How to bake a chicken

Baking a chicken is very easy. I start by peeling several carrots and celery sticks.  Then I lay them in the bottom of the baking dish to be used. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Next, mix 1/2 cup of butter or margarine with 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and some herbs. I like to use fresh herbs so it tends to be whatever is going in my herb beds.  This day it was basil, rosemary, dill and lavender.  Set that aside.
To prepare the chicken, start by cutting out the back and saddle of the chicken. To do that, I take a sharp knife and cut along the ribs by the breast.  (You can use a pair of kitchen shears, also) Then I remove the neck and giblets. Reserve chicken back and giblets in a stock pot. Wash the chicken.
Try to keep the skin in tact.  With the knife, split the cartilage on the inside of the breast bone so that the chicken lays flat.

Very carefully, separate the skin from meat and fill with the butter and herb mixture, working it down into the legs and lower parts of the breast.
Place the chicken on the carrot and celery sticks. Place in the oven.  Melt additional butter and pour over the chicken as it cooks.  Cook until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the leg reads 180 degrees and the chicken bends easily at the joints; about 1 1/2 hours.  It takes a little less time to bake a chicken this way than to leave it whole. REMEMBER to bleach the entire work area when finished preparing the chicken.
While the chicken is baking, take the reserved chicken and giblets in the stock pot and add  water, carrots, onions, celery and a couple of bouillon cubes.  Bring to boil and cook until chicken part are done.  Strain through a clean cloth into a freezer container.  Put in the freezer and you have homemade chicken broth for a future recipe. Remember to label it.
I hope that you try both of these techniques.  Each are easy and produce a delicious outcome.

Enjoy!

Deloris