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Hay-baked poultry

Name: Hay-baked poultry
Prep time: 21 min
Cook time: 4 h
Total time: 4 h 21 min
Yield: 4 people
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 100 g hay; 1 whole bird (chicken, duck etc.); Salt; Pepper

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.

47 K 5/5 (2 reviews)571578

Duration

4 hours 25 min.

Difficulty

Easy

Last modified on: November 3^rd 2026

Step by step recipe Ingredients Duration Nutritional facts Cost Comments Support the site ❤️

For 4 people, you will need:

1 100 g hay
2 1 whole bird (chicken, duck etc.)
3 Salt
4 Pepper
Total weight: 1,900 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation

25 min.

Cooking

4 hours

All in all

4 hours 25 min.

Preparation 25 min.

Cooking 4 hours

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around: ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Step 1 - ⌛ 1 min.

Flatten 100 g hay slightly into a mat.

Step 2 - ⌛ 4 min.

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

Put into a roasting bag.

Step 3 - ⌛ 2 min.

Slip the hay underneath the bird.

Seal the bag.

Step 4 - ⌛ 1 min.

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

Step 5 - ⌛ 4 hours

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

Turn the bag upside down halfway through.

Step 6 - ⌛ 1 min.

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

Step 7 - ⌛ 3 min.

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

Step 8 - ⌛ 1 min.

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

Step 9 - ⌛ 2 min.

Remove and discard the hay.

Step 10 - ⌛ 5 min.

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

Step 11

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

Step 12 - ⌛ 1 min.

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

Step 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: Homemade.

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Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	20 g RDI=31 %	0 g	7 g RDI=9 %	139 kcal RDI=7 %	583 kJ RDI=7 %
Per person	95 g RDI=145 %	0 g	32 g RDI=43 %	662 kcal RDI=33 %	2,770 kJ RDI=33 %
Whole recipe	378 g RDI=582 %	0 g	126 g RDI=173 %	2,646 kcal RDI=132 %	11,078 kJ RDI=132 %