Instructions: First I wash my hands - something I do a lot of when Im working with chicken. I get out a cutting board that will fit easily in my sink for washing, and I get a sharp knife. I unwrap my chicken in the sink, pull out the neck and gizzards. Im not in the mood for messing with innards today, so I just toss the gizzards in the trash. But the neck I wrap up tightly in plastic and put it in the freezer. When Ive got a bunch of them, Ill make chicken stock.

I give the bird a real quick hot-water rinse from the tap and pull off a big wad of paper towels. I pick up my chicken and pat it dry over the sink. The towels and plastic wrapper go in the garbage; the chicken goes on the cutting board.

I cut off any extra fat folds from the neck and butt; I cut off the tips of the wings. There are three joints to a wing; I just want to cut off the first two. You can use scissors if you want. The last cut I make - just to make carving easier - is to take out the wishbone. Its on the backside where the breasts come together. Feel around for it with your fingers and cut around it with the tip of a small knife. Cut all around it and then pry it out.

I put my chicken in my glass pan and rub the whole bird, up and down, in and out, with my marinade.

I wash my hands really well; put the pan with the chicken in the refrigerator and bring my cutting board to the sink; wash it well with soap and water; then wash my hands again. Rinse off, dry off, grab my book and hit the pool for an hour. The chicken is in the fridge, and Im ready to rest.

o To carve a chicken after roasting:
After 15 minutes out of the oven, its time to cut up my chicken. First I take off the leg and thighs in one piece. I pull a leg gently toward me, stretching out the skin that connects the thigh to the body. Thats where I delicately cut with my knife, just barely slashing the skin while pulling the chicken leg. It comes off with almost no effort. Theres one spot where the thigh attaches to the body that I sometimes have to wrestle with. But a little twist to the leg usually pops it right out of the joint.

I repeat this on the other side so I have two leg-thigh pieces. Now I take off each breast by running my knife along one side of the breast bone (the pointy part of the chicken), first cutting through the skin.

With my free hand I grasp the wing joint, gently tugging down while I make quick, short slashes alongside the breast bone with the tip of my very sharp knife. It almost falls right off. I repeat on the other side, so Ive got four pieces of chicken in all.

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