All About Chicken
Source of Recipe
The New Food Lover's Companion, Second Edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst
List of Ingredients
Today's chickens descended from wild fowl that roamed primeval Asian jungles. Thousands of years later, France's King Henry IV stated that he hoped each peasant would have "a chicken in his pot every Sunday" (a quote President Herbert Hoover later paraphrased). But chicken wasn't always reasonably priced. Until after World War II, only the affluent could manage the proverbial Sunday chicken. Chickens fall into several classifications. The broiler-fryer can weigh up to 3 1/2 pounds, is usually around 2 1/2 months old and is best when broiled or fried. The more flavorful roasters have more fat and are perfect for roasting and rotisserie cooking. They usually range between 2 1/2 and 5 pounds and can be up to 8 months old. Stewing chickens (also called hens, boiling fowl and fowl) usually range from 10 to 18 months and weigh from 3 to 6 pounds. They're more flavorful but less tender, and are best cooked with moist heat, such as in stewing. A capon is a rooster that is castrated when young (usually before 8 weeks), fed a fattening diet and brought to market before it's 10 months old. Ranging from 4 to 10 pounds, capons are full-breasted with juicy, flavorful meat particularly suited to roasting. Rock Cornish hen, also called Rock Cornish game hen, is a hybrid of Cornish and White Rock chickens. These miniature chickens weigh up to 2 1/2 pounds and are 4 to 6 weeks old. Rock Cornish hens are best broiled or roasted. Squab Chicken (poussin in French), different from true squab, is a 4- to 6-week-old chicken that weighs no more than 1 1/2 pounds. These tiny birds are best broiled, grilled or roasted. The older, tougher cock or rooster is best used in soups or to make broths. Expensive Free-range chickens are the poultry world's elite. Each range chicken has double the space of mass-produced birds, plus freedom to roam outdoors. They're fed a special diet free (according to range chicken breeders) of antibiotics, animal byproducts, hormones and growth enhancers. The special diet and freedom is thought to give them a more "chickeny" flavor. Free-range chickens average 4 1/2 pounds and are usually 10 to 12 weeks old. Chicken grades: The government grades chicken quality with USDA classifications A, B and C. The highest grade is A, and is generally what is in markets. Grade B chickens are less meaty; grade C is usually reserved for scrawny turkeys. The neck and giblets (liver, gizzard and heart) are either packaged and placed in a whole bird's body cavity, or sold individually. Choose a meaty, full-breasted chicken with plump, short legs. The skin--which ranges from cream-colored to yellow--should be smooth and soft. Avoid chickens with an off odor, or with skin that's bruised or torn. Store in the coldest part of the refrigerator. If packaged tightly, loosen packaging or remove and loosely wrap chicken in waxed paper. Remove giblets from the body cavity and store separately. Refrigerate raw chicken up to 2 days, cooked chicken up to 3 days. For maximum flavor, freeze raw chicken no longer than 2 months, cooked chicken up to a month. Salmonella bacteria are present on most poultry (though only about 4 percent of salmonella poisonings are chicken-related). To avoid contamination, handle raw chicken with care. Never eat raw chicken. After cutting or working with raw chicken, thoroughly wash utensils, cutting tools, cutting board and your hands. Cook boneless chicken until the internal temperature is 179 degrees F, bone-in chicken to 180 degrees F. Don't let raw juice touch cooked chicken. Ways to prepare chicken include baking, broiling, roasting, frying, braising, barbecuing and stewing. Boning chicken shortens cooking time but slightly diminishes flavor. Chicken is an excellent source of protein and a fair source of niacin and iron. White meat and chicken without skin have fewer calories.
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