• Oven: Preheat the oven to 425 °F and place a rack in the middle.
• Prep: Gather all the ingredients and equipment.
• Gizzard: Remove the gizzard bag if it is included.
  4 lb fryer chicken

Prepare the Chicken

• Spine. Using kitchen shears, remove the spine by cutting from the tail the head on both sides of the backbone, cutting through the ribs. If the ‘tail’ is available, hold that as you cut up each side. If there is extra skin towards the base of the chicken, this can be removed.

  Gently remove any bits of remaining organ on the inside. Nasty business, I know. But I was proud of myself the first time I prepared a chicken and overcame my fears. I also learned to appreciate where my food comes from and to be grateful because it once had a life too.  
• Rinse. Back to cooking! Rinse the cavity and pat it dry with paper towels.
• Flatten. Then, flip the chicken over. Lay it flat on the sheet pan. Press down on the breastbone to flatten the chicken. You may hear a crack, that's fine.
• Legs. If the chicken still needs a little help to lay flat, straighten out the legs.
• Dry. Using paper towels, pat the outside of the chicken dry.
• Wings. Cut small slits in between the abdomen and thigh. This is where you can tuck the in the wing (create little pockets), so the tips don’t burn. Or tuck the wings between the breast and thigh. In my experience, some fryers will need the pocket method, and some will hold the wing without much effort.

Prepare the filling

• Lemon. Using a zesting tool, zest the lemon. You want to get the bright yellow peel, not the white which will be bitter. So just a few swipes of one strip on the lemon from end to stem then rotate the lemon to zest the next strip until you have a ½ teaspoon.  Place zest into a bowl.
  1 large lemon (zest and pieces, see below), 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• Cut. Cut the lemon into wedges. Set wedges aside. 
• Garlic. Peel and slice the garlic clove. Then mash with you’re the flat side of your knife. To do this, put the flat side of the knife on the garlic, apply pressure as you drag the knife towards you, then repeat until the garlic is mashed. 

  Add to the zest.
  1 large garlic clove
• Herbs. Remove sage, thyme, and rosemary leaves from the woody stems. Finely chop the herbs. About 1 tablespoon combined.

  Add to the zest and garlic.
  1/4 ounce fresh thyme, 1/4 ounce fresh sage, 1/4 ounce fresh rosemary
• Mix. Mix the herbs, lemon zest, and garlic into the butter. On a cutting board, use a butter knife like a palette knife to blend the garlic into the butter like they do at that famous cold slab ice cream place.
  4 tablespoons salted butter (room temp)

Butter up the chicken

• Butter. Divide the butter mix into 4 piles to evenly fill the area under the skin on both breast and both thighs with butter.
• Stuff. Looking at the head end of the chicken, there will be an opening between the skin and breast meat. Lift the skin, and if needed, use your fingers to further break the membrane between the meat and skin. Then, push in the butter. Massage the butter and push it all over each breast side.
• Massage. The thighs will also have an opening in the skin (probably near side that is closest to the elbow of the wing). Again, use your finger to break the membrane if needed, all the way to the leg. Push the butter over the thigh and massage down into the leg.
• Lemon and Herbs. Put the lemon wedges and remaining herbs (stems and all, no prep here) under the whole chicken so that it’s laying on a bed of herbs and lemons. 
• Dry. Pat the outside of the chicken dry.
• Mix. Mix the salt, pepper, paprika and sugar.
  1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• Brush. Using your hand or pastry brush, coat the chicken with olive oil.
  2 teaspoons olive oil
• Outside. Sprinkle the salt/spice mix evenly over the chicken and rub it into the skin.

Bake the chicken

• Bake. Place the chicken in the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes. At the halfway mark, baste (spoon the dripping back over the chicken). Repeat when there are 20 minutes, then 10 minutes left.
• Check the Temp. Cooking is complete when the internal temperature is 165 °F degrees. Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Carve the chicken

• Carve. Carve the chicken by cutting off the drums and thighs. Carve along the breastbone and across the bottom to remove each breast.