When asked why virtually all Indians choose to cook and eat their guinea fowl and chicken without skin, Anirudh Arora, the chef at Moti Mahal in Covent Garden, did not think fat was a factor.

“We believe in the flavour of spices,” reasoned Arora, composing a mantra for all Indian cooking.”

Monica Bhide, the food writer and cookbook author behind the terrific A Life of Spice blog, agrees. The feeling, she says, is that the marinades and curries penetrate the meat better without the skin. There’s no barrier to entry.

For the tandoor-grilled titari (guinea fowl) he adapted from a recipe for tandoor murg (tandoori chicken) in India Cookbook, a new 815-page bible of home-style Indian cuisine (Phaidon), Arora applies two marinades to the skinless bird. The first consists of malt vinegar, spices and crucially salt, which, in 45 minutes time, draws out the moisture from the breasts and legs, leaving their meat thirsty for the second massage: a penetrating, four-hour rub of ginger, garlic, drained yogurt, Kashmiri chillies, mustard oil and caraway seeds. The full-body treatment breaks down all of the guinea fowl’s remaining defences, achieving tender succulence for the finished bird and, for the finished dinner guest, total belief in the flavour of spices.