serves four, plus leftovers 
Everyone needs a tried-and-true lazy supper option, and this is mine. It’s a hands-free meal on the day we eat it and comes with a built-in meal plan for the rest of the week too. After I serve the bird for supper, every leftover scrap of meat is pulled from the bones to make Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup or Chicken Poblano Chowder the following day, and the bones and drippings go right back into the pot with onions and garlic to make jars of rich, nourishing stock (here) for soups or stews later in the week. A whole chicken gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 medium potatoes, quartered
1 large onion, cut into chunks
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the garlic, herbs, and salt in a small bowl.
Rinse the chicken under cool water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Coat the chicken thoroughly with the olive oil, then rub the herb mixture over the whole chicken, inside and out.
Place the potatoes and onion in the bottom of a Dutch oven and lay the chicken on top, breast-side down. Cover and roast for 45 minutes, then increase the temperature to 400°F, remove the lid, and roast for 20 minutes more. Flip the chicken breast-side up and roast until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165°F, about 30 minutes more.
kitchen notes • If you’re heading out for the day, use your slow cooker to cook the chicken instead of roasting it. Follow the instructions above, placing the onion and potatoes in a slow cooker instead of in a Dutch oven. Lay the seasoned chicken on top, cover, and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours. To crisp the skin, place the cooked chicken on a broiler pan and broil about 12 inches from the heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the skin is brown and crisp.
cooking an old hen (or rooster)
If you keep chickens for any period of time, you’ll inevitably be faced with the task of culling the flock. There will be hens that no longer lay, mean roosters that cause you to fear for your life every time you open the coop, and those extra roosters that you were hoping were hens when you purchased them from the feed store. Whatever the reason, eventually you’ll end up with nonproductive or counterproductive chickens that continue to eat food and cost you money. And they’ve gotta go.
I’ve heard of folks sending older chickens to chicken sanctuaries, but I prefer to take care of extra birds the old-fashioned way—the stockpot.
The stewing hen is a bit of culinary resourcefulness that has been pushed aside over the years. Most folks are accustomed to the broilers you buy at the store—they’re young, tender, and perfect for roasting or frying. Stewing hens aren’t exactly young or tender, but they have a tastiness all their own. In fact, older hens tend to be even more flavorful than younger birds—the trick is aging and cooking them properly.
After butchering an older hen or rooster, avoid cooking it right away. Instead, place it in the refrigerator, loosely covered with waxed paper, for 4 to 6 days. Similar to the process of aging beef, this allows the muscle fibers to relax and produces a much more tender result.
With older chickens, roasting is out and long, slow cooking is in. Place the whole chicken in a stockpot and cover it with water. Season it with salt, pepper, an onion, several cloves of garlic, bay leaves, and your choice of herbs. (Exact amounts aren’t super important, but if you’d like more specific measurements, use the homemade stock here as a guide.) Simmer for at least 6 hours or up to 12 hours, or until the meat is tender. Remove the bird from the pot and strain the stock for use in other recipes. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones and use it in soups and stews. The leftover bones can be simmered again with fresh water and herbs for another batch of nutrient-rich stock. And that is how the stewing hen just keeps giving and giving.