The team at Jacqui Small Publishing sent me “Chicken & Other Birds: From turkey escalopine to beer-braised chicken legs” by Paul Gayler MBE to review recently and what a treat it was to receive! I have a collection of recipe books that I keep in my kitchen “library” and I love them just as much as I love the books I read for pleasure. There is something so delightful about poring through the pages of a beautifully compiled book of recipes.
The photography in “Chicken & Other Birds” is by Kevin Summers and it really brings each recipe to life.
Beautiful Images by Kevin Summers
Until recently, Paul Gayler MBE was Executive Chef at The Lanesborough Hotel in London. Paul has won The Guild of Food Writers’ Cookery Book of the Year, has been nominated for a prestigious André Simon Award and, in 2012, was awarded an MBE as well as the top ‘Catey’ from Caterer and Hotelkeeper for his ‘outstanding contribution to the hotel industry’. With 24 Cookery Books to his name, selling over half a million copies worldwide, he is clearly a well regarded expert in his field.
The book contains over 100 classic and contemporary chicken dishes, from simple everyday meals to grand dining and serves as a reminder that poultry is such a versatile meat type. I like the fact that the book covers a range of cooking styles from traditional to nouveau cuisine. Of course the chicken, which is so readily available and usually the “go to” bird to cook was prominent but less well known birds such as turkey, goose, duck, guinea fowl, poussin, pigeon and quail were also featured. I can’t wait to be more adventurous and try the recipes with the other types of birds.
I decided to use a traditional recipe and went for one of my all time favourite chicken recipe – Roast Chicken. As you can see, aside from a tiny tear in the skin due to over enthusiastically rubbing butter on the chicken it is pretty much perfect. Look at the golden skin! It was delicious and moist and came out just as described, if not better…or maybe I was just really hungry.
Preparing my Roast
The Perfect Roast Chicken
Chicken & Other Birds offers a visual tour of all the birds, showing their relative sizes and discussing the differences between them, plus a buying guide – what to look for and how much to allow per person – followed by tips on storing and handling uncooked poultry, and step-by-step photos and instructions for preparing a bird before cooking (trussing, French trimming, stuffing and jointing), and for carving or jointing a whole cooked bird.
I particularly liked the last chapter, ‘Perfect Sides and Complements’ which is a round-up of flavoured butters, marinades, rubs and bastes, stuffings and sauces, chutneys and relishes as well as the perfect gravy. Overall a great cookery resource.
Grab a copy of this great cookbook online www.jacquismallpub.com
Ronke Lawal
Falling in love with food more and more each day!
Why do I love food so much?
Food is amazing, it reminds us that we're home or enable us to distance places in an instant.
I just love food.
I run www.ariatupr.com in the day and write for www.whosfordinner.com at night.
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My tummy is rumbling just looking at these photos – chicken is my absolute favourite! I really want to learn how to roast a chicken properly, I must track down this book! Roast chicken is a classic <3
You will love this book then Claire! It’s great!
That looks a great book – I love a recipe book or two (!) and I much prefer those with pictures in – it gives me something to aim for !!
The pictures are fantastic!
That looks yummy! I think I need a recipe book like that, my other half loves poultry for dinner
He’ll love this book then! 😉
This is a pretty good recommendation – I don’t eat a lot of meat but chicken is the one thing I do enjoy from time to time and I’d love to try some new recipes.
Thanks Cliona – it’s a good book.
This would be ideal for my sister in law who can’t cook anything at all.One for the Christmas list I think.
Hooray!!! It will make a great gift Aly!
Yum I love chicken, so I bet there’d be lots more recipes in it I’d love. It’s reminded me we’ve got pheasant breasts in the freezer, I must use those up
Ohhhh now I want to try pheasant! LOL! Thanks Emma!
The photos in that recipe book look amazing, as does your roast chicken at the end! Sounds like a handy book x
Thanks Zoe! It is a lovely book!
Your roast chicken looks yummy, the receipes look fab too, this book would go down well in our house, we are definitely chicken lovers but I have to say you can’t beat the roast chicken
I need to get past that first chapter and try the other recipes too! LOL!
Oh I love roast chicken! That recipe book looks amazing. You’re right the photography is fab. x
Thanks Alex
Yummy! I’m a big chicken eater. It’s my go to meat for pretty much anything.
easy and yet so delicious!
Me and my other half are ‘gym goers’ so eat chicken most nights. I need to invest in a book like this to spice up our recipe list I think. It looks mouth watering from the pictures! X
You will really like it!
Chicken is my favourite meat. Am always on the look out for new chicken based recipes these look amazing.
You’ll really like this Joanna! 😉