Once or twice a year, the whole family, aunts, uncles, and cousins would gather at my grandparents house and spend one to two days working on chickens, killing, cleaning and of course freezing them. I know it sounds gross, but the men would cut off the chicken's head and let it flop around on the ground. Then, the young cousins would take the chicken over to a bonfire and singe the feathers and pluck all the feathers. We would then take the chickens into the house where the women folk would clean the chickens, cut them up and place them in butcher paper or bags to freeze. Then in the evening, we would all sit around and eat chicken with all the fixings.
We've come a long way from having to kill our own chickens to just going to the grocery store and pick them up already for us. All we have to do is clean them up again and fix them the way we want. You can purchase chicken whole, cut up, special pieces like the breast, thighs, legs or whatever part you like best.
So, since I've been working on chickens now for two days, I'm going to give you my secret for great chicken. I use a sugar-cure rub and marinate the chicken for one day and then I bake them at 400 degrees until they are golden brown and done. This takes 1-2 hours depending on the size of the chicken. No salt or pepper, just the sugar cure rub.
Pat's secret to perfect chicken every time.
1 whole chicken.
Remove the neck, back bones and cut the chicken in half. Rub with a sugar cure mix and place in a baggie over night. Place the chicken skin side up on a foil lined cookie sheet and place in the oven for 1-2 hours at 400 degrees. The skin crisps up and has the most wonderful flavor. Serve hot or cold. I usually like to serve it hot with salads, and fresh bread. Enjoy. Each person gets 1/4 of the chicken so it will serve 4 people.
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