A fowl only by name because it is great to eat

Chicken is known as a fowl, this is a type of bird. It came from India and South East Asia and is now one of the most common and popular food sources for human beings who eat both the meat from the bird and their eggs.

Chicken, if left alone, will normally live for five to eleven years. A chicken that is used for meat will usually be killed after six weeks. If it is a free range chicken, one that is allowed to have more space and freedom, it will not be killed until it is about fourteen weeks. The oldest ever chicken was female and it lived to the age of 16, this is according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Female chickens or hens as they are known can produce as many as 300 eggs per year but after twelve months they stop producing so many. This means they are usually killed and used in items like baby food, pet food, pies and other foods that are produced in a factory.

Male chickens are called roosters and they can be identified by their feathers. In most breeds the rooster has a more colourful plumage, long tails and shiny pointed feathers on their backs and necks. Chicken can fly but usually this is over short distances such as into trees or over fences. They also fly to get away from danger. Chickens that are kept in open areas have their wings clipped so they can't fly and get away.

In the UK we eat over eight hundred and fifty million chickens each year. However, a recent TV programme in January 2008 with Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall showed that a lot of chickens are kept in poor standards. They wanted people to buy chickens that had a better life such as being able to go out in the open and have more space. The issue about this is that chickens of this type are more expensive and not everyone can afford this even if they wanted to buy it.

Chicken is very popular with families and on average they eat it three times a week. It is the most popular meat we eat by a long way. We prefer to buy chicken from the UK but the amount we buy from other countries is rising by about 10% per year. So if you want to buy UK chicken you need to read the label or ask the butcher. If you see chicken with a Red Tractor on it then it means the chicken has been produced to a high set of standards from the time it is born to the time it reaches the shops.

If you are preparing and cooking chicken make sure you: -

• Always wash your hands both before you start and when you have finished preparing both raw or cooked chicken.
• Make sure that all the kitchen surfaces, knives and other cooking equipment you use are kept clean. Use hot soapy water and ask an adult for help when using knives.
• Keep raw and cooked chicken apart and use different chopping boards and kitchen equipment for each. That is one set for raw chicken and another for cooked chicken.
• If cooking a pre-prepared chicken or meal then always read and follow the instructions on the packet. It is very important to see if it can be cooked from frozen or has to be thawed beforehand. That is allowed to come up to a higher temperature without any ice crystals in it.
• Know how much the chicken weighs before you start.
• Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade (375 degrees Fahrenheit) or gas mark 5. Place the bird in a roasting tray and cover it with foil.
• Allow 20 minutes for each 1lb of chicken plus an extra 20 minutes. Take off the foil for the last twenty minutes so the chicken browns on top.
• If you want stuffing make this in a separate dish.
• Always cook the chicken fully, it should never have pink meat on the inside. To check if it is fully cooked stick a fork in the thickest part of the chicken (breast or leg) and see if the juice that comes out is clear. If it is pink or red then it is not cooked properly.
• Be very careful if you are reheating leftover chicken. Cover it over to keep in the moisture and make sure the chicken is really hot all the way through.

There are lots of different ways of cooking chicken. Why not look through some cookery books and see some of the many recipes or have a look at www.mycookeryclub.co.uk. See if you can help an adult cook one and then take part in the best bit - eating the finished meal.

Date

1/4/2008