Mise en Place for a Lemon Roast Chicken

One of the things that grosses me out when cooking a whole chicken is needing to touch things that remain on the counter or cupboard - spice jars, pepper mills and oil containers - with dirty, poultry hands. To prevent having to wipe/sanitize everything down after I’m done prepping, I mise en place (French for 'put in place') like crazy, thinking through all the things I’ll need for prepping and trussing my chicken.

1. Olive oil: Wrap the bottle with a paper towel and secure it with a rubber band to keep the bottle clear of wet chicken juice hands
2. Paper towels: grab a few to dry off and soak up and chicken juices that accumulate on your board
3. Toothpicks/twine: Pre-cut 18-inches of kitchen twine or have a small number of toothpicks on your cutting board
4. Herbs: Grab however much you’ll need and give it a good rinse
5. Salt and pepper: Pre-grind the pepper and dose out the salt onto a small dish. Shake it up to mix
6. Lemon: Rinsed and cut in half or quarters, ready to be stuffed inside the bird
7. Bonus round item: One disposable plastic glove. I’ll often just glove my left hand (I’m right-handed) to handle the chicken leaving my right hand clean to sprinkle, stuff and pinch the ingredients

Plopped onto a baking pan, all you have to do is wait for the sucker to come out of the oven. Easy peasy.