I think it's the opposite--if the juices are clear then it's definitely cooked, but that doesn't exclude pinkish and cooked. I too have had pinkish where by all measurements the bird was fully cooked. But pinkish isn't the same as bloody, either. At 165" F by a probe, the bird also may not be fully cooked in all places, but the pathogens should be dead.

For a chicken's interior to reach 165F, 1/2 of the chicken near the skin will be "boiled" at 212F.. Try spactchcock the chicken for much better result.

Or if you use sous vide, you can cook chicken at much lower temperature without the need for a thermometer and be 100% sure of food safety and 100% tender chciken.

dcarch

I do usually butterfly my whole chickens. I prefer them at 180" F.

That's interesting about acidity causing pinkness, because I often bake chicken breasts with lemon or lime juice and I've wondered why they stay a bit pink on the inside, even though they are most certainly cooked through.

IMO, 'clear' does not necessarily mean 'not pink', it means 'clear'. Try piercing undercooked poultry and the juices will be pink but they are also not clear, they're cloudy, IMPE.

I do the spatchcocked thing, leaving the backbone on. I find an average sized fryer cooks in about 55 minutes to 1 hour in my 400F electric oven. When the tendons start to break from the end of the drumsticks, I know it's done for sure.

I know it's all in my head but when I see pink juices regardless of whether it's cooked or not I am kind of revolted by it. I totally understand the science but my reaction is very primitive.

Also regarding spatchcocking, I got this in my email the other day which made me chuckle.

This is why I hate spatchcocking

Get a pair of poultry shears.....or at least a cleaver.... Lay the bird on a plastic cutting mat breast down and cut down both sides of "the part that went over the fence last". But the back in a freezer bag for stock. Turn the bird over lay on the mat and press down on the breast until it cracks....poof! Spatchcocked. and put the cutting mat into the dishwasher. You can very easily portion out the cooked bird....but I can't imagine a 3 1/2 pound chicken cooked for an hour at 400. The white meat must be dry as dust. I usually allow 25 to 35 minutes in the oven for a flattened bird>
years ago a local grocery sold small 1 3/4 to 2 pound chickens....very cheaply!...seems I remember $.89. And one would feed out 2 toddler family very nicely. I flattened and roasted more of those little birds than I can tell....usually took about 20 to 30 minutes at 425.

I have done it before and my DH does it all the time for the grill, but I truly have a phobia about getting stabbed by those thin little raw back bones. Ack!

I'm just paranoid about under-cooked poultry. Also pork and seafood. No ceviche or sashimi for me!!! I watch these cooking shows where they serve certain meats that back in the day they said had to be well done and they are serving them medium - like pork for instance. I watched a "chopped" show just this past weekend where they derided the chef for not serving the pork underdone - yeck! I'm probably just an old f$%# but in my world pork is done DONE. And they always serve duck, tuna and lamb underdone. I don't know about lamb because we rarely eat it but I wouldn't eat duck in a restaurant or tuna, for that manner. The only meat I want underdone is beef steak. I don't even want hamburgers to be underdone. Too many surfaces that could be contaminated mixed all up together. The only way I would want an underdone hamburger is if it was freshly ground in front of my face and I'd still be nervous about it.

Prosciutto is raw pork.

Smoked salmon is raw fish

dcarch

Any raw Japanese fish you find for general distribution to the public raw or "cooked" with acid has been previously frozen to get rid of the parasites, etc. That's also what keeps it what we might call fresh, as in not degraded or beginning to rot, but by the food regulations "fresh" means never frozen, even if it's decomposing in front of your face. In general, however, I too want my meat cooked. Poultry for obvious reasons, but I also dislike it when it's gushy soft. Same with red meat, and I also don't like the flavor of rare meat.

When I make a roast chicken, I cut it just the way Linda described, but technically, to be "spatchcocked" the sternum is removed. The Epicurious guy is being silly, of course, but his thesis of just buy parts is specious. Chicken parts aren't as nice, in my opinion as whole, and even if I break it down myself just before cooking, they lose something. It's not a big deal, and for many recipes I buy parts or have the butcher cut up my bird so I don't have to bother, but a roast chicken cooked whole or butterflied is moister, and has crisper skin, and over all tastes better. I'm guessing having the skin intact is the issue. It keeps in the moisture and bathes the flesh with the fat that renders off of it as the bird cooks.

I haven't noticed enough difference between butterflied and rack roasted whole to say they aren't equal. I prefer either of those to rotisserie. You get the "self-basting" hoohah with butterflied, as well as the equal exposure to heat, and close enough with either a v-rack or vertical as make no nevermind. It occurs to me now that the big problem with rotisserie in my oven--I kept wondering why my impression is that the chicken is dryer--is that the skin gets poked by the cleats that hold it in place. If the juices are running out of those holes, that would explain it. I'd think it might also be an issue at the cut edges of the butterflied chicken, but, cooked flat at least, it doesn't seem to make a difference.

One thing is important though--no matter how you cook a chicken, you have a big problem if there are no juices to run, clear or otherwise.

As I said, I don't bother to remove the backbone, and just cut down one side, then open out and flatten, so maybe what I do is not technically spatchcocking. Anyway, the best thing about roasting a whole chicken flattened like that is it's crispy & browned all over - no soggy skin on the bottom.

My favorite way to cook chicken is to debone it (watch Jacque Pepin videos on Youtube), sprinkle all over with salt, pepper, herbs, dry rub or whatever, place skin side down on the grill, grill until almost done, then flip to grill another ten minutes flesh side down. The chicken is flat so it cooks evenly, the skin browns and retains the juices, then the final bit gives the flesh some color, and you can portion it with scissors. People like the fact that it looks whole but is conveniently boneless. This method has never failed!

I part out my chickens sometimes....nicer than when done by most butchers who just whack whack with a cleaver and splinter some of the bones....but I have never boned out a whole bird.....some day....
Pork no longer is in danger of harboring trichinina.....and is much much leaner than in the past. So slightly pinkish pork is really a much better way to cook it...so it doesn't dry out. I want my steak very rare and my lamb the same way....but don't like rare tuna nor duck, but gladly gobble up gravelox and pickled herring.....and I like a rare burger when I know the source!

I remember that bit of information, and it was my go-to test, especially when grilling chicken. I now test the internal temp, it's much more reliable, though watching the "not-clear" juices run out around the thermometer can be a bit startling, even if the temp is above 165°

Til The Juices Run Clear

Jerzeegirl, when will your book be available in bookstores? I hope you’ll sign my copy. (Is it a romance, thriller, murder mystery or a book on the natural history of biting insects?)

lol. That's hysterical and it's true. I can't believe you caught it. I have been watching episodes of Inspector Lewis which take place at Oxford and every episode has some kind of cultural / Shakepearean / poetic / musical reference. It has been spilling over into my vocabulary!