I think the reason why I love to cook is because I don't have to. There are no little mouths demanding three squares a day, except for the four little furry mouths, but unless I choose to make them treats of homemade dog bones or treats of cornbread, their culinary world is limited to cans, bags, and boxes of ready-made pet food that only need to be opened and portioned into their respective bowls.  

So I collect new and vintage cookbooks and read them like the latest Stephen King, John Le Carre, or James Patterson Novel. Many of the vintage ones only get read. Any contemporary cook would need an archaic language glossary to decipher the list of ingredients and instructions. (What are boiled Spots, anyway? I've got a recipe for them in the Martha Washington cookbook.)

One of my newest cookbooks is also one of my most cherished. It the Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits Handbook of Etiquette with Recipes by Suzanne Pollak and Lee Manigault with illustrations by Tania Lee. My dear friend Dianne and her husband Mike gifted me with an amazing week on Isle of Palms near Charleston, South Carolina, near Charleston back in the early autumn. I actually purchased this book ahead of the trip in anticipation. One of the chapters in this book especially resonated with me, LEFTOVERS:  Why are we Left Over? Weren't We Just as Good as Everyone Else Last Night?  Good question.

"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for 30 years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found."

-Calvin Trillin

According to the authors, and I would agree, Leftovers are a lost art. Everyone's attention is on the recipe of origin and the word leftover has become a dirty word. The authors speculate there are no leftovers anymore because people purchase pre-made, processed food packaged in individually portioned containers and since family's are smaller and rarely do people host dinner parties anymore, gone is the habit of doubling or tripling a recipe. They suggest that instead of simply roasting a single chicken, why not roast two? Another good question. 

So today I set out to roast a couple of hens. One I will simply enjoy roasted with a large green salad with my grandmother's wonderfully delicious Cucumber Onion dressing, and the other I will make into a crepes or crepes casserole. (I can't believe I've never blogged about my grandmother's dressing recipe. I just made a huge batch and didn't take photos, but I'll do my best to get the recipe posted and linked soon. And while I'm at it, I'll blog the recipe for Creamy Chicken Crepes, too.)

The way I roast chicken is easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy, but in today's recipe I didn't have any lemons. 

Simply preheat your oven to 350* and spray your roasting with olive oil or PAM. Slice two white onions in quarter-inch wide rounds and line the bottom of the roasting pan. 

Rinse and pat dry your two hens and place them on top of the rack made by onions in the pan, breast side down. 

Melt a half stick of butter and brush on to the skin of the hens. If you want to slice a couple of lemons for each hen and add it to the cavity, you can. You can also add carrots, leeks, celery, or spices such as rosemary or sage. There really is no right way to roast a hen. For me it all depends on what's available in the pantry. 

Add a healthy sprinkling of smoked sea salt. 

Close the lid and roast in the oven for 30 minutes and then remove the lid and increase the heat to 500*.

Using a long-handled utensil, (I use this vintage fork that belonged to my mother from the 1960s) stick the utensil in the cavity of the bird and turn it over, breast side up, and roast an additional 30 minutes until the chicken reaches 165* on your instant read thermometer in the thickest part of the breast meat without touching the bone and the skin browns and crisps. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Reserve golden broth to make additional dishes.   You can chill the broth and skim off the hardened fat at the top. Reserve the fat for frying meat or seasoning veggies. 

Save the cooked onions in a separate container. They are delicious served with the chicken or in flavoring soups or pureeing and making a gravy. 

When carving the hen, I remove the skin, but save it for treats for the dogs or to flavor their morning kibble. Never, under any circumstances, feed your dogs chicken bones. They are too soft and will splinter, injuring your pets insides. 

Delicious!!

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