Whole Roasted Chicken

I have been roasting whole chickens lately, for a couple reasons. To start off with, it’s nice to get a whole bird instead of parts that could have come from a few different animals. It’s less processing, and that has to be a good thing. The faster we can get it out of a slaughter house, the better. Second, leftovers are magic. I make quick chicken tacos for lunch or minced up in Quesadillas for a late night snack. Third, stock. (Is that a whole sentence?) Once you strip all the meat off, the bones go into the stock pot with some water to simmer for a few hours (it’s just that hard). Having a cache of reduced chicken stock in the freezer is like a ‘get out of jail free’ card. You have the beginnings of a rich sauce, an easy way to juice up risotto or a savory Popsicle.