Bon Appetit Throwdown: Round 9

You know I'm not a big fan of chicken...especially whole chicken...especially two whole chickens.  However, I do like a challenge so I psyched myself up and thawed out the two Hutterite chickens that The Big Guy had so thoughtfully put in the freezer when he saw the Bon Appetit October cover.

Ewww, that's just sick and wrong!

All was going well until I took them out of the package and I saw that Hutterite chickens have the LONGEST necks of any chickens in the world.  Raw chicken triggers my gag reflex, like only cat shit can, and raw chicken with freakishly long necks sends me running for the toilet. I left them in the sink to gross me out until Big came home and cut that nasty thing off.

With the dirty work out of the way I made the rub and stuffed some thyme down their throats. Apparently Hutterite chickens also have unusually small butts and I couldn't go in from the rear so I put the thyme in the other end. I gotta admit, they did clean up pretty well and when I sent them to the refrigerator for the night they looked almost like something I would possibly be tempted to eat.

 

I followed the recipe to the letter and when I pulled them out of the oven at the designated time they were brown, really brown on top...and white, really white on the bottom and nowhere near done.  Even though BA didn't mention it, I flipped them over and gave them another 20-30 minutes so they could finish cooking. I also pulled the potatoes out of the pan and put them on a baking sheet of their own because they were not browned either.  

Our official taste testers, the Buttertons, were over and thankfully Karen had made the Butternut Squash Tart which was from the same issue. It was awesome! We noshed on that while we waited for the chickens to finish cooking.

The Lowdown on the Throwdown:

In a word....Yuck! There was not a lot of flavor in this dish. The chickens were moist, although basically bland. What flavor there was was on the skin, but that only amounted to a small fraction when you compare it to all the meat that came with it.  
     The good news: The tart was wonderful and I will make it again. That, and I have a stray cat who is going to be a very happy stray cat because he or she will be eating A LOT of leftover chicken for the next few days. If you want the recipe and I don't know why you would, you can find it here. 

                                                          

Enough with the birds Bon Appetit!