The meat or flesh is vary digestible, because it contains very little fat when trimmed and skinned. It is also being rich in iron and contains 120 Cal. per 100g. In France the chickens are classified according to their age at slaughter, weight, diet and method of rearing or raising (free-range or battery).
Chicken can be cooked by roasting, sautéing, grilling, deep frying (coated with bread crumbs.), frying and poaching. Chicken being roasted should be slightly fatty, so that the fat melts during cooking, which prevents the meat from drying out. If chicken is being roasted they can also be stuffed and or they can even be served cold. The bird is cooked when the juices that run out are colourless and the joints of the legs or wings come apart when they are tuged on. Chicken giblets can be made into consummé or stock, kabobs, or terrines. Livers can be used in different ways such as pâté.
There is the greatest variety in the recipes for sautéed chicken, which range from the very simple to the very elaborate, but chicken can also be prepared in a chaud-froid, a ballottine, a hash, à la bonne femme, à la diable, or in a civet. Its flesh can be made into crépinette sausages, shaped cutlets, fritters, kromeskies, pât&eacte and mousses.
To "draw a chicken" cut through the skin down the length of the neck and remove the trachea (windpipe) and the oesophagus (gullet), pulling out the crop at the same time; leave the neck as it is or serve it at the base, without cutting through the skin. Make an incision at the tail end and pull out the intestines, gizzard, liver, heart and lungs. Remove the gall bladder from the liver immeddiately. Split the gizzard on the rounded side and remove the grain sac, Singe the chicken to remove all the remaining down, etc. Clean the giblets and replace back into the cavity if not to be used straight away. Cut off the pinions (wing tips), bend back the rest of the bottom joint and tuck the ends underneath the bird to form a neat shape. Cut off the feet at the joint with the drumstick. Fold back the neck (if it is still on) under one wing, or else fold back the skin of the neck over the breast. Truss the chicken.
To "joint a raw chicken" place it on its back, pull out one leg and cut the skin which joins it to the body. Lift up the leg and cut right through the joint and the flesh of the leg; repeat this process with the other leg. Lift up a wing and free most of the flesh with a knife. Cut right down through the white flesh to the wing joint and cut it free; repeat this process for the other wing. Seperate the thighs from the drumsticks, cutting through the joints. Cut the remaining carcass in two, down the length of the back (or remove the backbone first and cut the breast in two). This will give a total of eight pieces.
