Delicious & Easy 10 Step “German Chicken”

This is not the first time I have endeavored to roast a chicken in this space.

While I am the usual cook in the family, there are certain things I prefer my husband to do. Make the pie crust. Scale a fish. Cook the pancakes. Roast a chicken.

I bought a good chicken — kosher (ie, brined) AND it had had a chance to run around before it was murdered — so I was pretty pleased with myself.

What would I do with it? Hmm. Stuff it with lemons and only lemons. Cover part with foil. Cast iron pan and salt. Everyone has a plan, don’t they? And I always end up with a chicken that I am relatively and yet not totally happy with.

I looked to the Internet and found a recipe that sounded sort of gross, but it had 5 stars after about two billion people had voted. The people had spoken, and the people were telling me to consider this chicken, and so I did.

The differences between this chicken recipe, touted as “German,” and other chicken recipes, were interesting.

The most notable was that it was cooked with margarine rather than butter. That was absolutely not going to fly in my house, but what if I made that modification, and just subbed in butter? (The idea of subbing in butter for margarine is, of course, hilarious, since margarine is a [horrible, lamentable, etc.] butter substitute.)

The weird recipe also called for onion powder, which I am categorically opposed to, because instead of tasting like onions, it tastes like powder.

But perhaps the most eye-catching difference is that the butter (margarine?) was not just to go around the chicken, but actually *into* the cavity. Moist? I’ll say.

And when the chicken came out, it was to rest not for 10 or 15 minutes, but for 30.

The other parts were sort of normal. Stuff some celery in there; use salt and pepper. It looked easy enough that I figured I’d give it a try.

I did; it is now our delicious, delicious go-to chicken.

Ingredients

1 3 lb chicken

salt and pepper

1 or 2 stalks celery

1/2 cup butter (1 standard stick)

Procedure

1. Preheat over to 350.

2. Season the chicken in and out with salt and pepper. (I use garlic salt, which I also don’t approve of, but which I own because I bought it once for a recipe.)

3. Put 3T of the butter into the cavity of the bird.

4. Cut celery stalks into thirds. Put as many comfortably will fit into the cavity into the cavity.

5. Slice the rest of the butter and dollop it onto the chicken.

6. Bake uncovered in a roasting pan for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

7. Remove from heat, and baste with butter and drippings.

8. Loosely tent with foil and allow to rest about 30 minutes before serving.

9. Carve and serve.

10. Receive amazed and happy compliments from other chicken eaters in the family.