For a simple family meal, cut up a whole chicken (or buy it precut at the grocery store) and bake while you prepare the side dishes. A dip in melted butter and a quick dredge in seasoned flour gives the meat good flavor and the skin a nice crispness.

The distinction between roasting a whole chicken versus baking chicken pieces is important for this recipe. With a roasted chicken, you're looking to raise up the bird as much as possible using a roasting pan with a rack. That way it's the hot, dry air of the oven that cooks it, producing a beautiful crispy skin while the meat stays juicy.

Since the chicken is cut up, and the pieces lie flat in a baking dish, the dish is conducting heat directly into the bottom half of the chicken, which is different than air. You get the sizzling fat on the bottom, making it wonderfully crackly underneath. Baked chicken is also cooked at a lower temperature for deliciously moist meat. Thus, a chicken prepared in this manner is midway between roasting and braising.

Another difference is that a baked chicken is typically dredged in seasoned flour before cooking, which we don't do when roasting a whole bird. Feel free to add more spices to your flour mixture if you like things spicy.