Gail’s PSYCHO CHICKEN

Back when we lived in Japan, before blogs (or rather, before I found them), I hung out on the Cooking Light bulletin board. This was posted by 'Gail' and became such a huge hit ... Cooking Light published the recipe. It is still one of our fav's.

This year we decided that while we both like turkey okay, we both prefer a nice roasted chicken. So instead, I am making two chickens and four extra drumsticks (a certain hubby loves him some drumsticks!). We plan on having tons of leftovers, one of Jeff's favorite meals ... leftovers!

Gail’s PSYCHO CHICKEN – CL BB

Whole chicken (a small one-- what are they, like 3½ pounds?)
Approx 1½ teaspoon dried thyme
Approx 1 tablespoon garlic, pressed
Approx 1 tablespoon cider or malt vinegar
Dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc works well)
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 325°. Clean chicken and remove giblets.
Hack chicken all over with the tip of a sharp chef's knife to make gashes. (Invariably I find the music to the shower scene in Psycho running through my mind, thus the name, Psycho Chicken-- and lest you think I am thoroughly deranged, this manner of slash and season is actually very common in Cuban cooking.)

In a small bowl, mix together thyme, garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar, and slather liberally on chicken, taking care that mixture gets into slits in the meat. Place chicken on rack in roasting pan (if you don't have a rack, no biggie-- throw the thing directly into the pan) and roast about 2 hours until golden and fragrant, basting every twenty or thirty minutes with a splash of wine and any juices in the pan. Your house will smell wonderful.

Now this is the crucial part, which will make or break the entire dish: If this is cooked properly, your chicken should be running with wonderful juices as you carve. Dredge each slice of carved meat in those juices before placing on platter-- the juices are loaded with garlic and herb flavor.

This was a seat-of-the-pants kind of recipe on my part where you throw in a little of this, a little of that, splash wine on it and cook it till the juices run clear. After doing it a couple of times, I gathered it took two hours, so that's what I wrote. Obviously, if the chicken is bigger or if someone's oven runs hot or cold, the cooking time is going to vary. Rest assured Anthony
Perkins will not be showing up on your doorstep with a butcher knife if you don't adhere exactly to what I wrote.

As to the hacking... well, how was your day? Need a little stress reliever? There's your chicken. And if you REALLY want to hack it the way I do, here's how: Glance around furtively to make sure no one is watching, hear the music from the shower scene in your head, cut loose and ham it up. You've done it enough when you start feeling really silly. Or when your husband walks in and starts laughing hysterically.

PUH-leeze don't worry about this chicken. (Other than the convection oven part, maybe) It is an extraordinarily forgiving recipe. Now get out there and hack!

I am going to post all the recipes here that I am using this year.
*Thanksgiving 2007*