redacted
last night i roasted a whole chicken with leeks. i didnt really prep anything or prepare for it at all. i was just on my way home and decided it would be and is the one thing i wanted. i took the chicken out of the packaging and while holding it drained all of the liquid on and in it in to the sink. the sink is full of dirty dishes. they were dirty but not that dirty and now theyre not the dirty except for the chicken water i splashed all over them. while still holding the chicken i grabbed a paper towel and started dabbing the chicken all over so that it would be dry before putting it into the oven. the ideal way to roast something is to salt it very far ahead of time and uncovered in the fridge so that the outside dries out and the salt penetrates and then you are in control because you prepared ahead of time. so im holding this chicken trying to rub less raw chicken over my kitchen by only using one hand for the chicken and one hand for everything else and i get it less wet, more dry, and place it on my carbon steel pan. the oven is preheating to what it says is 425 but i dont actually know because it gets so so hot and ive never tested the temperature it actually is on the inside. i placed the chicken breast side up in my carbon steel pan and turned it on. it was maybe 7:30 pm. i added salt on top and some olive oil. i took the two very differently sized leeks i have and cut them in half and then smaller too. i washed them above the somewhat dirty and now dirtier dishes and add them into the pan with more olive oil. ive heard that if youre going to roast a whole chicken you should do this because ideally the dark meat and white meat would cook for different amount of times but you cant do that if theyre together. it also looks satisfying and feels good to do. i added large amounts of butter to the pan after it was cooking for a bit and then pepper and herbs d'provence and threw it in the oven. my pan has an extremely long handle and my oven is very small. the oven could be much bigger for the location it is in but not for door opening it sits behind. this is how most things are. as the chicken was roasting i used my various senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, etc) to adjust the temperature of the oven so that it would cook to my desired temperature and crispyness of skin. almost immediately i had to turn it down because my oven gets too hot and the leeks were sounding crazy and insane they looked (one of my senses applied) like they were going to burn soon in the future before the chicken was done (clairvoyance). i realized this wouldnt save the leeks so i made a little mixture of chicken bouillon and water and dijon and poured that into the bottom of the pan. this turned into a lovely glaze and sauce. after a while i ate this. i ate it with something else but i dont remember what. maybe it was squash. i enjoyed my sauce i enjoyed my potential squash i enjoyed my chicken and i enjoyed making it all.