Chicken , turkey, pork, lamb, seafood, meat-free….plenty of choices when it comes to deciding what to serve for your Christmas Day feast. If you’re still undecided, let us help you make that choice a little easier.
Why Chicken This Christmas?
Chicken is Nutritious
You’ll be pleased to know that chicken not only tastes great and is a popular choice in most Australian households, but it is also a great nutritional package.
The nutrients provided by cooked chicken meat have a range of important roles in a healthy diet. Here are just a few of those:
As part of a varied, healthy diet, cooked chicken: [i]
- supports muscle growth and development. Cooked chicken contains a number of nutrients needed for developing, maintaining and using muscles: such as protein, potassium and magnesium.
- is brain food! It contains many nutrients required for a healthy nervous system and brain function: riboflavin, niacin, biotin, pantothenic acid, B6, B12, potassium, magnesium and zinc.
- helps to keep your immune system strong. Cooked chicken contains immune-supporting vitamins B6 and B12 and minerals selenium and zinc.
- is a fatigue fighter. It contains many energy-boosting nutrients: riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, B6, B12, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc. In particular, cooked chicken is rich in niacin (with all your daily needs in just one serve), vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid, all of which contribute to reducing tiredness and fatigue.
- helps to build strong bones. Cooked chicken contains bone-building nutrients: protein, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc, plus pantothenic acid which helps produce vitamin D another important bone nutrient.
Chicken is Great Value for Money
(The following price comparisons are as of 27 November 2020 from Woolworths online)
Chicken is the most affordable source of high-quality meat protein.
Whole chicken for roasting costs at least 60% less than lamb, pork or beef cuts suitable for roasting, and nearly 85% less than vegan ‘meat’.
Whole chicken for roasting costs 85% less than salmon fillets.
Chicken fillets cost at least 65% less than salmon fillets, and 55% less than vegan fillets.
Chicken is More Environmentally Friendly
Chicken meat has the lowest environmental footprint of any meat. This is to a large extent due to the fact that chickens are highly efficient converters of feed into meat.
Chicken is Versatile
Roast, stir-fry, mince, bake then serve hot or cold – the choice is yours when it comes to serving chicken for Christmas. Our favourite here in the ACMF office is the roast chicken, so here we share some of our tips to perfecting the perfect Chrissy Day bird.
Viv’s Stuffed Chook (Dr Vivien Kite, Executive Director)
I love a good stuffing in my roast chook. A simple option is to melt 125g butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add an onion and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add 2 cloves of garlic and cook a further minute. Remove from the heat.
In a bowl combine the 3 cups of Italian bread crumb, the onion mixture, and about ¾ cup of chopped herbs like basil, sage, rosemary and thyme and seasoning with salt and pepper. Fill the cavity of the chicken with the stuffing, then tie the legs to secure.
Brush some oil over the top of the chook and season with salt and pepper. Bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes per 500g, or until the internal temperature reaches 75°C. You can also check the chicken is cooked by inserting a knife just above the leg, the juices should run clear. When cooked, wrap the chicken lightly in foil and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
Annabel’s Simple Serve (Annabel Selby-Jones, Communications Manager)
We need to manage food allergies in our house, so we don’t bother with stuffing and instead focus on making sure the meat is well cooked but still juicy, while aiming for crispy skin. Drizzle lots of good quality olive oil over the top, then season the chicken with sea salt flakes, fresh rosemary leaves and a sprinkle of cracked pepper. Pop it in the oven with a loose foil covering for the first 20 minutes, then remove the foil for the rest of the bake, allowing about 25 minutes per 500g after that.
Kylie’s Leftover Cheesy Chook Pie (Dr Kylie Hewson, Deputy Executive Director)
Chicken never goes to waste in our household – it’s always one of the first things eaten! If we haven’t finished the roast chicken and veggies from Christmas Day, I always turn the leftovers into chicken and veggie pies, which don’t last long either! I make a quick cheese sauce (using whatever cheeses we have in the fridge) by melting 3 tablespoons of butter into 3 tablespoons of plain flour in a saucepan over low heat, then slowly adding about 2 cups of milk until the sauce thickens. I then add at least 1 cup of cheese and stir until melted. Then I warm the leftover chicken and chopped-up veggies in the sauce, before seasoning and putting the mixture in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Place the cheesy mix into a pie dish, top with puff pastry and put in a 180°C oven for about 30 minutes or until the pastry is cooked. We think it serves best when it’s cooled a little.
Chicken and Food Safety
Make sure you don’t let the Christmas chook make you crook. In previous blogs we’ve emphasised the importance of adhering to the key food safety principles of ‘Clean, Chill, Cook, Separate’ in ensuring your chicken handling skills in the kitchen are up to scratch and that your roast chook doesn’t make you crook. Take a look at our cheat sheet for a refresher. And contrary to instructions in some recipes, you should never rinse raw chicken, as this increases the likelihood of bacteria spreading across the kitchen.
The ACMF wishes you, your family and your friends a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Let’s all hope 2021 delivers more cheer than 2020!
[i] Internal ACMF report “Chicken: Substantiation of Nutrition and Health Claims” by Lisa Yates Adv APD and Nicole Senior APD, November 2019 (updated February 2020)
