Online Butcher Pat Whelan writes on meat and food in general and this week is in a ‘Fowl Mood’.

I think there is enough distance between us and Christmas to start talking fowl again.  Normally at this time of year the festive period is a dim and distant memory, the ‘shiny new’ of the New Year is waning quickly and life is trundling on again normally.  January 2011 will also stand out as particularly bleak because this month most people have suddenly seen the dramatic effect of the budget on their take home pay.  For most of us it’s bloody harsh and even painful to talk about.  Unlike Christmas, cries of “Jesus Christ” have little to do with remembering his birthday and more to do with the dreaded ESB and Visa bills that are landing daily.  The only excitement in January is the frisson of danger that flutters in your conscience when you pay the Visa bill with the ESB money and pay the ESB bill on the credit card!  It’s a hard month but we must cling onto the fact that the darkest hour is just before the dawn and spring must be around the corner.

I personally find there’s nothing like a nice meal to take your mind of the misery and if ever we needed comfort food now is probably the time.  We normally associate comfort food with the winter; taking the opportunity to indulge in warming meals in the dark and dreary depths of the season.  Generally when we talk comfort we picture steaming plates of stew and lashings of mashed potato, but if there is a comfort food meat I would suggest that it is Chicken.  For comfort and value you really can’t beat a perfectly roasted chicken with all the trimmings.  It is a meal that is fit for royalty and yet comes without the enormous price tag.  I also feel there is great taste variety offered with a roast chicken.  You have the sweetness of the leg and the historical value of feeling like a ancient high king as you grip the bone and tear the meat, the crispy skin can be truly sublime if prepared properly, the soft, tender white breast should melt in the mouth and an excellent sausage meat stuffing will make the bird stretch that little bit further and add a further dimension to the experience.  (By the way we James Whelan Butchers is running a great on line competition at the moment and all you have to do is enter your favourite stuffing recipe.)  If you’re not that enthused by roast chicken I would hazard a guess that you haven’t tasted it at its best or, if you are the cook, you haven’t learned the basics of doing it.

I am a firm believer that if you master just a few basics in cooking you will be perceived as a great cook.  It’s the cheater’s way to greatness and it works.  The trick is to master something really versatile like chicken.  If you can do a good roast chicken then different types of stuffing will give you different results.  Serve different vegetables with the different types of stuffing and again you have widened your repertoire without learning anything new.  A female friend of mine suggested that chicken is like the miracle capsule wardrobe; the meat forms the basic outfit and then you just accessorise to achieve the different looks or tastes in this case.  I’m still a bit hazy on this analogy but I trust she knows what she’s talking about.

Chicken comes with many advantages in that it is a universally accepted meat.  Unlike some meats it doesn’t come with any religious taboos (that I’m aware of anyway) and so every country in the world likes chicken.  From your basic southern fried chicken popularised in the States to the mild and creamy chicken curries of India you are truly spoiled for choice when it comes to recipes.  Even after you’ve eaten a roast chicken the carcass can be made into the tastiest stock that will go on giving flavour to other dishes or perhaps lovely homemade soups.

There is a choice available to the Irish shopper of corn-fed, free-range or organic, and each is a matter of taste. Corn-fed poultry are raised conventionally with a high corn content being present in their diet. They are clearly different in colour, taking on a golden tinge resulting from the feed. Free-Range means that the chickens are given access to an outside run, allowing them to roam and forage. They are fed a natural diet similar to all other chickens. Because of the costs and time involved with the free-range regime, the end product on the shelves is considerably more expensive than conventionally reared poultry.

As a matter of interest, I have undertaken numerous taste tests with those whom I regard as having discriminating palates. Rarely can the meat be identified as clearly one or the other.  A number of small producers are bringing a uniqueness to the market with specific breeds and a longer growing period, which is great. I am very happy to stand over the quality of all Irish chicken. We have marvellous controls in place and I’m very confident that our indigenous producers will continue to comply with the rigorous standards demanded. Just remember: Irish bred, Irish reared and Irish prepared – it is ultimately about nutrition at the end of the day. After that, it is a matter for your personal beliefs and your pocket: your taste buds will benefit whatever you choose.

I like to stuff the actual chicken as I feel the stuffing takes on the taste of the bird this way rather than cooking stuffing in a separate dish. What is also good practice is to place a piece of parchment paper on the base of the cavity prior to actually stuffing the chicken. I also butter the whole bird quite liberally, salt and pepper generously and then place small knobs of butter between the joints, legs and wings.  I preheat the oven to 180º and placing the chicken in a large roasting dish allow 20 minutes per 450g (1lb) plus a flexible 20 minutes over at the end.  I increase the oven to 200º for the last 20 minutes as I find this really crisps the skin.  After the first 30 minutes of cooking (don’t even open the oven door during this initial stage) I baste the chicken with the buttery juices and then baste again every 20 minutes or so during the cooking time.  I also prepare the chicken separately and let the roasting dish heat up with the oven while I am working.  Ovens vary so get to know yours when it comes to chicken.  Learn how to roast a chicken properly and you might never need to learn another thing about cooking. I welcome your feedback to [email protected]

We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of  James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin. Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers

Online Butcher Pat Whelan writes on meat and food in general and this week the Cook Off!

There’s nothing quite like a challenge and it keeps us all on our toes. I was recently accused of not really understanding what it was like to try and feed a family on a budget. The main premise was that as a butcher, I had the very best meat at my disposal at James Whelan Butchers and so no matter how bad the economy was my table wouldn’t suffer. Admittedly I do have access to the best and of course I love my food and I eat well, but I reject the assertion that I cannot empathise. The challenge laid down was that two of us would cook a budget meal for a family of five to six. We were calling it the great cook off and certain rules had to be laid down.

Obviously rule number one was that I had to pay for the meat regardless of where I procured it. A bit like the TV programme Ready, Steady, Cook, while the ingredients had to be purchased we didn’t have to factor in the cost of store cupboard ingredients. There was a rule about nutrition and appropriateness of the dish. For example a big bowl of salad would not be considered adequate on a cold November evening and generally the dish had to be considered relatively wholesome. Finally there was a rule that cooking had to be involved. You couldn’t just stroll into your nearest German discounter and pick up a frozen ready meal and divide it up. The glove was dropped and there was no going back!

I surrounded myself with cookery books seeking advice first from the great goddess Delia. I was trying to think what if I had to do it on a tight budget seven days a week! You would need more than one recipe. The other considerations were that while being frugal out of necessity you don’t want the table or plate to look or feel mean. The idea is that you can cook comfortably on a budget without that awful feeling of lack or deprivation. We do not, under any circumstances, want to give our kids the idea that they are Oliver Twist! So leaving the bowl of gruel aside – what would I cook? My own book, An Irish Butcher Shop, was also among the chosen research tomes. Without even realising it I had put quite a few ‘good value’ recipes into it. The steak and kidney pie recipe is tasty and always goes down well, the meatloaf is very budget conscious, and chilli con carne stretches a long way and the myriad of things to do with chicken also fall within a good price range. There were many more too.

I settled on a chicken dish for a number of reasons. The first thing we all think of for a good value meal tends to be mince! Now mince is truly great, a versatile ally that can be conjured into many different dishes, but I felt that red meat would be expected of me and I don’t like to be too predictable. Along with the chicken I bought some carrots, some onions, some leeks and a small bag of potatoes. With a homemade pastry my plan was to make a chicken pie with mashed potatoes for a main course plus, just to impress, I would use the carcass of the chicken to make a homemade chicken noodle soup as a starter. It worked out really well and I scored high staying within a pretty decent budget. I think in total my entire two course meal came to €11.30. That’s less than €2 per head for a family of 6, and everyone was stuffed by the end of it.

It was my friend’s turn. As I had suspected beef was his main meat. I knew it would have to be stewing beef or mince. However I was expecting him to travel the road of stew or perhaps even a bolognaise but instead he went to the other side of the world altogether and produced the finest Thai beef curry that everyone found amazing even the kids. As we arrived at his house the smell of the orient enveloped us and we were transported to Asia. The curry was served with egg noodles which worked really well in adding an authentic Asian feel. I was beaten hands down. His entire meal came to just over €7.72 – for six! Now to be fair, he did have to buy and pay for a large packet of noodles but only used half of them so only half the price was factored in and he happened to have a Thai green curry paste at his disposal in his store cupboard; but it was still impressive.

It was a simple enough dish that was more time consuming than skilful and I know he won’t mind me saying that. It was a man’s dish, quick and rustic in its execution. The Thai curry paste and onions were cooked on a pan for about five minutes then the chunks of beef were added, sealed and coated with the paste. A little lime juice, some stock, a tin of coconut milk and the soy sauce were added with a pinch of sugar. It was brought to the boil and then left to simmer for about two hours until the meat was tender. Once the noodles were cooked and the curry plated it was sprinkled with chopped coriander and it was just delicious. Thailand in Clonmel on a Monday evening!

So I didn’t win the cook off but I did come up with some other great recipes. Bangers and onion mash, chicken with pasta, fish crumble and several others. In conversation we also decided that you could stretch the budget by one day’s dinner providing the next day’s lunch. For example the leftovers from a roast chicken could be made into sandwiches or a cold chicken salad for the following day. Once again the key was planning ahead.

However, at James Whelan Butchers we have done a good deal of that for you. We have plenty of ideas for wholesome budget meals and much of the work has been done for you. You can also save if you join our loyalty card scheme. Don’t let the recession cheat you and your family out of great home cooked food. Drop by the store today if you need some inspiration. I welcome your feedback to [email protected]

We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of  James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin. Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers