My Cooking Kryptonite: Roast Chicken

I have a confession...I hate raw whole chicken. I have no issues with chicken pieces but something about an entire chicken makes me nauseous. Whether it's the whole "removing the neck and giblets" part or the fact that it still looks like an animal, cooking a whole bird is enough to make me a vegetarian.

Perhaps this is why I always have issues roasting chicken. I have no explanation other than the chicken senses my disdain and decides to mock me by refusing to cook. I have never overcooked a chicken but boy have I undercooked one, and as recently as this past Sunday.

I have expounded how much I love leftover roast chicken but chose to not until today share the saga that is me roasting a chicken. (This may also be why we are big grocery store rotisserie chicken fans). But as I believe you never give up when it comes to cooking, I had noticed that whole chickens were on sale and had scooped one up with the intention of roasting it Sunday and using the leftovers for chicken enchiladas.

I turned to my trusty new issue of Cooking Light magazine and decided to try out their feature on how to roast a chicken. Here were step by step illustrated instructions and the rub they had suggested sounded fantastic. So I followed the instructions step-by-step and set the temperature as indicated. Because I am especially paranoid, I even kept the chicken in longer (about 10 minutes) at each temperature. I inserted my meat thermometer, saw 165 degrees and pulled it out of the oven:

Looks lovely right?

I let it rest and began to carve. The breast meat was so white and moist and then the blade went deeper and........

I thankfully took no pictures of the remaining bloody carnage. I was crestfallen...especially since it was already 5:30PM and my family was ready for dinner. So back into the oven it went and I played the game of "is it ready" for another 20 minutes. Finally, I cut off the cooked breast for the family and put the rest of the chicken back into the oven.

Fast forward to a conversation with my mom. I was telling her about how roast chicken is my cooking kryptonite and she said so matter-of-fact, "Roast chicken is a breeze. You slow roast it at 325 degrees until the legs can be gently wiggled and the juices run clear. A 4-pound chicken should take an hour and 15 to an hour and 20 minutes."

And I am reminded again that when all else fails in the kitchen, I should just call my mother.

Oh, and apparently I need a new meat thermometer.