primitives discuss raising and fixing chickens

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x89500

Oh my.

Today must be chicken day on Skins's island.

Denninmi (1000+ posts)      Wed Oct-05-11 12:38 PM
Original message
 
Poultry Purgatory, or, Be Careful of What You Wish For.

A couple of years back, I wished that I could raise chickens for eggs. Then, last year, I wished that I would be able to start a little experiment in raising poultry for meat.

Well, hundreds of dozens of eggs later, and a freezer full of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and quail, and, well,

I'M SO SICK OF EGGS AND POULTRY!!!! I could

Of course, when I go to the grocery store and see the price of beef, pork, and seafood, it doesn't seem quite as bad again.

Help me!

Anyone got any recipes to cook turkey so it turns out just like a nice T-bone???

kestrel91316  (1000+ posts)        Wed Oct-05-11 12:49 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. You can mail any you don't want to me. I love poultry.

franksolich just goes to the grocery store to get chicken when he wants chicken.

Easier, cleaner, cheaper.

And better yet when one can buy it already cooked, which is 99% of the time.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Wed Oct-05-11 03:54 PM
Response to Original message
 
2. You can butcher a turkey down and use the meat as a substitute for both pork and veal in a huge variety of dishes. Grilling it over charcoal gives it that smoky cookout flavor that can fool you into thinking it's not just more bird.

If you do break down and buy a piece of beef, don't be surprised to find out you've completely lost your taste for it. It tastes like greasy cardboard to me.

japple  (1000+ posts)      Wed Oct-05-11 09:27 PM
Response to Original message
 
5. I cooked a turkey breast on the (water) smoker a couple of weeks ago and it was wonderful. My family ate part of it, then I froze the rest to use in pasta, soup, or chili. I also got a couple quarts of smoked turkey stock which I plan to use for cooking beans. I can't wait to taste red or black beans cooked in that stock.

You can smoke whole chickens and turkeys as well. I've never done duck or quail, but I bet they would turn out well. It takes a long time, but is relatively easy.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-06-11 09:15 PM
Response to Reply #5
 
7. I've smoked a whole duck in a wok

Just line the wok with heavy duty foil and put in the smoking mixture. Precook the duck in the oven for an hour or so to render all the fat, then put the whole bird onto criscrossed wooden chopsticks in the wok, at least an inch above the smoking materials. Cover with more heavy duty foil and with the wok lid, leaving just a tiny hole for some of the smoke to escape so you can tell when the mixture is exhausted and it's time to take it off heat.

Carry it outdoors to open up and put the duck onto a platter outside. The skin will be dark brown and the duck will smell amazing. When the wok has cooled, roll up the aluminum foil and stinky ashes and deposit them in the trash can outside. If the duck isn't quite done when you've cut it into bite sized serving pieces, you can finish it in the oven without affecting the smoky flavor, I've done it.

It is absolutely my favorite way to prepare duck.

flamin lib  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-06-11 01:19 PM
Response to Original message
 
6. Break the turkey down to bonless, skinless breasts, thighs and drumsticks. Smoke the drums and use for a ham hock substitute or just eat 'em ala every outdoor event serving food. Brown the thighs in a skillet and finish in the oven for a different sort of taste than conventional roasting or bone them and stuff before browning and roasting.

Slice the breasts into cutlets across the grain. Wrap in thin sliced bacon and prepare like filet mignon.

Stock with all the bits--use it instead of water for rice, pasta, potatoes or damn near anything blanched or boiled.

If you have a sausage grinder make sausage using any seasoning mix, stuff or just make patties.

Tesha  (1000+ posts)      Fri Oct-07-11 08:09 AM
Response to Original message
 
8. one of my favorite things...
 
is Korean-style bbq short ribs. But I can't find meaty ones here - so...

at the H-Mart they had a sale on Korean-style chicken thighs.

I pack them up in dinner-sized servings and freeze them, defrost when ready and slip them on a skewer and grill.

Sooooo good - and they don't make you think of chicken at all.

I'll bet turkey would be good too, especially the dark meat.

[zeitgeist]

I can relate to hating chicken.  Nothing like the hen house on a hot, humid, July day.  Not a fan of dark meat either ( fish, turkey or chicken thank you very much).  Raising chickens is a nasty business. I am with Coach on the better buy it fried.  I do miss the Colonel's little cakes with my bucket of chicken and slaw.  He got run out of town years ago.   

[delilahmused]

I really don't mind. Once you've had farm fresh eggs store bought ones are just tasteless and disgusting. Plus I know my birds are raised humanely. Even my meat birds are free range (well free waddle). I find it cuts down on the fat. And the meat of poultry raised on the farm is to die for. Both meat birds and turkeys are so stupid shooting them is no big deal. Generally I spread out the processing by buying quantities at different times so I don't have to process them all at once.

My coops don't smell. I've been using the deep bed method for awhile and I only have to clean it once a year in the spring so I can work it into my garden. I used a combination of pine shavings, paper from my shredder and hay. I turn it over every couple of days, add more bedding a couple times a week and add food grade diatomaceous earth  once a week. It doesn't smell (I also put scratch on the ground so the chickens help with the sifting). As it composts it helps heat the coop in the winter. Because I'm just starting the process in the spring the coop doesn't overheat in the summer. And the DE helps prevent worms in the chickens. It costs a lot less than replacing everything every couple of days. And the paper is free.

Cindie

[catsmtrods]

I hate processing chickens! I buy them from the local farm. I have my hens for eggs. I raise rabbits for meat. Great meat! Having southern fried rabbit tonight! I am smelling it now! So easy to process and the bonus of fur to tan and use!

[ChuckJ]

Personally I can't honestly say that I taste any difference between store bought eggs and eggs straight from the coop. The store smells better than the coop.

Nor can I taste any difference in chicken from the store or from the farm EXCEPT on one occasion. During the summers as a teen I'd stay on my grandparents' farm to work in the tobacco field. One morning when we got up to go to work we had found that the hunting dogs had escaped their pen and had a chicken killing. These were small, young chickens. Probably somewhere between a fryer and a quail in size. We took off from picking tobacco and plucked chickens. Those were some good chickens.

Now quail is a different story. As a child we raised quail for a while, and I thought they tasted great. As an adult I've purchased quail from the store on two occasions and was very disappointed both times; however, as so much time has passed between quail raising and quail buying for all I know my tastes may have changed.

[delilahmused]

I hate processing chickens! I buy them from the local farm. I have my hens for eggs. I raise rabbits for meat. Great meat! Having southern fried rabbit tonight! I am smelling it now! So easy to process and the bonus of fur to tan and use!

Oh I cannot kill bunnies! My sister does. But I have a French Lop that runs around my kitchen during the day (she goes into her bunny house at night). She's so sweet & affectionate. I just can't kill anything that cute.

How could anyone kill Emma Rose?

[catsmtrods]

I mix this



With this



and I get this

[SherryBaby]

I really don't mind. Once you've had farm fresh eggs store bought ones are just tasteless and disgusting. Plus I know my birds are raised humanely. Even my meat birds are free range (well free waddle). I find it cuts down on the fat. And the meat of poultry raised on the farm is to die for. Both meat birds and turkeys are so stupid shooting them is no big deal. Generally I spread out the processing by buying quantities at different times so I don't have to process them all at once.

My coops don't smell. I've been using the deep bed method for awhile and I only have to clean it once a year in the spring so I can work it into my garden. I used a combination of pine shavings, paper from my shredder and hay. I turn it over every couple of days, add more bedding a couple times a week and add food grade diatomaceous earth  once a week. It doesn't smell (I also put scratch on the ground so the chickens help with the sifting). As it composts it helps heat the coop in the winter. Because I'm just starting the process in the spring the coop doesn't overheat in the summer. And the DE helps prevent worms in the chickens. It costs a lot less than replacing everything every couple of days. And the paper is free.

Cindie

X2!  I use the deep litter method too. I don't raise meat chickens, I just don't have the space.  I only have three laying hens so I don't have to worry much about disease & whatnot.  I'm the only person in my house that likes eggs (besides in baked goods, that is).

I only buy locally, organically raised free rangers.  If someone can't tell the difference between store-bought and homegrown, organically raised chickens and eggs are either 1) buying storebought homegrown organically raised birds or 2) have insensitive tastebuds!  My eggs have bright orange yolks and are creamier, tastier, I don't even add salt or spices.  Storebought eggs are pale yellow, runny, and always need some salt.  Plus, my hens are happy, happy, happy!  

[zeitgeist]

X2!  I use the deep litter method too. I don't raise meat chickens, I just don't have the space.  I only have three laying hens so I don't have to worry much about disease & whatnot.  I'm the only person in my house that likes eggs (besides in baked goods, that is).

I only buy locally, organically raised free rangers.  If someone can't tell the difference between store-bought and homegrown, organically raised chickens and eggs are either 1) buying storebought homegrown organically raised birds or 2) have insensitive tastebuds!  My eggs have bright orange yolks and are creamier, tastier, I don't even add salt or spices.  Storebought eggs are pale yellow, runny, and always need some salt.  Plus, my hens are happy, happy, happy!  

I did catch a show about Omega something the other day when the guy was saying how free range stuff had more of it because he chickens ate bugs and worms.  Yum.  I always crack eggs into a separate dish, I remeber my early days when we would have partial birth eggs in addition to the occasional double or triple yokes.  Yum, yum.   

[SherryBaby]

I did catch a show about Omega something the other day when the guy was saying how free range stuff had more of it because he chickens ate bugs and worms.  Yum.  I always crack eggs into a separate dish, I remeber my early days when we would have partial birth eggs in addition to the occasional double or triple yokes.  Yum, yum.   

Watching my hens squabble over who got to eat a humongous, disgusting grub the other day did give me a moment's pause (what goes in must come out)...but only a moment!

[Karin]

The only thing I can add to this thread is this:  I was making chicken soup this last weekend, and realized I would never make chicken soup again, without quietly laughing to myself over Cindie saying this:

He was an asshole.  So I shot him and made him into soup. 

 

[delilahmused]

I did catch a show about Omega something the other day when the guy was saying how free range stuff had more of it because he chickens ate bugs and worms.  Yum.  I always crack eggs into a separate dish, I remeber my early days when we would have partial birth eggs in addition to the occasional double or triple yokes.  Yum, yum.   

And the grass they eat provides them with essential nutrients. Still I get a kick out of those people who say they raise "free range vegetarian hens". If your chickens free range they ARE NOT vegetarians.

Cindie