At some point during my Junior or Senior year of college I decided it was imperative that I learn how to dismember a raw chicken. I think Alton Brown gave me the idea and the magic of YouTube gave me the skills. For several weekends in a row I would set up the laptop in the kitchen and practice breaking whole chickens down into 9 distinct pieces-- wings, drumsticks, thighs, breasts and leftover carcasses. The carcasses piled up in the freezer to be turned into broth ("When I get 5, Val makes me throw them away") and, while many of my classmates were busy frying their brains like eggs in a cast iron skillet, I was busy making southern fried chicken (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/fried-chicken-recipe/index.html) and buttermilk biscuit topped pot pies. There were many failures and a few successes, and I still owe a lot to Christy and Kelly for the number of mistakes they willing to eat.
While I can still dismantle a chicken quicker than most men can change a tire, I've also learned to appreciate that it's even easier not to bother. Several weeks ago I acquired a crock-pot large enough to hold surgically intact bird, and since then I've fallen in love with a new technique.
1. Cover chicken in herbs and spices.
2. Marinate in the fridge overnight. Or not.
3. Slice whole onion. Put onion on bottom of crock pot.
4. Put chicken in crock pot.
5. Put crock pot on high. Cook until it splits in half.
6. Eat
For people hell bent on specifics, here they are:
http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-whole-chicken-33671
For the record, you could probably substitute a whole chicken with a pack of pre-cut chicken pieces.
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