I love chicken, duck and quail and always have some in my freezer for quick meals! They’re versatile, a great foil for other flavours, and suitable for any cuisine. Juicy flesh and crisp skin make them irresistible in these simple poultry recipes.
Chinese Red-Cooked Chicken Salad Red-cooking is a classic Cantonese technique of braising food in dark soy sauce and Shaoxing wine to give it a burgundy hue. Inspired by a recipe of Cheong Liew’s, I use those ingredients to marinate chicken before baking it. Cheong served a deep-fried version of this dish as part of Neddy’s […]
Duck fat potatoes are quite a delicacy in France – so when I had some rendered duck fat left over from frying duck breasts for duck a l’orange, I thought I’d make some. The verdict: easy and utterly delicious! The trick is to fry them for about 10 minutes without disturbing them so they crisp […]
Chicken Stock A good chicken stock is the base for great soups, risotto, casseroles and many other dishes. Even seafood and red meat dishes often use chicken stock for its subtle flavour that adds depth without competing with the star Ingredients. Roasting the chicken bones before boiling them, to make what is called a brown […]
Every culture seems to have a chicken soup that’s the universal panacea, and in Vietnam it’s cháo gà. Similar to Chinese congee, it’s generally a breakfast dish – often served with omelette. It can be quite bland, if that’s what you want, and it’s traditionally served to anyone who’s feeling poorly, especially with a cold […]
Chicken in Half Mourning This is my version of poulet demi-deuil, a classic French dish made by placing shaved black truffles under the skin of a chicken, resembling the veil of a woman in mourning. It seems that the appearance is only ‘half mourning’ because some of the bird’s white flesh is still seen; full […]
Hainanese Chicken Rice I’ve always loved this dish, especially the delicious ginger and green onion sauce, so I thought I’d give it a try and discovered it’s surprisingly easy (especially with a few tips from the brilliant Tony Tan). It takes a few hours, but most of that is just resting time. There are a […]
Duck a l’Orange I love this easy version of the classic duck à l’orange. It’s inspired by Pierre Koffman’s recipe for wild duck in orange sauce in Memories of Gascony and is simpler than most because it doesn’t require stock, just fresh orange juice. When they’re in season, I love to use Peter Dryden’s Poorman’s […]
Chicken Avgolemono Soup Avgolemono is a classic Greek combination of egg (avgo), lemon (lemono) and stock to create a tangy soup or sauce. As a soup it’s usually made from chicken stock with rice cooked in it, a typical example of peasant cuisine where nothing is wasted (the meat from the chicken bones added back […]
Variously written as bisteeya, bastilla, bestela, bastila, pastilla or pastila, this Moroccan pie has many variations but is traditionally an elaborately spiced preparation of pigeon, egg, almonds and warqa pastry, which is similar to Greek fillo pastry. It works well with almost any birds, including quail, chicken and guinea fowl, and is a great way […]
The Colonel may have had 11 secret herbs and spices, but these Southern fried chicken wings taste just as good with only four! The secret to flavour is salt … and soaking these wings (or any poultry) in brine makes a world of difference, just not too long for small pieces like wings or they […]
