Beans, stews, rice and bread are usually the first food items that come to mind when thinking of putting food on the table with a very tight budget. Rarely do we turn to animal meat when in a monetary funk. During that time we prolong the inevitable grocery store visit to supply food for the rest of week, and when we do make it there, we go straight for the non-perishable items on sale, avoiding produce, meats and fish. But instead you should take a step back and walk towards the poultry aisle and focus not so much on the prepackaged butchered chicken breast, but rather go towards that intimidating whole chicken. Before you completely walk away from it due to fear of how to approach it with your kitchen knife, look at the label and notice the enticing price. For less than eight dollars, you realize you can have the entire chicken at probably the same price as a quarter of it that has been conveniently skinned, de-boned, and cut.
Granted, some extra time is won by not taking home the entire chicken, but for a quite steeper price. After hosting a Peruvian dinner party at my apartment with over fifteen guests, I was forced to buy an entire chicken in order to feed everyone economically. I prepared it on the morning of the party for about ten minutes which consisted first of washing the entire chicken with lemon pieces and then went on to make the marinade. The marinade consisted of several dry spices, vinegar and olive oil. I put it away in the refrigerator for about 5 hours (can also be left overnight) while I prepared the rest of the foods. Once my guests started arriving, I preheated my oven, and twenty minutes later it was ready to start cooking. Just like that, I was on course to complete the main entree and I had barely even devoted twenty minutes to it.
If that was not the pivotal moment that I became a believer in purchasing full chickens, then it happened the next day when I realized the endless possibilities of recipes I could make with an entire rotisserie chicken. I took the leftover white meat and I used it to make an Italian chicken salad. I then took apart all the meat from the bones and used it for the filling of my aunt’s chicken croquette recipe (croquetas de pollo). Suddenly, I was all out of meat and found myself left with carcass and knew there was too much flavor in there to just throw it out and decided to make a Chicken Broth, which I could then use as the base for so many other recipes.
Life is different now that I opened myself up to making full rotisserie chickens and each time there is at least one new chicken recipe I make using its meat or broth. If I had enough creativity and energy I would even use the chicken bones to make jewelry.