From the point of view of food safety, you're taking a
risk if you leave it outside the refrigerator for more than
two hours. Unfortunately, bacteria grow and multiply at
temperatures between 40 degrees and 140 degrees, and they
flourish at room temperature. To avoid food borne illness,
all foods of animal origin should be kept either hotter
than 140 degrees or colder than 40 degrees. If you know
you won't be returning home directly after shopping, bring
along an insulated bag or box to keep cold foods cold until
you can get them into the refrigerator.
Do I need to rinse chicken before cooking?
Advice on this has varied over the years, including
the advice Frank gives. The latest research shows that
from a health point of view, washing is not necessary. Any
microbes that you'd wash off will be entirely destroyed by
heat when you cook the meat. It's actually far more
important to wash your hands, your cutting board, and your
utensils since they won't be sterilized by cooking.
How do I get the best flavor?
That depends on whether you're after a mild and
delicate flavor, or a strong and robust flavor. The younger
the bird, the milder the flavor. A game hen, which is five
weeks old, will have the mildest flavor of all. A broiler,
at seven weeks, will still have a quite mild and delicate
flavor; a roaster, on the other hand, is usually about five
weeks older than a broiler and it will have a much more
pronounced "chickeny" flavor. (Frank and I enjoy chicken
at all ages, but if we had to choose on flavor alone, we'd
most often go for the roasters.) For a really strong,
chickeny flavor, see if you can find fowl or spent hens or