Creating Flavour: Epiphany #1: Chicken

Have you noticed that things don't taste of very much? I swear I can actually taste the manure and fertilizer on fruit and vegetables these days above their natural flavours. Meat is particularly bad from supermarkets. Putting a picture of the farmer on the packaging doesn't excuse the fact that it's bland and of poor quality.

I only know this because yesterday I had an epiphany. I stopped into my local farm shop and bought a chicken breast. This was no normal chicken breast. It had been expertly butchered - it was obvious from the fact that the wing had been left in tact, and the skin was taut. This chicken also led a happy life. It was full and meaty, not in some GM-experiment kind of way, but because, like me, it had eaten good food all its life.

I bought one - 2.95. Not bad for a quality bit of meat, but a lot more expensive than Sainsbury's 4 for 3 pounds budget range. It was worth every penny. I cooked it in loads of garlic and lemon and butter and herbs, yet the meat was still tastable through the other flavours. I had fried it and roasted it, yet it was as succulent and tender as a peach from the Ardeche.

I know we can't all always afford to buy this stuff, or we don't have the time to go Farm Shops. But the difference was mind-blowing. This was the best chicken I'd ever had. Worth 2.95? I think so.