haywire.
The entire meal came with a lot of messes. I turned my back on the frying tortilla strips, which resulted in the strips turning black, the pan burning and the smoke dector screaming. Broiling the tomatoes set off the suflower oil to pop and splash all over what was originally a spotless oven.
What the verdict on my first dinner of the New Year? Not bad although it was too salty. I am happy I tried something new - even if it did come with heavy-duty cleanup. Anyway, that is what the dishwasher is for.
But given that yesterday was the first day of the new year and I was looking for something special to feed my sister and her family who were coming over for dinner, I figured why not - let's experience something new. So I drove off to Los Alamos Co-op to buy a whole chicken.
My new Martha Stewart cookbook was another influencing factor. The book has goregous pictures and the one of tortilla soup looked divine. Plus, Martha had given a step by step account of how to bone and cut a whole chicken - convincing me that even I could do this.
Still, I was hopeful the co-op would allow me to cheat by purchasing a rotisserie chicken. But no such luck. So I picked out one of the uncooked chickens. The meaty remains of the bird were pink and its skin looked goose-pimpled. All its' fleshy legs and wings were neatly tucked in Styrofoam and plastic wrap.
I took it home and put in the pot. Despite my lack of meat therometer, I was convinced I could succesfully cook the bird if I just set the cooking timer correctly.
According to Martha, you were suppose to "slip" the skin off when it was fully cooked and then removed the bones. I was not so lucky. The skin, which was stingingly hot, flaked off in slick pieces. The bones were another story. My hands shelacked in cooking juices, I gave up on turning the pages to see Martha's step by step guide to de-boneing a chicken and I decided to just tear the meat off in any way possible. I cracked the breast in half, my fingers rummage in between the bones of the wings in search of the meat. When finished, the carcass looked multilated. Stray ligaments and pieces of meat too stubborn to leave the bone stood out all haywire.
The entire meal came with a lot of messes. I turned my back on the frying tortilla strips, which resulted in the strips turning black, the pan burning and the smoke dector screaming. Broiling the tomatoes set off the suflower oil to pop and splash all over what was originally a spotless oven.
What the verdict on my first dinner of the New Year? Not bad although it was too salty. I am happy I tried something new - even if it did come with heavy-duty cleanup. Anyway, that is what the dishwasher is for.
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