Poultry
Dorking
B tier
Dorking is an ancient English table breed from Surrey, noted for a rectangular body, short white or flesh-coloured legs with five toes, and a reputation for fine-textured white flesh. Birds are dual-purpose but historically prized more for the table than for extreme egg yield, finishing into compact, well-fleshed carcasses with a mild, clean flavour. Culinary use favours whole roasting, pot-roasting, and classic English boiled fowl dishes where even breast and leg meat and good skin are valued. Dorkings mature more slowly than industrial broilers, so heritage and small-farm programmes often market them as premium Sunday-roast or restaurant birds rather than everyday commodity poultry.
Also known as: Dorking, Silver-Grey Dorking, American Dorking, Dorking
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Preparations
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Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Five-toed table fowl of Roman-British type were kept in southern England and later associated with the Dorking district of Surrey.
Market poultry from Dorking and surrounding Surrey farms became famous in London for white flesh and five-toed legs.
Poultry shows and early breed standards formalised Silver-Grey, Coloured, and White Dorking types as distinct exhibition and table stock.
The American Poultry Association recognised the Dorking, spreading interest among North American fancy and farm flocks.
Rare-breed and conservation programmes worked to reverse decline after industrial broiler genetics displaced traditional table breeds.