It Tastes Just Like Chicken

Chicken can be prepared in many different ways, be it fried, baked, broiled, fried, steamed, roasted, stewed, casseroled, or barbecued. It can be eaten hot, cold, in sandwiches, with or in salad, with chips, stuffed, marinaded, fine dining or fast food.

Chicken has been increasing in popularity since the second world war, where it was commonly eaten due to strict rationing of beef and pork, and since the outbreak of Mad Cows disease (Bovine spongiformencephalopathy) chicken has been the number one consumed meat in both Europe and the United States.

Chicken, as a food, has been observed on Babylonian carvings dating to around 600BCE. The modern chicken is a descendant of the red and grey junglefowl hybrids that were raised for food in Northern India thousands of years ago.

When someone says "it tastes just like chicken", it's generally because the fairly neutral flavour of chicken has been evoked. Quite commonly, due to the relatively unsophisticated palates of non-food professionals, the texture of what is being eaten will remind someone of the flavour of chicken. The human brain tries to simplify signal input, and so the brain may link up say the texture of crocodile (which is quite similar to chicken) with the flavour of chicken. As chicken is so common, this is what most people will automatically refer to.

The simplest, and the best way of preparing chicken is to roast it in the oven. A lot of people think that roasting chicken is a difficult prospect, but this couldn't be further from the truth. In order to ensure that your chicken is moist and juicy when served, it is essential to stuff it. Stuffing a chicken will mean that the cavity of the bird will not dry out, which is how the meat will also become dry. If you're not feeling like making a stuffing, then something simple like a peeled and cut in half onion, or a lemon cut in half can be inserted into the cavity.

A simple breadcrumb stuffing can be made by frying, in butter, a finely diced, medium sized onion with some garlic, and salt and pepper. This mix can then be added to two cups of coarse breadcrumbs and a cup of fresh chopped herbs (tarragon, sage or coriander (cilantro) is common). Combine the mix well, and then pack it into the cavity of the chicken.

Place a 1.5kg - 2kg sized chicken into a roasting pan, and rub some extra virgin olive oil over the chicken, and season well with salt and pepper. Put the pan into a hot oven, set at 220C (gas mark 7, or 425F) and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. The chicken is cooked when a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh returns clear liquid. Rest the bird for 15 minutes and then carve. Serve with roasted potatoes and a green salad.

This will serve four people.

Neil Hunt is an IT professional from Western Australia with a passion for cooking and chicken especially. For chicken information and recipes, please visit http://www.it-tastes-just-like-chicken.com/