cooking with chicken lunch the following day , enough for four people each time .
Moreover , because water is far more efficient than air at transporting heat , we were able to stuff the bird too , and cook the lot together . Whatever is left behind is put on the fire , the bones mostly , to add to the wood ash and used as fertilizer .
The downside : roasted chicken skin , which I love , but to be honest , there are so many wonderful flavours in this meal I didn ’ t miss it that much . To be honest , I usually pick off the skin when carving the bird and share it with the dogs . The boiled skin was completely consumed by the dogs Monty and Pippin , who literally wolf it down .
The dish
It takes a little preparation to make this tasty dish in as much as it consists of a number of parts .
The meat
A 1.8 Kg chicken and a few slices of belly pork , around about 500 g , which are both boiled together .
The forcemeat stuffing
The origin of the word forcemeat comes from the action - you force the meat into the cavity , in other words to stuff .
I must confess to being a little worried . I am boiling the stuffed bird , and consequently , will the water soak in and make it into a serious slop ? In truth , the consistency came out just perfect .
You can also bake the forcemeat , to give a kind of loaf that sets hard .
The vegetables
There are two sets of vegetables for this dish . The first is to flavour the stock and the second to serve at table . The first consists of all those vegetables at the bottom of the fridge , the old onion , the green tops of leeks , some cabbage , overly large and split carrots .
The second are whatever you want from potatoes to turnips . Once the chicken is cooked , the whole lot is removed from the stock , and the new vegetables are allowed to cook in the stock until they are tender .
Forcemeat
• 300 g breadcrumbs
• 2 garlic cloves
• 100 g gherkins
• 1 tbs Dijon mustard
• 3 rashers bacon
• 100 g belly pork
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 / 4 tspPepper
This stuffing is based around breadcrumbs , and all the ingredients are minced in a food processor . You can add all kinds of extra ingredients to this , such as chicken livers - indeed , if your chicken comes with giblets , or it is one of your own chickens , then all these can be used , the gizzard and head in the stock pan , the liver and heart and kidneys in the stuffing .
You can also add an egg for binding , but in this case , I wanted a looser stuffing .
Obviously we are going to stuff this into the bird , but you can just as easily roll , wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 180 C for 30 mins to get a loaf .
Forcemeat ingredients
Stuffing the bird
Wash the bird inside and out , and pat dry . Force all the stuffing into the cavity , really pushing it home with the spoon . Then pull the skin from the vent into position and it is time to truss the bird .
Stuff the bird with the forcemeat
“ Henry IV of France invented this recipe , saying ‘ If I were granted more years to live I would make it so every family in the Kingdom could have a chicken for dinner each Sunday .’”