I have enjoyed a fine meal of roast chicken countless times but neverMurgh Musallam in the true sense, as referred to by the royals of centuries past.

In my observation the hosts serving a whole chicken at lavish or intimate dinners always call it roast chicken and never Murgh Musallam, and now I understand why: Because it was never the royal Murgh Musallam, the spices were a tad western, the boiled eggs were never an accompaniment, and it was never stuffed with lamb keema (lamb mincemeat), as it was in its original shahi (royal) recipe.

Murgh Musallam literally means whole chicken; it is a rich dish in which a whole chicken is marinated, stuffed with eggs, prepared with spices like saffron, cinnamon, cloves, poppy seeds, cardamom and chilli, and decorated with almonds and silver leaves. It is considered a gourmet dish in the book of Moghul cuisine Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh, where it is described as lending a certain majesty to the dastarkhwan (tablecloth upon which the dishes of a meal are places).