Photo by Ms. Glaze

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a foodie proclaim that roasting a chicken is the easiest thing in the world and the perfect place for new cooks to start.

Please.

I can think of at least a hundred things easier to cook than roasted chicken, with salad being the undisputed champion (and eggs being the runner up).

Buying and cooking a whole chicken requires a number of steps that can make a new cook uncomfortable. First you have to know where to get the chicken—and if you want a pasture-raised, antibiotic-free bird (as you should) this isn’t always straight forward. To make the purchase you must also be comfortable talking to the butcher even though there’s a good chance you have no idea what you’re talking about. You also have to be willing and able to deal with raw meat, which makes many people queasy in and of itself. Lastly, cooking meat requires special equipment such as a meat thermometer and roasting pan, which newbies might not have access to.

So no, roasting chicken is not the easiest thing on earth. But if you can get over all those things, it really isn’t that hard either.

Being a food writer, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I roasted my first chicken last month, and my second last night. I have a zillion excuses for why I hadn’t done it before. I think the main one is that a whole chicken just sounds so big, like too much work and too much food. But I was inspired by Ruth Reichl’s recipe in her book Garlic and Sapphires, so I finally built up the courage to make it happen.

I’m happy to report that both birds turned out amazing. The difference in flavor between a real farm fresh chicken and the massive “boneless skinless” breasts I grew up eating is truly phenomenal. That alone is reason enough to try the recipe, in my opinion.

I don’t want to poach Ruth’s entire recipe for chicken and roasted potatoes, but for the bird you basically just preheat your oven to 400 degrees, put the excess fat under the skin on top of the breast meat, put a fork-punctured lemon into the cavity, coat the skin with salt, pepper and olive oil and cook for one hour or until the temperature is 170 degrees in the thigh. I improvised a little since there wasn’t much excess fat on my first chicken and added a pad of butter on each side as well. I also chopped some fresh rosemary and rubbed it under the skin. The second time I forgot the lemon and it turned out fine.

Sure it’s simple, but I know I’m not the only one intimidated by the idea of buying and cooking an entire chicken. I was at the park last night when I decided to run to the store and pick up something for dinner. When a friend asked me what I was planning to make, her response was pure shock, “You’re going to cook a WHOLE chicken! Darya, can I please take cooking lessons from you?”

She seemed so impressed I couldn’t bring myself to admit it was only my second attempt and I had no idea if I could pull it off again. Then I realized she would probably like to know.

Thanks Elle for the reminder that even the “easy” stuff takes some courage if you’ve never done it before.

UPDATE: Since writing this post in 2011 I’ve roasted at least 50 chickens and used the bones to make stock. The first step really is the hardest.

What “simple” dish intimidates you in the kitchen?

Originally posted July 6, 2011.

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

In this week’s Top 10 I found some cool new data supporting my claim that even non-brightly colored, white fleshed fruits and vegetables have superfood potential, some sad news about the anti-aging chemical in red wine resveratrol, and a whopping two BS stories of the week.

Want to see all my favorite links? Be sure to follow me on on Digg. I also share links on Twitter (@summertomato) and the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• An Apple a Day Really May Keep the Doctor Away <<Remember when I said that our idea of brightly colored superfoods was misguided because all natural foods are super in their own way? Here’s some data suggesting that the lowly white fleshed foods have their own super powers. (Medline)
• Thirty Years After the Original, a New Study of Organic Agriculture <<The latest research suggests organic agriculture can match the output of conventional growing, and keeps the soil in better shape as well. (GOOD)
• Kids may not be drinking enough low-fat milk, the CDC reports <<BS of the week #1. First of all, the article says kids are drinking too much full-fat milk, not lacking milk in general. Second, the claim that low-fat dairy (they only count 1% as low fat) is better than higher fat dairy is not at all supported by the scientific literature. Third, they are basing all of this on the fairly lame new USDA MyPlate. Safe to say, you can ignore it. (Los Angeles Times)
• Bachmann says food industry overregulated <<BS of the week #2. I really don’t enjoy calling BS more than once. And I really really don’t enjoy politics and do my best to avoid them, especially here on Summer Tomato. But Michelle Bachmann stepped on my turf with these ridiculously pro-industry, anti-voter claims that the food industry, which has been responsible for dozens of fatal food poisoning outbreaks (lots of innocent people died because of greed and corner-cutting) in the past 2 years, is overregulated. Please. (Boston.com)
• Once the province of how-to cooking shows, food media has extended its reach—but has it become too big? <<I enjoyed this exploration of the state of the Food Movement. I agree with Ruth Reichl‘s commentary. (AdWeek)
• DR. MARION NESTLE ON THE COMPLEXITY OF FOOD ISSUES <<Marion Nestle gives her opinion of Harvard’s challenge to the USDA’s MyPlate. (Ecosalon)
• Americans eat out about 5 times a week <<But this isn’t talking about you guys, right? You guys cook at home on weekdays and bring your lunch to work… right? (UPI)
• What’s In That Wine Glass May Not Prevent Aging After All <<Interesting new data on resveratrol and sirtuins, if you’re into the molecular biology of aging (you know I am). (NPR)
• Top 5 Food-Inspired Jewelry That You Actually Want To Wear In Public <<I didn’t expect to want all of these, but I do (hint hint: birthday approaching in November!). (LA Weekly)
• roasted eggplant with tomatoes and mint <<I can’t think of anything better to eat this time of year. Can you? (smitten kitchen)

What inspired you this week?