Tastes Like Chicken! Recipes
(From Chicken Recipes Compiled Since 1992)

🐔 Tastes Like Chicken! Cookbook

1992 – Updated 2002, 2008, 2018, 2025

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Chicken, *Gallus gallus* or *G. domesticus*, is a domestic fowl—probably the most common bird in the world. It’s raised for meat, eggs, feathers, for sport, and even as a hobby. Descended from the red jungle fowl (*G. gallus*) of Southeast Asia, chickens have been fully domesticated for over 4,000 years.

Originally kept for eggs, and used for meat once their laying days were done, chickens evolved through breeding—some for egg laying, others for meat production. The move to indoor farming with environmental controls and large-scale production modernized the chicken industry.

Most chickens weigh 3–4.5 kg (7–10 lb), though some breeds grow to 6 kg (13 lb), and tiny bantams may weigh just 670 g (1.5 lb). Roosters have spurs used in fighting, and in cockfighting, these are replaced with metal gaffs. Hens begin laying at around 22 weeks and may lay an egg every other day. Eggs hatch in 21 days.

— Academic American Encyclopedia

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🥚 Why Chicken?

Well… we’re all trying to eat better. They say we are what we eat. They also say we should eat less red meat and more fowl. I’m brainwashed! I’ve been looking for “receipts” (as they were often called online) that include chicken so I too can eat better.

I found a wealth of chicken recipes on PRODIGY—the pre-Internet online service that brought people together in chatrooms, forums, and early email. I don’t claim to have created these recipes, but rather to have compiled them into this cookbook. Over time, I started collecting chicken cartoons and clippings—adding a little extra “spice” to this project.

Someone once suggested the reason we don’t eat more chicken is a syndrome called *chicken fatigue*. But I think that’s more about a lack of variety in how we cook it than any fault of the bird itself. This book may help cure that fatigue.

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🗳️ Election-Year Chickens

As the 1992 election year came to a close, we were reminded by Ross Perot of the chicken’s role in our economy. On Monday, November 2, 1992—the day before the national election—Ross pointed out that Bill Clinton’s biggest contribution to the job market in Arkansas was… chickens. He extrapolated this to suggest that soon, many of us across the country might find ourselves working in the poultry industry.

While I’ve sometimes felt like I work for a chicken %#@& organization myself, I think Ross may have taken it a little too far… I hope.

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🧡 Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoy reading and using this book as much as I’ve enjoyed preparing it. Let me know which recipes become your favorites.

— Christopher Reed

December 1992 (Print)

(Edited and updated for Internet: 2002, 2008, 2018, 2025)

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🔄 2025 Update – Now With Even More Sizzle!

This latest edition brings all the vintage flavor of the original *Prodigy-era* recipes—yep, those pixel-powered gems from the early internet days—plus some tasty new twists. We’ve added air fryer and crockpot updates (because 1992 Chris had no idea what those were), tossed in a few classics that somehow flew under the radar, and made everything easier to find with modern tech and snazzy search tools.

Think of it as your old chicken cookbook… but with Wi-Fi, extra crispy edges, and fewer paper clippings falling out.