Choosing your chicken
Buying chickens and individual cuts

When buying chickens there are several factors that will affect the price and quality of the bird you buy.

In general the slower the growth of the chicken the better the texture and taste will be.

The options when buying chicken are as follows.


Organic Free-range - these birds are considered by chefs to be the best that money can buy. They have access during the day to outdoor conditions and have been raised on a diet entirely of organic feed, also the land on which they roam on is free of herbicides and pesticides.

They are reared for 80-90 days as a result these birds are expensive at about £9-£12 a bird, but are considered by chefs to be worth every penny.

Free-range - These chickens have also led a life with access to the outdoors and have been reared for about 55-60 days on a diet of grain and pellets. Still a superior bird and this is reflected in the price.

Keep an eye out for corn-fed and maize-fed free-range chickens which are noticeable by their yellow hue. These chickens cost £6-£7 each.

Battery Chickens - although minimum standards are starting to improve the conditions in which battery chickens are kept they still live a life entirely indoors and are raised quite intensively.

These chickens live a fairly short miserable life averaging just 42 days, approximately half that of an Organic free range chicken, and as a result they're a lot less flavoursome. These chickens cost about £3-£4.

My advice when buying chickens is to buy the best quality chicken that you can afford.

If you've never tasted a free-range or organic chicken before, then spend a little extra to try one for yourself and find out what all the chefs are raving about. Then you can decide.

Individual Cuts of Chicken

All chicken skin is high in saturated fat so for healthy recipes it should always be removed. However, roasting or grilling chicken breasts without the skin on will dry them out.

To keep them tender it's best to keep the skin on during the cooking process and then remove it prior to serving.

Chicken thighs - the thighs are a working part of the chicken and are full of flavour, which makes them popular with chefs. They are slightly fatty and are best suited to being cooked slowly in casseroles.

Chicken drumsticks - the drumsticks are the lower part of the leg and contain dark meat, again they're slightly fatty and are best suited to slow cooking or roasting.

The majority of a drumsticks weight is taken up by the bone so although they're cheap as chips you get less meat per kilo. A big favorite at barbeques and when cooked can be eaten hot or cold.

Chicken wings - the wings contain dark meat and are a little on the fatty side. Due to their size they're inexpensive and are ideal for barbeques as they make ideal finger food, great when marinated or served with a dip.

When buying chickens it's worth remembering that buying individual cuts isn't always the most economical way. Chicken breasts in particular are quite expensive and for the price of a pair of chicken breasts you can often buy a slightly smaller whole chicken.


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