Succulent roast chicken – is there anything better? In my book chicken has to be one of the most comforting foods around, almost in any form.

As a child of the sixties, I grew up in towns when convenience foods were considered a Godsend, so I doubt I would have thought about the Chicken having had a good life. On the other hand, We certainly did not eat quite as much meat then as we do now.

One of my first memories of chicken is a roast chicken my mum made, on a Sunday. I was about five. Just as it had come out of the oven, someone knocked at the door, and my mum took the guest into another room to talk to.

I was left alone with this gorgeous smelling roast chicken in the kitchen. It was extremely hard to wait for lunch and it wasn´t l long until I gave in to temptation and ripped a strip of chicken off the underside, where I thought no one would notice.

It tasted so good. I sat down at the table, drank some water, surely mum would come soon. If I could have another bit…, I tore another strip off the other side, it tasted even better, so juicy with crispy skin. This carried on until one side of the chicken was bare. Which I suddenly realized.

Then the door opened, mum looked at the chicken and lead the guest to the door. I mean who calls on Sunday at lunchtime? Then she came back.  We had no pets I could blame the half-devoured chicken on. “That´s the best chicken you´ve ever made mum”, I said.