Chicken

Older and tougher boiling fowls which were used for cock-a-leekie are still sold by some fishmongers and butchers. If these are not available then packs of wings, thighs or legs can be had in supermarkets. (Turkey legs and thighs also make good broth.) Battery-produced roasting chickens will not survive the broth process – too bland in flavour, too delicate in texture – though once roasted, the carcasses are useful sources of chicken stock. Better flavoured free-range and properly hung roasting chickens can be used, but cooking time has to be watched carefully or they will disintegrate. With such chickens it is best to bone out the breasts and use carcasses and legs only for broths, keeping breast meat for other purposes.