• Chicken Crown
  • Chicken Crown
  • Chicken Crown
  • Chicken Crown

Chicken Crown 1.3 kg

In stock

£17.00

  • Each crown weighs approx. 1.3 kg
  • Typically serves 3-4
  • Free range and slow-grown to full maturity (81 days)

Select quantity

We currently have 5 remaining in stock.
  • Suitable for freezing
  • Delivered fresh
  • Native breed
  • Great for home roasting
  • Cook on the BBQ

Product description

Roasting a whole bird and achieving perfectly cooked breasts and legs is a formidable challenge - a chicken crown reduces cooking time ensuring succulent, juicy meat. Simply stuff with half a lemon and sprigs of fresh thyme or bast with a yoghurt-based tandoori marinade, then roast the crown hard. Free range, slow-grown chicken crowns are excellent for numerous preparations and are a joy to both cook and eat providing distinct flavour and a succulent texture. If the breasts of the bird are your preferred cut then cooking them on the crown is a fantastic option. Remaining on the bone helps the meat to retain as much moisture as possible whilst also lending a little extra depth of flavour. You also have the added benefit of bones for stock.

Chef George Ryle adds:
"Browned in a pan with foaming butter and then roasted through the oven on a bed of wild mushrooms. Served with a side dish of little Austrian dumplings called Spätzle and a Vermouth cream sauce.

Brined overnight and then poached in stock. Add some rice, pasta or noodles plus some vegetables of your choice for a healthy and restorative broth.

For pure simplicity, roast the crown hard, smothered in butter, with fresh thyme, lemon and garlic in its cavity. Let it cool, carve off the bone and slice thinly. Then proceed to make an epic sandwich – good quality bread, a fairly aggressive aïoli, perhaps with some wild garlic chopped through it if the season is right and watercress. Hard to top that!

Don’t forget to keep the bones for bone broth. Just cover with water and bring to a gentle simmer, add peppercorns, fennel seeds, an onion, a carrot and a couple of fresh bay leaves."

Ingredients

Free range, slow-grown chicken.

Cooking advice

Firstly, ensure the chicken crown is at room temperature as this will help it to cook evenly. Rub a couple tablespoons of olive oil over the chicken crown, then season with a good pinch of coarse sea salt and a decent grinding of black pepper. You may want to put a bunch of thyme or rosemary inside the cavity of the bird, perhaps with a lemon halved. Alternatively, you could flavour some soft butter with thyme leaves, lemon zest, coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper and massage the butter between the skin and flesh of the bird.

Place in an oven at 220°C (200°C if using a fan oven) for 15 minutes. At this stage bast the bird well, spooning the juices over the breasts. Reduce the temperature to 190°C (170°C fan) and roast for a further 30 minutes, basting a couple more times during this period. Insert a skewer into the thickest part of the breast, if the juices run clear the crown can be removed from the oven, if not place back in the oven and test every 5 minutes until cooked.

Following cooking, a rest of 15-20 minutes is advisable before carving.

Customer reviews

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