Check my timing, please.
I’ve just dismembered a four-pound chicken, arranged it in a baking dish, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, covered it, and put it into a 375ºF oven. Bake it for an hour?
Always best to use a meat thermometer rather than time.
Looks about right. I cut open a breast, and it’s done.
+1. An hour sounds like a hair long to me, but it depends on the size of the pieces and the doneness level you prefer. I like to pull breast at about 150-155, thigh at 165-170, though thighs and legs have quite a bit of margin of error.
An hour sounds waaaaay long. A bone-in, skin-on thigh at about 350[sup]o[/sup] takes ~30 minutes to get to about 160[sup]o[/sup], give or take–and that’s straight out of the fridge so it’s still cold inside.
So, what about the important questions: Did it taste good? and What did you eat with it?
Why his mouth, I hope!
I wouldn’t have covered it. 4 lbs. should come out moist and tender with a slightly crispy skin dry roasted. I’d probably do 350F for an hour, might be a touch longer. I would sprinkle it with paprika or cayenne to give the skin flavor and a good color.
He ate his mouth with it??? Talk about your last meal!
I just poke the thigh with a skewer and when the juices run clear, it’s done. Meat thermometers are too OCD for me for this particular use case.
350 degrees is kinda a high, to me. And why cover it?
Next time I suggest cooking it at 275. Still for about an hour, or until the juice runs clear.
If you try it this way once, I promise you won’t go back to the high temp. The difference in the tenderness of the chicken is remarkable truly.
I came to this knowledge after years of doing it your way. I was very wrong.
Try it, you’ll like it!
Yeah, I wonder if there something wrong with his oven. Or if it was cooked with something else that would have added ore thermal mass.
Nothing wrong with the oven.
Yes, it tasted good. I made gravy from the drippings, and we had mashed potatoes and sweet peas.
I can roast a turkey quite nicely. I can roast a whole chicken. But I seldom cook dismembered chicken. (And I have yet to perfect frying, probably because I can’t bring myself to buy buttermilk.) I think chicken is pretty tolerant of times and temperatures. I’ll try a lower temperature and no cover next time. But dinner was good.
For thighs, they don’t make that much a difference to me. For chicken breast, they make a world of difference. There’s a few meats I love my meat thermometer for and it’s made my results so much more consistent: chicken breast, pork loin, beef roasts.
An hour sounds way too long, but it will depend in part on what crockery you’re using.
It took me a while to teach Mom that using a closed ceramic cocotte, an uncovered tray or a tray covered with an aluminum foil tent require different times. I finally found her a metal cocotte that she’s happy with (it’s easier to use than the foil, it’s very light and the times are lower than for the ceramic cocotte).
Fine for if you like soft baked chicken. I would have done it at 425 for about 40 minutes. The skin crisps up so nice, better than fried, and the meat should be just right.
Mmm, dismembered chicken. Sounds tasty!
(Actually, it does. But I’d suggest giving it a different name if you plan to serve it to anyone else. Unless your friends and family are horror fans. :D)
This would work fine as well, if you do mean uncovered. The trouble with the times and temps for uncovered chicken is the variation in size of the pieces depending on the method of dismemberment, the build of the chicken, and the fat content (which should be fine for a 4 pounder but a little tougher to judge for small birds). The higher temperature risks toughening smaller pieces, although a little foil can be wrapped around the bottom of the drumsticks and the wings, or they can be removed earlier assuming complete dismemberment.
Yes, I meant uncovered, I left that out by mistake. I’ve never had issues with doneness, but a chicken smaller than 4 lbs I wouldn’t even bother to cut up anyways - I’d just roast it whole.