Chicken

Chicken Makes a Perfect Meal

Chicken, our favourite poultry, has lean and tender meat that makes it perfect for a huge range of recipes, as well as being low-fat and healthy. It used to be a real luxury – a once-a-year treat - but now it’s an everyday food that often finds its way onto our dinner tables. This is good news for the chicken farmer, he makes his living, and it’s good for our bodies as it is packed with necessary nutrients, including protein, minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, phosphorous, potassium and zinc, vitamin A, many B vitamins and essential nutrients like N-acetylcysteine.

As well as essential nutrients, chicken also contains less saturated fat than red meat, especially if the skin is removed. The skin contains most of the poultry fat, but it also is the best source of N-acetylcysteine. The white meat of a chicken breast is the leanest cut. To reduce fat further you could choose a cooking method that adds little or no extra fat, such as poaching, stir-frying, grilling or roasting.

Chicken can be used in a variety of ways, making it perhaps the most versatile of protein sources. It is ideal for a traditional Sunday roast, yet it can also be cut up and prepared with a huge array of sauces from around the world, so whether you are in the mood for a hint of the Orient with a Chicken Chow Mein or a Thai Chicken Curry, or perhaps prefer a European classic such as Creamy Tarragon Chicken with Grapes, there is always a way to prepare chicken that will tempt the taste buds.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of chicken is that it is an all-round favourite, whether for a family supper or a dinner party, it’s also easy to cook. Whatever the circumstance, you are sure to find the perfect chicken recipe to suit the occasion. If you are looking for a meal for one or two, or a large gathering, there’s a chicken recipe that will do the job. If you are planning to cook a big bird, make sure that it will fit in your oven.

So, how much is enough when considering servings per person? Providing 350g of chicken meat per serving is about the norm. As a guide, different chickens provide different servings:

1 ~ Poussin

2 ~ Double Poussin

3 ~ 1 – 1.3kg chicken

4 ~ 1-3-2.25kg chicken

6 ~ 2.25-3.5kg chicken

Today there is such an array of chicken on offer in the supermarkets, fresh or frozen, that choosing can be confusing. Depending on how a foul is raised and fed will determine its flavour and texture. Different types of chicken and different age chickens should be used for different dishes and varied methods of cooking. The younger a chicken is when it is slaughtered, the tenderer the meat will be. Use meat from younger birds in recipes that use frying, grilling or roasting. The older the chicken is at slaughter, the more flavour it will have but the tougher it will be. Meat from older birds is best used for stewing and braising.

There is a great debate as to whether we should eat chickens raised in batteries. My dad ran such a farm in Rhodesia when I was in my late teens-early twenties so I am well aware of how such a business is run. From the humanitarian point of view, I am  not happy with their practices, but they certainly are able to produce more economical meat for the masses. However a free-range chicken has so much more flavour that, from a culinary point of view, there is no question which bird I’d prefer to cook with.

While the most economical way to buy a chicken is as a whole bird, they are also sold already jointed into portions, often separated into specific joints, like thighs and breasts, but also as ‘Braai Packs’ as they are called here, which is a whole bird cut into its various appropriate pieces. Separate portions more convenient for busy lifestyles lead by so many people today… not everyone has time to joint a chicken and one bird will only have two breasts, two drumsticks, two thighs and so on. When cooking for a family it can be so much more convenient to buy a pack of 4-6 thighs than to buy a whole bird.

Portions coma as halves or quarters, breasts – that is with skin, thighs, drumsticks and wings. Chicken meat is also sometimes sold as fillets, which is breast meat taken off the bone and skinned. Such a chicken breast can be flattened into an ‘escalope’.

Cook’s tip:

When cooking the meat from a chicken breast, 

be careful not to overcook it as lean meat can quickly become dry and tough.

Chicken Types

Oven-Ready Chicken – Most chickens are sold oven-ready, having had the feathers plucked and the giblets removed.

Free Range Chicken – A chicken that has been allowed to wander and forage for food in open ground. It is treated more humanely than battery-farmed birds and will have a more varied diet, which will give it a more intense flavour.

Battery Chicken – This is a chicken, which has been confined to a limited amount of space and can only eat the food it is given, usually fish meal. It will not be as flavoursome as a free- range chicken, but is the cheaper alternative.

Corn-Fed Chicken – A corn-fed chicken has been fed a special diet that generally gives the bird a yellowish colour and plump and juicy meat.

Single Poussin – This is a 4-6 week old chicken that weighs up to 250g and is sufficient to serve one person. It has little flavour but is very tender. It is best stuffed and served with a sauce to add flavour. Sometimes it is spatchkocked, that is the backbone is removed and the bird is flattened.

Double Poussin – This is a 6-10 week old bird weighing up to 350g and is sufficient to serve two. It has a little more flavour than a single poussin.

Spring Chicken – A chicken that is 10-12 weeks old and weighs up to 450g. It is a good choice for roasting, serving 2 with a similar amount of flavour as a double poussin.

Roaster – This is a more than 3 month old chicken weighing 1-1.8kg. it is good for roasting and braising as a whole chicken, and it can be jointed to use in recipes where chicken is grilled, baked, fried, stewed or braaied.

There are some basic things you need to know about when handling and storing chicken. Like all poultry, chicken may be infected with certain bacteria, such as salmonella and campylobacter, which are often linked to food poisoning. However if chicken is handles and stored correctly the chicken will be safe for eating.

The first step is to choose a healthy bird. Look for a fresh smelling bird with plump breasts, moist, unbroken skin without any bruising or dark patches. If the chicken smells mankie, it probably is inedible. Always check the ‘sell-by’ date if buying your chicken from the supermarket.

Once your chicken has been purchased make sure it is taken home and put in the fridge or freezer as soon as possible. If the weather is hot, consider using a cool-bag to transport the chicken home. However, avoid the temptation to put a fresh bird straight into the fridge; you don’t know how it has been cleaned at the point of slaughter. The best way to store your chicken is to first remove the plastic wrapping and wipe it all over, inside and out, with kitchen paper towel, removing the giblets if any are left in the bird.  Place the chicken on a plate and cover it loosely with cling film, which helps to prevent the meat from drying out and the absorption of other flavours in the fridge. By taking these steps, bacterial growth is also slowed down. The chicken is now ready to be stored at the bottom of the fridge for up to two days.

Before buying a frozen chicken, make sure that it is frozen solid. It will keep for up to three months. Always defrost a frozen chicken completely, preferably in the bottom of the fridge overnight, before cooking. Place it on a plate to catch any drippings. For a bird weighing up to 2.25kg, plan on 24 hours for defrosting. For a bigger bird allow about 30 hours for defrosting. When thawed there should be no ice crystals inside the chicken’s body cavity and it should be possible to wiggle the legs. One thawed, cook the bird as soon as possible.

When handling raw chicken and other poultry certain hygiene rules need to be followed. Raw chicken should not be allowed to come in contact with other cooked food. It should always be stored on the bottom shelf of the fridge to avoid dripping and contaminating other food. Before and after handling raw chicken, as with any other raw meat, the hands should be washed with soap and water. Thoroughly wash any utensils used for trimming or handling raw chicken and clean surfaces that the meat may come in contact with. Ultimately, a specific cutting board should be kept just for preparing raw chicken, soaking and washing it well between uses. Make sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly to kill off any present bacteria. To check it’s done, pierce the thickest part with a skewer – the juices should run clean, without any trace of red. Never store a chicken prepared with stuffing. This can allow bacteria to develop in the stuffing, which won’t be killed off by the lower temperatures necessary for cooking a stuffed bird.