Buffalo Roast Chicken

WARNING: This post contains delicious flavor and may cause hunger.

So the other day I was at the store and regardless of why I’m there I peruse two areas.  The first is the bakery area, because I’ll grab some bread to make bread pudding or other pastries to eat that day or the next.

The next area is the meat section.  The reduced sales on meat can be real money savers, especially if your gonna freeze it or use it that day.  I worked in a kitchen and went to culinary school so I have some tips on looking at reduced sale meat.  Today I saw two things that caught my eye, some bulk chicken wings I took home and broke down into drummies and wingers and vacuum sealed them in packs of 10ish. Ended up with 56 wings spread through 5 packs.  The other was whole organic Chickens.

So with chicken what you look for at the store is this: What color is it?
Fresh chicken will be a good pink fleshy color and is it gets bad it grays out a bit.  If it’s a touch gray use it that day if it’s more gray than pink don’t buy it.

Once it’s home you’ve got smell and touch to work with.  Bad chicken gets a sour almost ammonia like smell, and gets super slimy and sticky.  Chicken always has a bit of a slimy feel, but if it persists after you rinse it it’s too late.

So huge win with Organic Chicken at about a buck per pound, it was over 50% off.

Came home and decided I was gonna roast it, but with a twist.  Marinating in Buffalo Sauce!

1. Rinse the chicken well inside and out and make sure any giblets are removed from the cavity.
2. Into a zip lock or vacuum seal bad it goes, over the chicken I poured about a cup of Frank’s Hot Buffalo wing sauce making sure it got inside and coated outside, and into the vacuum sealer it went.  Any wing sauce will work or you can make your own simple buffalo by combining your favorite hot sauce with butter.  Increase butter for milder, increase sauce for spicier.
3. Let marinate for at least an hour or two in the fridge
4. Preheat oven to 350
5. Put in oven safe roaster (I used my Guy Fieri Dutch oven my wife got me for Christmas, it’s amazing)
6. If you so choose, stuff the cavity with celery or onion (I always use onion) and a little butter, it helps keep things moist.
7. Into the oven for at least an hour and a half (Temp check in the thickest part of the thigh you want an internal temp there of about 175F, avoid hitting the bone for your most accurate temp)
8. Let rest for 10-15 minutes, carve and enjoy

The chicken all dressed up, ready for the oven.

I’d have taken some post game photos, but I forgot because it smelled soooooo good I had to devour.  The skin is gonna be firey, the meat juicy with a touch of heat, if you want to kick it up spoon a little of the pan juice over your chicken.  The wife had to eat hers with a side of ranch