Kainan With Kinan: How I Bake My Chicken

I ate baked chicken for dinner tonight (it was delicious, as usual, lmao) and since I’m in the mood to write, I decided to post this. Disclaimer: my process is an amalgamation of different recipes that I’ve found all over the internetz. The end-product is tasty according me and a few others who’ve been fortunate enough to taste it, so that’s good enough for me.

This isn’t some tutorial or whatever, I don’t care for that. There are plenty of professional-looking recipe websites out there that give you proper tutorial on how to make baked chicken. Or you can check out the OG cooking Youtube channel Panlasang Pinoy to see if he has anything on there about baked chicken. This post is simply me satiating my desire to share stuff on the internet.

Ingredients:

• Whole chicken
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Spanish paprika powder
• Oregano powder
• Lemon or Lemongrass
• Fresh tamarind tree leaves

Procedure:

1. Rub the salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and oregano powder onto your chicken. I don’t have exact measurements, I just coat the dead dinosaur with the spices as liberally as I can. Just use common sense to not overdo it. Don’t forget to include the insides (the cavity) of the chicken.
2. Regarding the lemon vs. lemon grass. I’ve used both at different times. The lemon obviously gives the chicken a tangy, citrus-y zing while the lemon grass gives it a wonderful aroma. It’s really up to you what you decide to use. It’s just a matter of availability for me. We have lemon grass growing in bunches at home, so by default that’s my choice.. If I didn’t forget to buy lemons by the time I decide to make baked chicken, then it’s lemons. Regardless of your preference, just stuff those babies inside your chicken’s cavity.
3. Wash your fresh tamarind leaves and stuff them inside the chicken’s cavity alongside the lemons/lemongrass. The leaves supposedly give your chicken a nice aroma but honestly I couldn’t tell. I’ve seen stalls who sell roasted chicken use them so who I am to argue with professionals. We have a tamarind tree anyway.
4. Let your dry marinade flavor your chicken for several hours, preferably overnight.
5. Pre-heat your oven at 176.7 degress Celsius (I’m not using Fahrenheit, what do you think I am, American? lmao) then bake your chicken for about an hour and a half.
6. Take out of oven and let it cool before serving.

Gravy Sauce:

1. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in saucepan.
2. Dissolve 1 chicken or beef bouillon (which is just the fancy name of Knorr broth cubes lol) in the melted butter.
3. Pour 3 tablespoons of flour onto the mixture. To properly make the rue, pour one tablespoon first, thoroughly mix it with the butter, then add the second, mix thoroughly. Finally add the last tablespoon of flour and mix well. Make sure your heat is at low to medium.
4. Slowly pour 1 cup of water (do so in batches, the way you did with the flour) onto the pan while continuously stirring.
5. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens.
6. Add 1/8 cup of non-fat milk to make the gravy creamier. Again, do not stop stirring while you’re pouring milk.
7. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.

I usually bake chicken with a side of sweet corn or unpeeled potatoes (that’s been thoroughly washed obviously) because nothing can go wrong with corn or potatoes. NOTHING. Enjoy! Oh, and don’t forget to take photos and pretentiously post them on the internet to make your followers jealous of your winner, winner, chicken dinner.