I normally prepare chicken a sort of old fashioned kind of way and my dogs usually wait by the oven anticipating their favorite moist flavorful forking chicken ever.

I pack a pan or two or more with quartered oranges, apples, onions, some celery, carrots and lots of cloves of garlic and sometimes herbs.

Had a bunch of leg quarters and I first season them on the undersides with kosher salt, granulated garlic, black pepper and paprika. Then I turn them over and do the same to the skin side up part.

Then I apply a light spray of canola or olive oil to hold the spices on.

The oven is set at 350 degrees and I cover the pan (or pans) with foil.

I don’t know if your oven works the same as mine but I find the time in the oven varies depending on and especially on how many pans I have in the oven. With all the fruit and vegetables in the pan I find that the chicken usually will take anywhere from 2-4 1/2 hours this way. If I have one pan usually 2-2 1/2. If I have two pans usually 2 1/2- 3 hours.

Not always but when I see this face and a pool of slobber on the floor the chicken is usually done.

I find the chicken always comes out moist, succulent, and very flavorful this way but the skin is sacrificed. All the goodness from the skin and surrounding chicken stuff just melts into the chicken. I also don’t use the liquid or fat from this kind of batch because it is too salty. I don’t use anything from the pan except for the pulled chicken.

I find it’s better NOT TO USE A THERMOMETER. You need to use your eyes and nose to smell the chicken. (or my dog’s nose)

The leg isn’t done until it’s fall apart tender and the skin starts melting off the bone.

You don’t want that hard connective tissues between the leg and thigh. You want most of that stuff to melt so you can easily separate the leg from the thigh. If you think you don’t like dark meat chicken…you are wrong, you just never had it cooked all the way.

 

Take the chicken out of the pans. Some legs will just fall off the thigh. Let the chicken rest a while till it cool enough to handle, about an hour.

Remove and discard the skin, pull of the meat, portion and freeze the extras.

The meat is so moist I find you can freeze it and reheat it and it’s still moister and more flavorful than most chicken you will eat out anywhere.

If your Dog(s) isn’t waiting by the oven for your chicken, something is wrong with your chicken.