chicken

Chicken is the everyday poultry people buy for roasting, frying, braising and stock. By our assessment, its main strength is range: breasts, thighs, wings and a whole bird all behave differently, so it can be plain and quick or rich and slow depending on the cut. The honest downside is that it asks for attention to doneness, because dry breast meat or undercooked poultry is a real kitchen problem. In practice it is one of the most forgiving proteins for weeknight cooking, yet it still rewards basic care with skin, seasoning and resting. Compared with beef or lamb, it is milder and cheaper to flavour, and the catalogue’s plural category matches the fact that this is a family of birds rather than a single cut.