1,421 easy and fully explained recipes, with 33,930 photos and 78 videos

Hay-baked poultry

Cooking poultry in hay may seem strange, but it is a very simple method. The bird is just seasoned and cooked slowly for a long time with a large bunch of hay.

During the slow cooking the poultry takes on the flavour of the hay, with its mix of grassy herbal and floral notes.

This recipe is inspired by old rural ways of cooking, where meat was cooked for a long time wrapped in hay that had been freshly gathered in.

15K 2 5

Last modified on: October 13^th 2021

Keywords for this recipe:

For 4 people, you will need:

1 ½ cup hay
2 1 whole bird (chicken, duck etc.)
3 salt
4 pepper

Change to the quantities for: 2 people 4 people 8 people 12 people

Change measures: Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
21 min.	4 hours	4 hours 21 min.

At what time:

When will I finish if I start the recipe at ... ?
When should I start for the recipe to be ready at ... ?
Work this out...

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 1 min.

Flatten ½ cup hay slightly into a mat.

Stage 2 - 4 min.

Salt and pepper your choice of bird (a guinea fowl here) both inside and out.

Put into a roasting bag.

Stage 3 - 2 min.

Slip the hay underneath the bird.

Seal the bag.

Stage 4 - 1 min.

Put the wrapped bird in an oven-proof dish or on a baking sheet.

Stage 5 - 4 hours

Cook in the oven at 280°F (140°C) for 4 hours.

Turn the bag upside down halfway through.

Stage 6 - 1 min.

After this time, take the dish out, but leave the oven on.

Stage 7 - 3 min.

Pour all the cooking juices from the bag into a bowl.

Stage 8 - 1 min.

Tip out the contents of the bag onto a baking sheet.

Stage 9 - 2 min.

Remove and discard the hay.

Stage 10 - 5 min.

Pull the meat off the bones. This should be very easy after such long cooking.

Stage 11

Discard the bones and skin and transfer the meat to an oven-proof dish as you go.

Stage 12 - 1 min.

Pour the cooking juices over and put back in the oven to keep hot until serving.

Stage 13

Serve with your choice of vegetables, rice or pasta, as you prefer.

Remarks

If you don't have a roasting bag, use something like a cast-iron casserole with a lid which can go in the oven.

You might find hay in an organic shop these days, but the best way to get it is to ask a local farmer for a little.

The quantity of hay is just for guidance, you just need enough to form a bed under the bird.

Keeping

1 or 2 days in the fridge, covered with plastic film.

Source

Home made.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
2,646 Kcal or 11,078 Kj	378 gr	0 gr	126 gr
132 %	145 %	0 %	19 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
139 Kcal or 582 Kj	20 gr	0 gr	7 gr
7 %	8 %	0 %	1 %

Per person
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
662 Kcal or 2,772 Kj	95 gr	0 gr	32 gr
33 %	36 %	0 %	5 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 4 people : 7.21 €
Per person : 1.80 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

	Whole bird (chicken, duck etc.) : You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Five hours poultry, ... All
	Salt: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: How to cook rice in rice-cooker, Quiche Bretonne, Chorba, Pasta with mustard-cream sauce, Potimarron and celeriac autumn soup, ... All
	Pepper: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Baked eggs with chicken and spinach, Bruschetta, Roast in the bag pork with fondant vegetables., Salmon chard rolls, Rustic chicken and mushroom pie, ... All

Other recipes you may also like

Macarons (the original French macaroons)

This recipe really is "of the moment": the success of these small, highly-coloured cakes, in an infinite variety of flavours, is impressive. It's a recipe which needs some care, in order to produce a result worthy of a professional pastrychef. No problem, I will guide you through the recipe,...
1.6M 714.6 2 hours 38 min. October 3^rd 2019

Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream)

Quite similar to crème anglaise but much thicker. It is used in many pastries like choux pastry (pâte à choux) or millefeuille.
734K 313.7 36 min. January 27^th 2017

Tartiflette

A personal version of a classic recipe from Savoy.
585K 14.6 1 hour 27 min. September 16^th 2019

French croissants

In this famous and highly technical recipe from a piece of yeast-based flaky dough we are going to cut and shape ("roll") croissants.
607K 24.4 2 hours 34 min. June 26^th 2019

Hamburgers

Hamburgers don't have to be the greasy flabby things you find in fast-food outlets, well-made they can be excellent. It's a very convivial recipe as everything goes on the table, and everyone assembles their own burger according to personal taste.
409K4.8 33 min. December 6^th 2015

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

Post your comment or question

Follow this recipe

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.