Braising meat produces a delicious, full-flavored stock whether you use just water or add stock or alcohol. For a simple family meal, water flavored with vegetables, herbs and black peppercorns produces a sufficiently well-flavored dish. However, the addition of stock and/or wine enriches the taste and gives added flavor.

For a really elegant braised dish, set aside the cooked meat and keep it warm, then strain the stock, discarding the vegetables, and reduce it by rapid boiling to a syrupy consistency. Glaze the meat with the reduced sauce and serve with other freshly cooked vegetables.

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Boning a leg of lamb enables you to add a stuffing, which will give the meat extra flavor and succulence, and makes it very easy to carve. Or you can lay it flat under the grill or on a barbecue, skin side nearest the heat, where it will cook in just 15 minutes, being turned once. To ensure a neat, easy job, use a narrow, rigid boning knife.

1. There are three bones to remove: the shank bone, which juts out of the meat at the narrow end; the middle bone, which is attached to the shank bone by a ball and socket joint; and the V-shaped pelvic bone, which turns across the thick end of the joint.

2. Lay the leg fleshy side down. Start at the shank end and, holding the knife like a dagger, cut through the flesh down to the shank bone beneath. Change your grip to the normal one and cut along the bone, keeping the knife as close to the bone as possible, so as not to waste any of the meat.

3. Scrape round the ball and socket joint then cut along the middle and pelvic bones. Use your fingers to locate each bone in turn and work from both ends of the leg if you find it easier. Gradually ease the bones out, one by one. The boned meat is now ready to be stuffed, rolled and tied up for roasting.

4. To open the boned meat out flat for grilling which is also known as butterfly boning, make two further parallel cuts through the thick pieces of meat on either side of the space left by the middle bone. Beat the meat once or twice with a wooden mallet to even out the thickness, then grill or barbecue.

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There are two ways to tie up a chicken In the first, you sew up stuffed and rolled bird using a trussing needle and string, sewing across one end first, down the length of the roll and then across the other end.

Alternatively, you can fold the bird into shape around the stuffing then wrap it in a piece of muslin or a roasting net. First dip the cloth in melted butter or oil and wring out lightly. Put the stuffed bird in the center of the cloth, flap side uppermost, then wrap the cloth around it tightly, securing it at both ends with string to look like a Christmas cracker.

The cooking time should be calculated according to the bird's weight after it has been stuffed. Be sure it is fully cooked through, particularly if you have used a sausage-meat stuffing. Check by inserting a skewer into the center of the joint and the juices should run clear.

If you have wrapped the bird in muslin there is no need to baste it during cooking - but remove the cloth before the bird is completely cold or it will stick.

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