Friday Five: Cheap as chicken

I like chicken as much as the next person. Or at least, I thought I did, until I moved to Australia, where it seems that the average person likes chicken a lot.

Australia has the second highest number of sheep in the world (after China) and yet lamb is quite expensive here. Australia is the seventh largest cattle rearing country in the world, but beef is still pretty pricey. Australia doesn't even make the top ten of national poultry producers, but chicken seems to be the choice meat of the country. This extends to the number of 'fast food chicken restaurants', of which there are many, without even resorting to the globally ubiquitous KFC.

5 Fast-Food Chicken Outlets in Australia:

1. Nando's: originally South African, but it has been in Australia for the past 15 years.
2. Red Rooster: first opened in Kelmscott, WA, this is now 'Australia's largest roast chicken operation'
3. County Chicken: 'crisp and light with a taste just right', they also fry other stuff besides chicken, like fish.
4. Henny Penny: mainly in NSW they describe themselves as 'quick service' rather than 'fast food' restaurants.
5. Kingsley's Chicken: 'unbelievable value; awesome chips' apparently - they are a Canberra and Queenbeyan 'speciality'

Quick Quintet: Tastes Like Chicken

Whenever people eat something a bit different - frogs' legs; snake; crocodile; squirrel - they invariably say, 'it tastes a bit like chicken'. This is probably because chicken is such a versatile meat that it can actually taste like almost anything itself, even squirrel. I like chicken - yes, free range organic and all that, and it goes very well in a variety of dishes.

5 Great Chicken Dishes:

1. Roast chicken - with roast potatoes and fresh green vegetables, or in fresh white bread sandwiches with lashings of mayonnaise
2. Lemon chicken - the Chinese restaurant in Marlow High Street was my introduction to this particular favourite
3. Kadai chicken - a perennial winner at Indian restaurants worldwide
4. Chicken Pad Thai - the benchmark of a good Thai restaurant, and usually a perfect serving size to leave you replete but not stuffed
5. Chicken Mee Goreng - one of the best hangover cures ever