Here ya go: Roasting chicken is one of those allegedly simple tasks which a lot of cooks can't do right. Here's a great recipe from Marcella Hazan's 'Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking' which is foolproof and absolutely delicious: If this were a still life its title could be "Chicken with Two Lemons." That is all that there is in it. No fat to cook with, no basting to do, no stuffing to prepare, no condiments except for salt and pepper. After you put the chicken in the oven you turn it just once. The bird, its two lemons, and the oven do all the rest. Again and again, through the years, I met people who come up to me to say, "I have made your chicken with two lemons and it is the most amazingly simple recipe, the juiciest, best-tasting chicken I have ever had." And you know, it is perfectly true. For 4 servings Ingredients # A 3- to 4-pound chicken # Salt # Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill # 2 rather small lemons Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it. Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels. 3. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity. 4. Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel. Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand. Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement. 5. Place both lemons in the birds cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string. Close it well, but dont make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin. 6. Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up. When turning it, try not to puncture the skin. If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later. Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected. 7. Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 400 degrees, and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound. There is no need to turn the chicken again. 8. Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious. Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt. Ahead-of-time note: If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven. If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.

I would have cooked it right away. Just putting it in the fridge won't stop bacteria. Not even possible for me to guess over the Internet. I go by smell if I wonder. I used to have a cat that was a perfect judge... I'd offer a suspect fridge sample and if she wouldn't eat I didn't. I wouldn't trust a dog... except if she rolled in it I'd not eat it. If you do cook it wash the heck out of it!. Make certain to get under the wings and legs. If the skin is loose pull it off and wash under it. Call me chicken paranoid but I always wash them before cooking. When storing them in the fridge I put them in plastic bags with a good shot of burbon poured over them. One of the reasons I hate freezing meat is it has to be unfrozen. Most of the time I try to defrost in the fridge so that I recycle the energy used to freeze it... fridge does not work as hard when it has a frozen chunk keeping things cool. : ) lyra

I'm sure if chicken fried steak was was cliche fare at every greasy bar/diner around here I'd have a reaction like marlingardner's. But it's not, and never having eaten chicken fried steak before last night I will say we enjoyed it very much. I used CI's recipe: Chicken Fried Steak Serves 6 Published February 1, 2005 Getting the initial oil temperature to 375 degrees is key to the success of this recipe. An instant-read thermometer with a high upper range is perfect for checking the temperature; a clip-on candy/deep-fry thermometer is also fine. If your Dutch oven measures 11 inches across (as ours does), you will need to fry the steaks in two batches. Ingredients Steak: 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 large egg 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup buttermilk 6 cube steaks , about 5 ounces each, pounded to 1/3 inch thickness 4 - 5 cups peanut oil Cream Gravy: 1 medium onion , minced 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme 2 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through a garlic press 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth 2 cups whole milk 3/4 teaspoon table salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper cayenne pepper Instructions: 1. For the steaks: Measure the flour, 5 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and cayenne into a large shallow dish. In a second large shallow dish, beat the egg, baking powder, and baking soda; stir in the buttermilk (the mixture will bubble and foam). 2. Set a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and sprinkle each side with salt and pepper to taste. Drop the steaks into the flour and shake the pan to coat. Shake excess flour from each steak, then, using tongs, dip the steaks into the egg mixture, turning to coat well and allowing the excess to drip off. Coat the steaks with flour again, shake off the excess, and place them on the wire rack. 3. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position, set a second wire rack over a second rimmed baking sheet, and place the sheet on the oven rack; heat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a large plate with a double layer of paper towels. Meanwhile, heat 1 inch of oil in a large (11-inch diameter) Dutch oven over medium-high heat to 375 degrees. Place three steaks in the oil and fry, turning once, until deep golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes (oil temperature will drop to around 335 degrees). Transfer the steaks to the paper towel-lined plate to drain, then transfer them to the wire rack in the oven. Bring the oil back to 375 degrees and repeat the cooking and draining process (use fresh paper towels) with the three remaining steaks. 4. For the gravy: Carefully pour the hot oil through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot. Return the browned bits from the strainer along with 2 tablespoons of frying oil back to the Dutch oven. Turn the heat to medium, add the onion and thyme, and cook until the onion has softened and is beginning to brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the flour to the pan and stir until well combined and starting to dissolve, about 1 minute. Whisk in the broth, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Whisk in the milk, salt, pepper, and cayenne; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook until thickened (gravy should have a loose consistencyit will thicken as it cools), about 5 minutes. 5. Transfer the chicken-fried steaks to individual plates. Spoon a generous amount of gravy over each steak. Serve immediately, placing any remaining gravy in a small bowl.

Grainlady - thank you. That link is wonderful. Just full of good guidelines. Nancy - that's good to know about running cold water through the chicken. With fish, I put it in a bowl of ice water - and that defrosts it within a couple of hours, but I hadn't thought of a way to apply water to chicken - thanks. Sometimes I defrost in the microwave if I'm going to use it right away - like steaks or chicken breasts. But I didn't think I should do that with a whole chicken. Also, sometimes with chicken breasts, I plan to marinate overnight - in which case I think it's a no-no to defrost in the microwave (which would partially cook it) and then marinate. Are their some soups you wouldn't microwave? The one I have is potato-fennel - and I thought I recalled something about the texture being effected by either freezing or microwaving. Thanks. Lynn. Lynn.