Secret Behind My Perfect Chicken

I've discovered that it doesn't pay to play around with creative and varied chicken recipes. My family loves my simple baked/roasted whatever you want to call it CHICKEN.

I buy either whole chickens or already cut in serving size pieces. A few years ago I invested in good poultry shears for easy cutting. And I think it's much safer than using a sharp knife, which was my previous tool.

• Whether fresh or thawed chicken, I soak it all in tap water for an hour or so. 
• Then I pour out the water and
• pour boiling water to cover on the chicken.
• When it's cool enough to handle, I pull out whatever feather things are left by butcher/packaging people. 
• Rinse in cold water
• and place on "baking paper" to go in oven, one layer only. 
• Squeeze fresh lemon all over it, leaving the lemon on the chicken. Half a lemon per chicken.
• Sprinkle with black pepper, granulated garlic and paprika.
• Bake in very hot oven. My oven does not have any numbers left, so I don't know the temperature. Gd willing, when I get a new modern digital one, I'll be able to give details like that. At present I use the hottest the oven can get.

The heat is very important, because you want the skin to be crispy and the meat juicy. Most recipes recommend heat that's too low, and the chicken dries out.

Readiness check. Pierce with a fork and see the fat ooze out.

Store in the fridge in a covered container. Put it away when still warm. If you wait too long, the chicken will dry out. Heat in covered pan.

Yes, you read it correctly. 
NO SALT
NO ADDED OIL

I don't remember any guests adding salt to my chicken after tasting it. There's that much flavor the way I cook it.