So i want a rotisserie chicken for christmas dinner. Whats the best recommendations ?
All i can think of is costco or that 21century chicken place.
I have not tried either of them. I would guess costco is probably better but i have no idea. Do they need to be pre ordered? (I’d imagine a ton of people have the same idea on christmas day)
Whats my best bet?
Do you have a LOPIA near you? We got a rotisserie chicken there for Thanksgiving (really sucks there’s no turkey options in Kaohsiung), and it was decent. Well roasted, chicken was fresh, my only complaint was it really wasn’t seasoned. Don’t know how it’d compare to COSTCO.
Roast Turkey - cooked for you
Frozen Turkey - cook it yourself
You have a couple of weeks to go so you could sample them first, they also have them at carrefour but I would say 21century is the nicest of these 3.
I’d be inclined to avoid Costco, personally. I know some people do that as a lazy option, but the rotisserie chicken there is nothing special IMO — kind of a step up from the hot dogs, but that’s it. It’s a Thursday-evening-when-I’ve-just-got-back-from-Costco-and-don’t-want-to-cook meal, not a Christmas Day meal.
The other main thing for me is that for a Christmas dinner (or even regular Sunday dinner) I’d want other stuff in addition to the chicken, like roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, and gravy, at which point I’d need to cook anyway and wouldn’t want to trek to Costco in the middle. So I may as well just roast a chicken too.
And if I can’t be bothered doing that or don’t have an oven to cook myself, I’d prefer to just go somewhere reasonably nice for dinner, even if it’s not a traditional Christmas dinner. The idea of eating a pre-made Costco chicken on Christmas Day just sounds a bit too depressing to me, like something I’d need to wash down with half a bottle of Kirkland vodka lol. 
I’ve tried to roast chicken myself, and I can’t do it better than Costco can. Costco’s chicken is moist and flavorful. When I roast chicken, it’s either undercooked, or it’s dry and or burnt.
What’s the secret? Is it equipment?
@keoni I don’t fancy doing a turkey or anything traditional.
@Shaun008 So the 21st century ones are good then? I’ve never had a costco one, i imagined it would be good but the super low price is a bit sus.
@Andrew Never had one, i just imagined it would be decent for some reason.
Yea I can’t be bothered to cook a chicken. Tried it once, had the head and feet still on it and it was a small shriveled up little thing. More of a pigeon. Too much work. I’m planning to cook some other stuff though, I have grand visions of pulled pork and steak. All the meats!
Yeah, I used an oven. What did you use? Hairdryer? TIG welder? Plasma cutter?
Jokes aside, you’d have to watch some videos if you’re actually going to attempt this and want tips. I’ve made roast chicken quite a few times in my life but it must have been a year or two now since the last time, and I don’t have any definitive “secrets” to disclose I’m afraid.
Covered in foil for the first part of cooking, basting during cooking, and lemon juice, salt, and pepper on the skin toward the end, the usual stuff. In your case, you might prefer to just stick with Costco chicken though. It’s definitely going to be cheaper, plus healthier/better than the fast food alternatives you often talk about.
Out in the countryside there is a lof of these Taiwanese style roast chicken restaurants. We’ll often buy one for takeaway, buy a stack of sliced white bread, some lettuce and mayo to make endless chicken sarnies, yum.
You need an oven. Helps to have a pan with a rack, and a thermometer. Use Google for tricks on a moist bird. Lemons, can of beer, basting…
I did it in Canada when I had a decent sized kitchen and a proper oven. More often a turkey than a chicken. A couple times a year (just after holidays) they were super cheap, as a student I kinda had more time than money. And it was fun.
But with my kitchen setup in Taiwan, even making a pidgeon with a couple of sides would be a pain in the ass.
Last year i had a Carrefour chicken as a last minute dinner after work, it was fine
I tried buying one of those a couple of years ago and wasn’t too impressed, i was expecting something amazing like beijing duck. I don’t like the head and feet still being attached either. And the sauce dip …white pepper. Not amazing.
But yea its an option.
@TT looks decent, i didn’t know they sold them
Just FYI, you still get the head at Costco too. Also not a fan. 
Tips (should also work for chicken)
The head adds so much good flavor for stock. I’d be so mad if I was missing out on free flavor.
I agree on getting 甕仔雞 instead of a Costco chicken. I love Costco’s but it’s not really “special” enough for a Christmas dinner.
The problem is I don’t have an adequately sized oven. The ovens you can practically get in Taiwan (you know, not commercial ovens) simply heats too unevenly.
I didn’t know much about covering in aluminum foils. I just stick legs in the oven, bake it for an hour, and the skin is overcooked while the meat is just cooked. I have no idea how they get the skin brown and the meat moist.
Plus obtaining raw chicken in Taiwan, without access to wholesale sources, is not really cost effective at all.
RT Mart does em too
Air-fried roast chicken
Prefer the Costco rotisserie chicken to others, think they have a hint of rosemary
21 century i find bland (and more expensive even on discount days 11, 21?), RTmart passable but again more costly
Oh saw Costco has whole uncooked turkeys… though that’s a challenge I’m not willing to take
I just have a regular fairly small Taiwanese oven (though at the bigger end of the “fairly small” range), no commercial oven. It works fine.
You realize this isn’t “roasting a chicken”, right? Arguably the most important part of roasting a chicken is starting with a chicken.
What you’re talking about here is making “baked chicken legs” or something, and it sounds like you’re doing it wrong. There are only really two key variables (temperature and time), and one hour sounds too long for the second one as a general rule.
Watch YouTube videos on how to bake chicken legs if you want to learn then, problem solved! I know you likely won’t.
We’ve done the “cooking isn’t cost-effective” thing to death a hundred times, so there’s no point repeating all that, but it’s silly to compare everything to the absolute cheapest junk food you can buy in Taiwan. For most people, price isn’t the only consideration, but also what they’re eating.
All of these usual excuses is why I said this above:
If you don’t want to make roast chicken, don’t. Just buy it from Costco or have chicken McNuggets or whatever. It’s totally your choice.
