Forget the ?2.99 broiler. Christopher Hirst discovers how gourmet super-birds are carving out an appetising ? and lucrative ? niche
The news that a south London butcher is selling chickens at ?30 apiece made the headlines this week. Reared in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the free-range birds grow to about 4kg in 14 weeks. Selling for ?7.95 per kilo, these super-chicks are eight times as expensive as an average supermarket bird. Inevitably, they are described by the butcher as "the Rolls-Royce of chickens".
And there are more expensive chickens on sale in London shops. In a comparative tasting, I discovered that these posh birds do merit their stratospheric price tags. They would not seem so staggeringly expensive if we viewed chicken as a rare treat. The problem is that we have become accustomed to chicken as an everyday staple. To achieve that price, most chickens have become bland mediocrities.
Roping in my wife as sous-chef, we cooked six free-range poules de luxe in the manner advocated in Simon Hopkinson's book Roast Chicken and Other Stories: smear with butter and season liberally with salt and pepper; cut a lemon in two, squeeze juice over the bird and put the halves in the cavity with several sprigs of thyme and tarragon; pop in the oven for 15 minutes at 230C, baste, then for a further 45 minutes at 190C; leave to rest for 15 minutes.
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