Ah, witness the poor, cold, featherless chicken, jaundiced and naked, sitting on a platter.

You've rinsed it and removed the giblets and any big pockets of fat and are now deciding what next.

What next indeed.

You have so many choices as to how you can cook this chicken and turn it into a delicious dinner.

There is no best way to roast a chicken. I've just read all 26 articles under this title and all 26 recipes sound marvelous to me.

What you should ask yourself is how much prep work do I want to put into this meal and what flavors or cuisine am I yearning for?

Do you feel like a light, rice side dish or a pile of buttery mashed potatoes?

Do you want to cook it with stuffing or without? Do you want to oven roast it, or roast it in a big Dutch oven, or maybe even inside a hot grill?

When you answer these questions, you will find out what's the best way to cook the chicken you have sitting on your kitchen counter.

Some days I want the whole enchilada so to speak. I stuff the chicken and make a gravy, mashed potatoes and peas and carrots. I want that mini Thanksgiving dinner feeling so I pop open cranberry sauce and invite a friend or two for dinner.

Other times I want a quick dinner and the lovely, tender chicken meat for other recipes. When that's the case I make a raft of celery and carrot sticks and place my chicken on the raft.

I fill the cavity with aromatic herbs like rosemary or thyme, cut a lemon in two and stuff that in the cavity. I never tire of the taste of garlic so I'm sure to put a few garlic cloves in the pan and maybe cut up an onion if I'm so inclined. I like to baste chicken with dry vermouth, but I'll use beer too if no dry vermouth is available.

I don't think you can mess up a roast chicken. It pretty much tells you when it's done: the juices in the pan are sticky and dark, the skin is browned and crisp and the meat juices run clear if you poke the leg with a knife.

Or just jiggle the leg and it should practically fall off the bird when it's cooked well.

One day I took a slew of tiny, red bliss potatoes and stuffed the cavity with these little gems. Of course I jammed in about 5 whole, garlic cloves too.

As the chicken cooked, the juices basted the potatoes and turned them into heaven. No kidding, best potatoes I ever ate.

Feeling both lazy and adventurous at the same time, I threw 2-3 cups of fresh snow peas into the pan juices and let them cook for about 8 minutes. As good as the potatoes were, the snow peas might have been a tad better: crisp and fresh and bathed in the glorious chicken juices. Just wonderful.

Whatever recipe you use to roast your chicken - just make sure you fill that cavity up with something!

You can stuff your chicken with fruits or nuts or dressing or rice or veggies - whatever you are in the mood for and the chicken will cook better, and have more flavor.

Also, basting with wine or beer is helpful to form a crusty crispy skin which holds in the juices.

So, put some of your favorite ingredients in and on that naked, chicken and throw it in the oven. Or try any one of the recipes or ideas mentioned under this title and you will have a most delectable chicken dinner in no time at all.

Learn more about this author, Tierney O'Hara.
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