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Topic · Meat & Poultry

Poultry & Game Birds

Poultry

Domesticated birds raised for meat and eggs: chicken, turkey, duck, goose, guinea fowl, quail and squab. French: volaille. White meat (breast) is lean and cooks fast; dark meat (legs) has more fat and connective tissue and tolerates longer cooking.

Chicken Sizes

North American chickens are sold by age and weight: Cornish game hen (under 1 kg), broiler/fryer (1.3–2 kg), roaster (2–3.5 kg) and stewing hen/fowl (older laying hen, tough but flavourful). French: coquelet, poussin, poulet, poularde (fattened young hen), chapon (capon), poule (boiling hen).

Bresse Chicken

The only chicken in the world with AOP status, from the Bresse region of France: white feathers, blue feet, red comb, raised free-range and finished on grain and milk.

Chicken Breast / Suprême

The breast muscle. A suprême is a boneless breast with the first wing joint (drumette) left on and frenched.

  • North America: chicken breast (boneless skinless, bone-in split breast); airline breast (suprême).
  • UK & Europe: chicken breast, chicken supreme.
  • French: suprême de volaille, blanc de poulet, filet.
  • Best cooked: pan-roasted skin-on, poached, stuffed, grilled; cook to 74°C (165°F) or 65°C held for safety.

Chicken Leg / Cuisse

The whole leg: thigh plus drumstick.

  • North America: leg quarter (with back portion), whole leg, thigh, drumstick.
  • UK & Europe: chicken leg, thigh, drumstick.
  • French: cuisse (whole leg), haut de cuisse (thigh), pilon (drumstick).
  • Best cooked: braised (coq au vin), roasted, confit, grilled; dark meat stays juicy to 80°C+.

Airline Chicken Breast

North American term for a chicken suprême — skin-on breast with the wing drumette attached and frenched.

  • North America: airline breast, statler breast.
  • UK & Europe: chicken supreme.
  • French: suprême.
  • Best cooked: pan-roasted.

Duck

Rich, dark-fleshed bird with a thick fat layer under the skin. Pekin (Long Island) duck is mild; Muscovy is leaner and meatier; Moulard (Mulard), a cross of the two, is raised for foie gras and magret.

  • North America: Pekin (Long Island), Muscovy, Moulard; whole duck, breast, legs.
  • UK & Europe: Aylesbury, Gressingham; duck breast, legs.
  • French: canard: de Barbarie (Muscovy), mulard, nantais, colvert (wild mallard), caneton (duckling).
  • Best cooked: breast seared skin-side down and served pink; legs confit or braised; whole roasted.

Turkey

Large North American bird, the centrepiece of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Breast and legs cook at very different rates.

  • North America: whole turkey, breast (bone-in, boneless roast), drumsticks, thighs.
  • UK & Europe: turkey crown (breast on the bone).
  • French: dinde (hen), dindon (tom), dindonneau (young).
  • Best cooked: roasted whole or separated, brined, spatchcocked, legs braised or confit.

Chef’s tip: take the breast out at 65°C and let it rest — the legs need to go further.

Quail / Caille

A tiny game bird, now mostly farmed. One or two per person; often sold semi-boneless.

  • North America: quail.
  • UK & Europe: quail.
  • French: caille.
  • Best cooked: grilled, roasted fast, stuffed.

Goose

A large, fatty bird with dark, rich meat, the traditional Christmas roast in Europe. Its rendered fat is prized for roasting potatoes.

  • North America: goose.
  • UK & Europe: goose.
  • French: oie; oison (young).
  • Best cooked: roasted (prick the skin and pour off fat), confit (confit d’oie).
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