{ ROASTING POULTRY

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The problem with poultry, like many things in life, can be
boiled down to two things: breasts and the government.
For some reason, years ago, poultry breeders got it into
their heads that most people like white meat. As a result,
birds have been bred for larger and larger breasts (that stick
out farther and farther from their bodies). At the same time,
the government got it into its head that people didn’t want to
kill themselves while cooking and started to recommend
cooking poultry to the state beyond death known as
“165°F.” In this chapter, we’ll find ways to circumvent both
of these problems.

FACT: We love the taste of chicken. According to the
USDA, about nine billion chickens are consumed in the
United States each year. That’s thirty chickens a year for
every human being in the country, or approximately one
breast, one leg, one wing, and a drumstick per person per
week. That’s a whole lotta bird (but we still complain every
time some delicious creature like rabbit, snake, or alligator
just “tastes like chicken”—that’s hypocrisy for you).
For all that consumption, though, how many times a year
do you sit back during a meal and say to yourself, “Mmm-
mmm. This is a tasty chicken”? If the answer is fewer than