The Cooking Chicken Adventure

Today I was reminded of the culture that I live in and their culinary preferences. I have cooked many whole chickens while I have lived overseas, but I totally forgot what culture I was living in when I bought a whole chicken to cook. It looked like a normal chicken that many of us are use to with no head and feet, but the head and feet were tucked under. I discovered the head first and was pretty grossed out! I almost lost it while I was chopping it off and then I discovered the feet. Then it was just comical! The sad thing is that the bird was so scrawny and had such little meat that it wasn't even worth all the trouble!!


The recipe was Ina Garten's Lemon Chicken with Croutons. It is very yummy even though I don't always do the croutons.

Hear are my two questions to work around scrawny chickens with heads and feet:

1) Do any of you who live in Hong Kong or have been here for a good amount of time know where I can find a more meaty chicken? Jacob went to the store for me and he said my other option was even smaller then this one. I can work around the head and feet if I have to (I'll make sure Jacob is around next time!)

2) Or how do you think I could make this recipe with chicken breasts? Jacob suggested cutting through the breasts and sticking a lemon quarter in it and reducing the roasting time. Or would it work better to pound it and wrap it around the lemon like you would for chicken cordon blue? (Of course I would take the lemon out before serving.) Or is that not really going to work? Any ideas?