Chicken Races

I purchased this chicken at Baron's Meats in Alameda. It is apparently a former racing chicken. What else would explain the leggy, lean style? It was the normal weight for a frying chicken, but taller, leaner and, well, racier. It was the Amanda Beard of chickens.

The package stated that this chicken was raised in a pasture with a place to roost for safety at night and a place to get out of the rain (what rain? - it's a local chicken raised this summer) but with freedom to come and go, to chase bugs in tall grass and to take dust baths, so I was happy that it led a normal chicken's life before it ended up on my plate.

I planked the chicken on a cedar shingle over hot coals after stuffing it with a chunk of onion and one of lemon. The skin darkened to this mahogany color and the meat roasted to a deep, smoky deliciousness. We simply carved and enjoyed it the first day with veggies on the side, and reveled in the lean but juicy flavor.

But that's not all I plan for this bird - I'll fashion at least two other meals from it. I'm off to the (chicken) races!