Ode To The Tough Bird

 Some of the iconic preparations of poultry were designed to take a tough old bird and render it into something sumptuous. For example Coq au Vin, which was supposed to tenderize a rangy, tough cock into tender goodness. Sadly today, in civilized America it is very, very difficult to find an old bird. Chicken are raised to be uber tender things that go to maturity in months rather than years which sadly as an effect on its flavor.

Fast forward to Accra, Ghana June 2021. Your trusty blogger and aspiring gastronome (can one still be aspiring in one's 70's?) however has noted over the years coming to Ghana that the meat here has a distinct NON-western feel...as in tough leather. I think I may have commented on my few forays out of town on how the little goats and sheep of the area more resemble street thugs than cute animals. So I theorized, if I could put my hands on one of these 'authentic' type birds, what would some of my classic preparations such as said coq au vin or chicken fricassee. 

The women who are the participants in my program have taken a while to learn that I am pretty serious about my statements when it comes to food. So it is only this trip that I got one of them to bring me some honest to goodness, 'local' chickens from the market. These are live birds that are killed and prepared on the spot. (I was actually spared the going to the market and seeing this). However I did get two fresh killed local birds, still warm, complete with feet, heads, unborn eggs (just like my Grandmother had in her chicken soup!). One of these was put in the freezer, the other was prepared via Chicken Fricassee method.

As might be expected, the cooking transpired differently. It took two and a half times longer for the chicken to cook to tenderness. It had much less liquid in it so I had to add some during cooking which is never the case with production chicken. I cooked it the day before (always a good thing to do with braises and stews) and there was hardly any fat on top compared to the thick layer that would have come from a grocery store bird.

But the final test, the taste...was fantastic. I had my shopping benefactor over to share the results. She was quite impressed. Especially with how tender it came out. In Ghana, time is short and cooking is often done with one temperature/speed - high and fast - leading to not so tender result. 

I am very anxious to try the second one in a Coq au Vin...and I will try to remember to take some pictures.