The chicken part I cook the most (probably 90% of the time) are chicken breasts. They can get somewhat boring sometimes, but this recipe I came up with is different and fun: Chicken with Oranges and Green Olives: http://www.mangotomato.com/2012/03/what-to-do-with-chicken-breasts-recipe.html. It's best made in a cast iron skillet.

I buy a lot of chicken leg quarters - bone-in, skin-on thigh with attached leg. They aren't organic or pastured but they are SOOO cheap at my local grocery store and I will often roast them and save the bones and skin for stock, or poach them for soup - they make amazing stock because they are pretty fatty cuts. Because of that, I often use the chicken in things like tacos, pastas, soups, etc.

I have wanted to try the yogurt marinated chicken for some time. I love Greek/Middle Eastern style chicken. *Noms*

I prefer whole chickens for roasting because then I can use all of the bones for broth. For weeknight dinners, I like drums and chicken breasts because I don't have to cook an entire bird.

This is the season for whole roasted chickens! I love mine with lots of garlic, lemon, and fresh herbs. This is one of the simplest recipes: http://www.snackinginthekitchen.com/2012/09/chicken-101-roasted-lemon-butter-garlic.html

I love this season for whole roasted turkey. Lots of lemon, garlic and herbs (fresh or dry). Here is a simple, fool-proof recipe http://www.snackinginthekitchen.com/2012/09/chicken-101-roasted-lemon-butter-garlic.html

For all the bad rap they've acquired, I'm still partial to my boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They're so easy to freeze and chop into stir fry, bake into chicken parmesan, or boil into a quick soup. However, I've recently come to adore roasting a whole chicken in my crockpot--I can get 2-3 meals out of one 4 lb, bone-in chicken.

The simplest thing I do is buy a bunch of chicken legs (thigh & drumstick attached), cover with various herbs and spices, and roast on a baking sheet in the oven. Usually, they sit on top of cut lemons, sometimes potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, fennel... it depends what is on hand.

The key is the quality of the chicken -- free-range, pasture raised, natural chickens. Very meaty and flavorful -- and local. When chicken is that good, you donut need to do much in order to turn it into a great meal. (Can't stand chicken breasts in North America -- too big and too dry. Chicken breasts in Europe are much smaller, moister and tastier.)

Love chicken, never get tired of it, never run out of ways to make it tasty. Agree with mschatelaine--regular grocery store chicken is gross. I realize not everyone can afford it or has access, but organic, pastured, from a small farm really is best!

It would be useful if Kitchn did a post on how to recognise a good bird. When you buy fish, you wouldn't buy if there is a 'fishy' smell, or if the eyes are sunken, or the gills brownish, there are visible signs of quality when buying a whole bird. Generally, the bone structure is a giveaway as to how the bird lived (and how it will taste). I look for an elongated bird, that's longer than it's wide, and stay away from the very plump variety with no discernible breast bone. It costs more, but I view chicken as a treat, and the carcass of a good quality chicken can be used for soup and stock.

Contrary to the intro of the post, I actually do not find it all that easy to to find free-range organic chicken--at least not all cuts. I live in areas with very upscale markets, and yet often the only organic chicken will be whole birds--which are great, but not always what I want to cook. What I like best are bone-in, skin-on breasts, and in my experience those have been really hard to find organic. Also, I've asked this before and haven't yet figured out: does organic necessarily mean free range/humanly raised?? The latter is actually more important to me than strictly or "officially" organic, but that's really hard to find unless you buy directly from a farmer...

You might find this article, by the wonderfully talented Francis Lam, useful:
http://www.salon.com/2011/01/20/what_chicken_labels_really_mean/

Here's a link to some useful facts about chicken sold in the UK, from Jamie Oliver's website: http://www.jamieshomecookingskills.com/pdfs/fact-sheets/All%20about%20chicken.pdf