Originally from Indochina, chicken was at first not food but an offering to the gods. Penned up in yards, natural selection transformed gallus gallus into one of the most coveted fowls since ancient times. Chicken began to travel from Southeast Asia to China and Persia. Archeological remains of chickens were also found on the Pacific islands and it seems there was some kind of rooster on the American continent before Columbus arrived. Today it is a common food on all five continents.

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Kinds of breeding
Until just over a quarter century ago, chicken was the main dish at parties and celebrations. It was expensive, and its flavor highly praised. Industrial breeding techniques not only brought down costs, but also sapped flavor. This caused a drop in chicken's culinary ranking in benefit of so-called free range chickens raised the traditional way. The difference between the two techniques lies not only in flavor, which is more intense in free-range chickens, but in the fact that industrial-style chickens have more fat and cholesterol. This poses no problem when it comes to eating chicken since all the fat is in the skin. Once it is removed, the caloric content goes down from 170 calories per 100 grams of meat to 110 calories.

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Another difference between industrial and free range chickens is that the former are sacrificed when they are 40 to 50 days old and the latter at the age of three months. The free-range breeding technique also respects the chicken's natural sleep cycle and freedom of movement in the countryside. This produces a meat that is more complete, firmer, leaner and tastier. Industrial chickens are crammed into a cage, hardly moving at all. They fatten quickly and give a meat that is watery, softer and fattier. There is also a difference in price. Free range chickens cost nearly twice as much as industrial ones. Are they worth it? The answer depends on personal taste and how the chicken is going to be prepared.

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How to cook it
The most popular way to cook a chicken is by roasting it. It requires no addition of fat because the fat in the skin is enough. It melts with the heat of the oven, and the skin turns brown and crisp. All you need to add is a bit of broth and wine to the pan so the grease that drips down does not burn, and baste the chicken to keep the meat moist. You can season the chicken by placing herbs under the skin at the outset or when the bird is almost cooked. Or you can add strips of citrus fruits, or vanilla and tropical fruit. Time-honored recipes include chicken with rice, chilindr�n from Aragon, which is a stew of chicken, peppers, onion, a bit of tomato and chunks of serrano ham. Fans of contrast will love the Catalan recipe for mar y monta�a, or surf and turf, in which chicken is served with shrimp, prawns or lobster. All kinds of fillings work with chicken in any size or of any age. You can give chicken wings and exotic touch by basting them with honey and soy sauce and baking them in a hot oven for a few minutes. Their appearance is as attractive as their taste.

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Chicken is also easy on the budget. You can make broth or croquets with the scraps, or even filling for puff pastries with meat picked off the chicken carcass. This with a light cream sauce is enough to start off a festive meal. Indeeed, chicken is worth much more than it costs.