would not should good

I FIRST SAW Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on tv while we were in London last November. A crazy haired and bespectacled man ranting on about cooking fish. I opted not to buy his latest and rather weighty tome while on vacation, The River Cottage Fish Book, as I had enough things stuff into my suitcase and books are just cheaper in the US. I promptly ordered The River Cottage Cookbook and The River Cottage Meat Book. I was particularly interested in the later one, as you don’t tend to get a lot of cookbooks that go on about raising your pigs, cows and chickens. I was also a bit overwhelmed by the idea of cooking with tripe, liver or other interesting bits of the animals.

I looked for a recipe that I could kick the tires of the cookbook, and I settled on a roast chicken recipe. Herbs, butter, white wine, and a whole chicken. Simple, but the roast chicken turned out wonderful, even though I cooked it upside down for most of the time. You also get to make up some yummy chicken stock with the leftovers (that recipe is also in the book). I have done it several times this year so far, and it just makes for a fun couple of days of eating and cooking (nothing better than getting your fingers covered in chicken and fat while picking the bones clean). I tried it with one of those organic, free range, antibiotic free chicken, and it did taste better. So I heartily recommend roasting a whole chicken for dinner.