I thought I was being so smart and organized, but oh ye of little thought…

A couple weeks ago I bought two chickens at Costco, because that’s how whole chickens come there and I wanted at least one to roast and make homemade stock. Turns out I got so sick with a cold I couldn’t cook for days. I had to throw the chicken away

Fast-forward to this week, I again go to Costco so I buy the two whole chickens again, realize I didn’t get organic last time, about fainted at the price for two organic chickens, $30!, but bought them anyway. I planned to roast them today.

So this really smart-alec, think you’re organized, gonna food saver a bunch of individual packages of chicken for the freezer girl, goes to roast them, and realizes her roasting pan isn’t big enough for two birds. You see I have a fancy roasting pan that was way up in the covered buried and never used cupboard from 1985 because when I did Thanksgiving, I had a huge 30 pound turkey. i have/used a commercial restaurant roasting pan that’s ginormous, but I thought that roasting pan up in the cupboard was bigger than the one I used for just individual chickens (that technically may not even be a roasting pan). So I haul out that fancy roasting pan and find out it’s only like 12 x 16. And I thought, ugh. That seems small. The only person on the web that said what size pan it should be for two birds was Martha, 12x18. I can’t find any roasting pan that size besides all clad for $300 (on sale). My ginormous roasting pan absolutely dwarfs two birds, it’s 18 x 24, it just barely fits inside of my wall oven. So much for being smarty pants organized and frugal.

> side note: why are so many roasting pans nonstick? Who would want to miss deglazing that?

So, I’m hoping two side by side pans will work. I can’t believe pan size didn’t even occur to me. I thought oh I have that fancy one, and the big one, even moms old oval one, then didn’t give roasting pan a second thought.

Silly me.

This is what I get for trying to shop at Costco.

PS
After more research, I’m going to try my “fancy” roaster after reading all the cuisinart reviews (it was #1 atk and food and wine). It’s 16” and reviewers say 2 chicken fit ok. I was thinking they’d be too close to cook properly, but I’ll experiment. Mine is calphalon ss, looks almost identical and is marked 16 1/2”, and…it’s already in my kitchen.

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Good Luck!!! Let us know

ummm....couldn't you just roast one chicken first, and then the other? I think your fear--of roasting both jammed in there may result in steaming because they are too close--is valid.

PS: Glad you're finally feeling better enough to cook. Chicken soup for the soul!

(putting lined gloves on so I can deep-dive into my freezer here and figure out what I have, since it's getting hot and I want to put the ice maker tray back in there.)

marilynfl said:

ummm....couldn't you just roast one chicken first, and then the other? I think your fear--of roasting both jammed in there may result in steaming because they are too close--is valid.

PS: Glad you're finally feeling better enough to cook. Chicken soup for the soul!

(putting lined gloves on so I can deep-dive into my freezer here and figure out what I have, since it's getting hot and I want to put the ice maker tray back in there.)

Click to expand...

Oh I could, but that would defeat the kill two birds with one turning on of the oven, save electricity idea. I still might use two pans, depending on how tight they look in the one pan. However, that leaves me deglazing two pans, which isn’t a big deal, but I was trying to streamline the whole operation. Oddly my biggest goal isn’t the chicken meat themselves, but the stock I’m going to make from them and the pan juices.

mariadnoca said:

Oh I could, but that would defeat the kill two birds with one turning on of the oven, save electricity idea. I still might use two pans, depending on how tight they look in the one pan. However, that leaves me deglazing two pans, which isn’t a big deal, but I was trying to streamline the whole operation. Oddly my biggest goal isn’t the chicken meat themselves, but the stock I’m going to make from them and the pan juices.

Click to expand...

And you could always do two pans one on the top shelf and one on the bottom shelf on opposite sides of the oven so that it allows for good air circulation.

Well, I’m living dangerousl…they’re in. I’m scared about how close they are. If anyone reads this now, do you think I should try and switch them around in the pan halfway through?

absolutely

or get those carrots into smaller pieces so they don't cause jamming as well. Or put them across the sides of the pan where they are not contacting the chickies

or turn them upside down partway through. I still sometimes consider the idea of starting to roast a chicken on its breast to start

Marg CDN said:

absolutely

or get those carrots into smaller pieces so they don't cause jamming as well. Or put them across the sides of the pan where they are not contacting the chickies

or turn them upside down partway through. I still sometimes consider the idea of starting to roast a chicken on its breast to start

Click to expand...

Done! Was looking quite good at the hour mark, but I made them switch sides and rearranged the carrots. Thank you!

Success! The lemons are a bit dark, but the meat took a bit longer than normal. Ended up sticking it back in for a few more minutes after both my battery thermometers died. mom’s trusty 1965 one did the trick, but I had to use a magnifying glass to read it, lol.

pretty!