Volaille

Fowl

Appears in

Published 1974

About

Chickens are to the cook what a basic black dress is to a wardrobe. As Brillat-Savarin wrote in his Meditations:

. . . poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter. ... It is served up boiled, roasted, fried, hot or cold, whole or in parts, with or without sauce, boned, grilled, stuffed and always with the same success.

But ducks and geese are not so versatile. They require as much thought about their garnishings as a purple dress does. Ducks embellished with oranges or red cherries are delicious; geese have an affinity for the wrinkled prune and the pithy chestnut. These fat birds are best roasted and then sauced.