Chicken

That Chicken Little sure is cute. What a cute, adorable little chicken he is. Did we mention that he's really cute? Faced with a string of underperforming films at the box office, Disney has responded by both changing the way it does business - no more traditional animation for this studio, bring on the computers! - and resorting to that hoariest of animated movie cliches, the adorable-animal flick. Chicken Little is relentlessly cute. That's the good news, and those who consider the word cute anathema may want to look for entertainment elsewhere.

IN THEORY IT sounds great: roast a chicken over the weekend and use leftovers for additional meals. But how many nights can you face the same chicken?-- "Leftovers" by Kathy Gunst, $12.95, Harper Perennial, 1991Chicken, Feta and Pasta1 pound spinach rigatoni, shells or pinwheels, cooked3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil2 tablespoons red wine vinegar1 cup crumbled feta cheese12 cherry tomatoes, quartered1 to 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced broiled chicken1/2 cup black olives, cut in half and pitted1/3 cup chopped fresh dillhTC 1/4 cup each fresh chopped basil and parsleySalt and freshly ground black pepperMix cooled, drained pasta with oil and vinegar.

In some broiled-chicken restaurants, customers can build up an appetite watching their meal turn gently on a rotisserie before it is brought to their table. No such luck at Pollo Amigo. Here, the magic takes place behind the shiny silver doors of a refrigerator-sized oven. That's where the chickens are broiled over charcoal. When they emerge, their skins are deep mahogany, and so crisp they almost burst open at the touch of a fork. Hints of garlic, cumin and paprika provide a heady counterpoint to the mild flavor of the juicy meat.

No one could roast a chicken like my mother. No one. It was beautifully browned on the outside, moist on the inside, and had just the right amount of seasonings. Ask for her recipe? "Oh, Sandra, I don't know ... I just use a little onion and garlic powder, pepper and salt ... poultry needs lots of salt. Then just put it in the oven," she would say, her voice rising at the end, as if to say, `Come on, it's so simple, there's nothing to it!' " But there was a lot more to it, I would learn over the years.

Frank Perdue, who built a chicken empire by hawking his chicken on television for the last 20 years, will let his son, James, do the crowing from now on.In television advertisements scheduled to start airing next week, the elder Mr. Perdue says that although he's nearing retirement age -- he's 74 -- the company that bears his name won't be slacking off.Instead, as the cameras follow him through office corridors, Mr. Perdue dons a white coat and opens the...

CHICKEN WINGS are not fancy fare, but they make a good meal. Polishing off a mess of wings not only gives you a sense of well-being, it also can deliver a feeling of accomplishment. In some quarters, a pile of picked-clean chicken wings marks you as a serious eater. The world of teen-age boys would be one of those places. Teen-age boys have been known to compete for the title of top chicken-wing eater. The other night as I prepared a supper of wings for my 16-year-old son and his friend Bubba, the boys recalled some of the big-wing evenings in their past.

Salisbury -- He's got his dad's slightly beaky nose and lean, athletic build. But that's where the similarities end.James A. Perdue, the little-known son of the famous chicken-hawker Frank Perdue, says he is reforging the family poultry company in his own image.His father turned a small family egg business into the nation's fourth-largest chicken seller by telling television audiences he was a "tough man" who made "tender chickens."But Jim Perdue, who took over the chairmanship of Perdue Farms Inc. from his father last July, describes himself as "a tender man."

After 25 Preaknesses, Annette Thomas has her routine, and recipes, down pat. Thirty pounds of ribs, both pork and beef, marinated overnight in vinegar and soy sauce, then grilled in front of her house on Saturday. Fifty pounds of red-skin potatoes — "Never russets, oh no, no, no!" — boiled in her crab pots for dill whipped potato salad. "Half-and-half," or homemade sweet tea — not the bought tea, she explains — and lemonade to wash it down. For the hungry hordes heading into or out of Pimlico Race Course , sidewalk chefs like Thomas serve up a home-cooked alternative to the concessions inside.

PRINCESS ANNE -- For Larry Porter, who quit his job as a bank manager to run Little Acorn Farm here, raising chickens for supermarket shelves was a way to keep his family rooted in the land.But it's not a way to make money."As a former bank guy, no, I wouldn't consider myself a good investment," said Porter, 59, a deeply religious man who sometimes works 14 hours at a stretch with his chickens, his hay and his cattle.For many of the estimated 6,000 poultry growers on the Delmarva Peninsula, chickens produce a relatively reliable, if modest, paycheck in a vocation given to boom and bust cycles.

Those chicken breasts and thighs for sale in the grocery meat case might not be all bird, and consumer advocates say few shoppers know it. Processors have been injecting some fresh poultry with up to 15 percent water, salt and elements of seaweed in recent years because, they say, it makes the meat taste better and government regulators allow it. But critics say almost a third of the chicken Americans now buy has the additives, so it costs consumers more...