Along the same lines, but more of a trangression: the smoked Scotch salmon with herb marinated prawns in ginger butter and the pan-fried chicken with wild mushrooms, pine kernels and bacon.

Mrs Nayar, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, won with a menu that included pan-fried chicken seasoned with coriander, green chilli, chilli sauce, ginger, garlic and yoghurt.

For further proof, take the awe-inspiring pan-fried chicken at Stroud's, cooked in vegetable shortening and lard.

Her specials include Louisiana quiche and, on Sundays, pan-fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Their definitive pan-fried chicken, for example, will make you stupidly happy - but it requires two long soaks (first in brine and then in buttermilk).

Recommended dishes: Black bean soup, vichyssoise, smoked salmon with corn and leek pancake, grilled scallop salad, sauteed calf's liver, pan-fried chicken, grilled sirloin steak, mixed grill, hamburger, cheesecake.

Chicken Maryland, a form of pan-fried chicken, often marinated in buttermilk, served with cream gravy and native to the state of Maryland.

Stroud's is rightly famous for its traditional fare, especially its pan-fried chicken, served family style in big platters and juicy down to the bone under the crisp breaded skin.

The main courses taste better than they read, especially the pan-fried chicken.

Reading "The Raw and the Cooked" made us yearn to sit quietly over plates of pan-fried chicken and chocolate layer cake at the counter of some modest cafe in rural Iowa.