Winner, Winner! Chicken Dinner!

I really like the freshly-cooked Rotisserie Chickens I buy at Ralphs Markets and at Costco. At Ralphs, you sometimes have to do a bit of planning (or call up and ask) in order to get them when they're fresh but it's worth the effort. At Costco, they always seem to be fresh but maybe that's because I rarely go to Costco in the evening.

Years ago, I purchased a home rotisserie and spent some time trying to learn to prepare poultry in it. I came to the conclusion that I would never make a better chicken than I could buy at those two places, nor would mine require less of my money or less of my time. Cooked chickens at both Ralphs and Costco are actually cheaper than the same bird purchased raw. Unless I had the yearning to eat a fresh chicken late in the evening or at 4 AM, there was no reason aside from Pride of Authorship to ever cook my own. (I also sometimes get a Rotisserie Chicken from a local chain called Zankou. They're not really cheaper but they're really, really good.)

So why are the cooked chickens cheaper than the raw chickens? This article explains and it does not discourage me from buying rotisseried fowl.