Poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter. It is served to us boiled, roasted, fried, hot or cold, whole or in pieces, with or without sauce, boned, skinned, stuffed, and always with equal success".
So said Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, nineteenth-century French gastronome, and his words could not be more true today. Chicken inspires not just culinary, but visual, artists. A chicken, it seems, can be depicted as many ways as it can be cooked.
The Artful Chicken, a charmingly unique cook-book, combines heartiness with artiness in 85 all-time favorite recipes illustrated by hundreds of chicken collectibles. Author Linda Arnaud groups the dishes according to method of preparation: Roast & Bake; Grill & Broil; Saute & Fry; and Stew, Braise & Poach. And although she claims ignorance when it comes to the old “Which came first?” conundrum, Arnaud also devotes a chapter to the delicate craft of egg-cooking.
But Arnaud is not content to put a chicken in every pot. She wants a chicken on every pot – and every tablecloth, salt and pepper shaker, and soup tureen. The cookbook is filled with photos of chicken collectibles. Antique and contemporary, fine and folk art, made from porcelain, pottery, or papier-mache, it’s sure to make a chicken lover crow with pleasure.
