The status and reputation of the poor old chicken has been a little bit dented over the past forty years here in the UK. In this class we will restore your appreciation for this versatile and delicious bird, with discussions including a comparison of the rich diversity of French and British poultry.

For your first assignment, you will work on a Yorkshire chicken. You will carefully remove the legs, boning them out as you go. These will then be stuffed with a light mix of apricots and force meat, ready for you to fold into neat little parcels, before finishing them with a piece of streaky bacon across the top. Finally, these delicious parcels will be tied, to hold everything conveniently in place. You will then create a chicken crown by removing its undercarriage and wings tips, with a small amount of herbed butter carefully pushed underneath the skin to keep the breasts wonderfully succulent when you roast it at home later.

You will also be working on a Marie Hot Label, which is also known as a French cornfed chicken. Under the careful eye of our butcher, you will break down the carcass into eight pieces, keeping the meat on the bone. This technique will provide you with an array of cuts for several delicious meals. In comparison with the Yorkshire bird, this Continental breed is rather ‘leggy’ with lots of rich, dark meat on its underside, making it ideal for dishes such as coq au vin or creamy, brandy flambéed, mushroom sauces.

As a fun final addition to this class, you will each learn how to spatchcock a coquelet, ready for marinating in a special Ginger Pig mix, making a wonderful starter for a dinner party. After the day’s achievements, you will be taking home a wide variety of carefully prepared poultry, providing enough meat for an impressive roast dinner and several midweek meals.

MEAT TO BE TAKEN HOME:
2kg de-boned, stuffed Yorkshire Chicken (bacon lattice included)
1.7kg Marie Hot Label French Chicken
600g Cockerel
400g Smoked Streaky Bacon

DINNER:
MAIN: French Coq Au Vin, Dauphinoise Potatoes, Green Salad
DESSERT: Bread & Butter Pudding
WINE: The Butcher’s All Rounder’, our own juicy red Côtes du Rhône, or ’The Cook’s Indulgence’, a refreshing Côtes du Rhône Blanc