Remove everything from the inside of the chicken before cooking.
A fresh chicken that you purchase at the grocery store often has giblets and a neck inside its body. Some cooks use the neck and giblets as part of a chicken stock or gravy. The giblets are also sometimes used in stuffing for the chicken because of the flavor that they add. Many cooks choose to simply get rid of the neck and giblets and work with the chicken without the additional parts. Whichever choice you use, you do need to remove these parts before cooking the chicken. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Wash your hands before handling raw chicken and then dry your hands well. Place a cutting board on your counter so that the chicken does not contaminate the counter. Remove the packaging material from the chicken and throw it away.
2. Examine the chicken and turn it so that the legs are facing you. The largest hole on the chicken will also be facing you.
3. Place one hand on top of the raw chicken to keep the chicken from moving around.
4. Reach into the chicken with your other hand and feel for a bag that has some raw chicken in it.
5. Pull the bag out of the chicken and set it aside on the cutting board. Place your hand into the chicken one more time and check to make sure you have removed everything from the center of the chicken's body.
Tags: before cooking, cutting board, everything from, into chicken, neck giblets, your hands