Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Chicken...it's what's for dinner.

So this was what all the hard work was for...a yummy roaster like this.
Fresh as can be and weighing at 6lbs 5oz.
We did this chicken right.
We brined it using a Taste of Home recipe.
It was good, not my favorite brine recipe to date.
Still it was so good!

I have also been asked what I think is better, free range chicken or organically feed.
It really depends on what you think.  Even though a chicken is organically feed, they still may have lived a sorry little 8 week life stuck in a cage with 5 other birds, their beak cut off so they don't peck each other.

Free range brings up an entirely different set of questions. There aren't well established standards for what is required to call a chicken a free range chicken.  From what I understand, if there is a door open to the coop they are in(keeping in mind commercial birds are kept in massive coops) they can call that bird a 'free range' chicken.  They just need to have access to the outside.  Because the commercial buildings can be so massive, many chickens don't make it outside but because they had the option, the grower can label them 'free range'.

It is a tough call and they can be really expensive.  I am the first person to admit, if I didn't raise my own chicken I would be buying Perdue from BJ's.  I have a family to feed on a budget.  I consider myself blessed that we have the land and the ability to raise a lot of our own food.  The TV show Modern Marvels did a really interesting show on the egg and it showed all of the different ways chickens are raised and housed for eggs...just some food for thought.

Thank you all for your supportive comments and questions...even from you non-meat eaters.  I am very appreciative of all of your comments and support.

7 comments:

rugosarosefarm said...

Looks yummy :)

Reality Jayne said...

i like free ranger brown eggs....If they are raised dirty and just doing there own thing...i can tell...I think the yolks have a richer taste

Stitchfork said...

Looks delicious! Do you gather eggs too?
xo Cathy

Unknown said...

It was so yummy. RJ...I wish I could let my girls out. We have had a real problem with hawks. They have an outside covered run and we try to bring them in all the good stuff they would find out ranging. Cathy...we are patiently waiting for the eggs, our hens are a little young, we have a couple months to go.

SZM said...

Wow...so I really did not know the difference between organic and free range...thank you!

Nicole said...

That reminds me of something I read about eggs...how if the chickens have been fed a vegetarian diet it can be indicative that they are not free range, because if they WERE, they would surely have consumed a bug or two. Interesting, I thought, since I thought chickens eating veg diets meant that they were merely not eating animal byproducts. Thoughts?

Unknown said...

Nicole that is very interesting. I have always been told that chickens will eat just about anything... including frogs and mice. Chickens let outside to range will really eat just about anything they can get their beaks on, mine are no different. I have to be honest I don't know a lot about the vegetarian aspect since, I think you might know by now, I'm not :)

I do love researching and learning new things so I am going to keep my eyes and ears open and let you know what I learn.