Backyard chickens

[dnjan]

By the time chickens quit laying, they aren't good for much other than boiling (soup).
It is nice, however, to have chicken soup that actually contains meat.

 

[tonyb]

Lotsa folks say that chickens these days ain't as tasty as they were before this age of mass production and relative comfort, when "a chicken in every pot" was a much more compelling phrase than it would be today.

I wouldn't doubt it (seems to me that chicken was indeed more flavorful when I was a kid), and I'm not of sufficient seniority to have seen the Depression, but sometimes I wonder if my taste buds weren't keener in my early years, before a few decades of hard(ish) living took its toll.

So, are heirloom varieties of chickens, raised under conditions such as you'd find in a typical backyard coop, tastier than birds coming from, say, a large Arkansan chicken-raising operation?

Or am I asking for a subjective assessment anyway? You know, one person finds a stronger flavor tastier, while another prefers a milder flavor?

 

[dnjan]

My own bias is that I think that the opportunity to actually come in contact with the ground, perhaps ingest a worm or two, and (possibly most important) be allowed to grow more slowly than would necessarily be profitable in a commercial operation adds flavour to the chicken.

I don't know how much is related to the "heirloom variety", other than it allows small growers to partially justify charging more and therefore actually make a profit raising chickens the old way.

Personally, about the only part of the chicken I eat most of the time are the wings. They seem to have more flavour than legs or thighs fried in the same pan at the same time.
(and of course the gizzard - absolutely best part of the chicken!)

 

[Doctor Strange]

I will say that I recently made soup from a stewing hen (an old hen that stopped laying) for the first time. My sister got it frozen from the local farm CSA where she's a member and gave it to me.

Now I've been making great chicken soup for 30+ years, but this was a different experience. Instead of cooking for two hours - as my soups made from thighs and legs typically do - it took five hours for the tough old bird to start falling apart. After straining the stock and putting it into a different pot, I put it in the fridge overnight. The next day, there wasn't enough fat on the surface to skim, which was surprising - usually there's like a quarter-inch of hardened fat to remove. But despite the lack of fat and how little good meat there is on these hens, the flavor was very rich and deep. (I just cooked it with the same usual stuff - leafy celery tops, onions, carrots, salt and pepper.) I put the carrots and some meat back in, made some noodles, and it was an awesome meal.

Anyway, I'm sold: these hens take a long time to cook, but they really do produce an especially flavorful and sophisticated broth!

 

[tonyb]

Me, I could eat chicken livers just about every day. And the dark meat is much more flavorful than the breast meat, which I tend to avoid unless it's serving as a vehicle for some other flavors in a recipe. You know, pound it flat, bread it, fry it quickly in olive oil before adding it to a parmigiana-like thing. Otherwise, the white meat these days is about as flavorful as plain unsalted rice cakes.

Now, if only we could get this into my cardiologist's head ...

 

[dnjan]

stewing hen

Now there's a term I haven't heard in ages!
Of course nowadays, the egg production hens spend 9 months in their elevated cages, and are then wisked away to some corporate soup factory. Too young to have developed any real flavour.

I've thought of raising backyard chickens, but I wouldn't do it for the eggs. And there just isn't room to raise 50 chickens (one to eat each week).
Ducks, however, would be tempting. I only roast duck for special occaisions, and so a few of those in the backyard could have potential ...

 

[olive bleu]

Unfortunately, our city maintains a by-law prohibiting the keeping of backyard fowl. This is apparently "under review" , but I think it has been for some time and I really don't expect this to change anytime soon. I know there are people who go ahead and do it anyway, at least until they get reported by their neighbours.

 

[BladeOfAnduril]

Wow... deja vu... I'm pretty sure I saw this same thread over at Badger & Blade.

 

[Michaelshane]

Wow... deja vu... I'm pretty sure I saw this same thread over at Badger & Blade.

I started that one too.

 

[BladeOfAnduril]

Ahh well played. Your double life is sneakier than mine. Different usernames.. clever fellow...

 

[Mark G]

tonyb, I do indeed find the "heirloom" chickens better tasting than their mass produced varieties and I also find the eggs much better. When we get to the end of the chicken's laying days we have found lots of ways to cook them. Even slow roasting.

I find this to be the case with all the meat we eat. I can't believe how much I like pork chops again. The heritage breeds are much better than the tasteless cardboard sold in the stores.

 

[dnjan]

Is it the breed, or the growing conditions?

 

[Mark G]

I think a little of both. The breeds are smaller than commercial and the pastured feed much more diverse.

 

[1961MJS]

HI

I seem to remember a travel or food network show that mentioned a ham product. The pigs lived in a Pecan or Hazelnut orchard for their last months of life. The meat tasted like pecans or hazelnuts, and was $100 a pound or something outrageous like that.

Later

 

[tonyb]

HI

I seem to remember a travel or food network show that mentioned a ham product. The pigs lived in a Pecan or Hazelnut orchard for their last months of life. The meat tasted like pecans or hazelnuts, and was $100 a pound or something outrageous like that.

Later

And there must be people who would pay it.

I feel about that sort of thing pretty much the way I feel about $200,000 cars and $20,000 sofas.

A person could get used to being rich, in ways both good and not so good. I was once content to live in 500 square feet and drive a car that may have needed a little shove to get going. Now I wouldn't want to find myself back in such a condition, as much it might appear to be the lap of luxury to a lower-caste Indian, say, or an Afghan war refugee.

Exceptionally good poultry and eggs, on the other hand, would seem one of those little luxuries well within the reach of folks of quite modest means.

 

[tonyb]

I think a little of both. The breeds are smaller than commercial and the pastured feed much more diverse.

I've read that poultry -- chicken and turkey, specifically -- has been bred in recent decades to have proportionally more white meat, to meet what the industry sees as market demand for a lower cholesterol, lower fat product.

 

[Oldsarge]

If you want regular store-bought chicken to taste good beyond your wildest expectations, get the (rather expensive)cookbook Ad Hoc at Home. Tom Keller's roast chicken on a bed of winter vegetables is enough to make you grow your own turnips. The same technique but using a bed of rosemary branches as a roasting rack yields flavor my sainted Italian grandmother would come back from the grave for.

 

[dnjan]

I could see roasting something on a bed of rosemary branches just for the smell in the kitchen ...

 

[tonyb]

I could see roasting something on a bed of rosemary branches just for the smell in the kitchen ...

It's to our great benefit that that stuff grows like a weed around here.

 

[Oldsarge]

Rosemary, like beer, is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!