A Fowl By Any Other Name

The appeal of a dish can be severely affected by the words chosen to describe it. Chicken is fairly neutral, Poultry doesn’t sound so bad either. Fowl is not a good choice. Hence it was with some trepidation that I approached boiled fowl.

It’s silly really, I didn’t use a tough old 1960’s boiling fowl, just your standard tortured chicken which has probably never needed to stand, let alone walk, let alone fly. And I love a poached chicken, I’ve been known to make a chicken rice or too in my time. It’s just that boiled fowl and poached chicken sound light years apart even when they aren’t.

And naturally it was fine, actually it was lovely. Possibly boiled too long seeing the times were obviously intended for a bird that had died of naturally causes after a life of scratching, pecking and whatever else chickens do. I tried to lift it out by putting a fork into the cavity and the whole thing disintegrated. I ended up pulling out the pieces with a slotted spoon…

Apparently bread sauce is supposed to go with poultry. I’ve tried bread sauce before. I have failed to be impressed and I wouldn’t say that I have overly high standards. But the Edmonds bread sauce was actually kind of good. Again I was surprised – perhaps I have been setting my expectations to low? I may even venture into the realms of bread sauce again. Possibly. Actually considering my passionate love affair with gravy it’s highly unlikely.

To go with my fowl I also prepared a green salad – with “salad dressing”. This turned out to be that odd recipe where the salad dressing is boiled. I’d love to say that I loved it, in reality it was a bit odd. The taste was fine but the texture was truly off the mark – slightly grainy and curdled but without actually appearing curdled. Not sure whether it was me or the recipe but I don’t think I’ll be going back to find out. In future I might have bread sauce on my salad greens instead. Or gravy… now you’re talking.