Cooking Older Chickens

[Summerthyme]

I remember when one could buy "stewing hens" in the meat departments of all the grocery stores! That went by the wayside looong ago though.

Yeah- no such thing these days, except for those of us who raise our own eggs and use "heavy breed" hens as egg layers.

Those scrawny little hybrid Leghorns the commercial producers use literally aren't worth "stewing"- heck, they only dress around 2 1/2-3# of bone and a little bit of meat. They'd flavor a broth- sort of- but that's about it.

Now, my Cuckoo Maran hens or the Slow Whites- they're a different story. They dress out between 5-6# and they're fat and meaty. Not tender, but so flavorful. I end up skimming off at least a couple pounds of schmaltz (chicken fat) off the top of the stock pot. It's nicely clarified, and as long as i don't season the broth before skimming (I wait to add salt and pepper until after I'd skimmed the fat), it's actually a mild flavored, delicious fat. I wouldn't use it for baking sweets, of course, but it's WONDERFUL (well chilled) for biscuits and dumplings.

Summerthyme

[BeaHold]

Hi Summerthyme,

"tiny splash of vinegar (this is where I use my homegrown purple basil vinegar) "

How do you make your purple basil vinegar? I would like to try making one of your Tomato soup for canning that call for this vinegar.

Thanks

Beahold

[Summerthyme]

It's very simple. You DO, however, need PURPLE basil- for whatever reason, I tried making it with a couple different green basils, and it didn't work well at all. <shrug>

Anyway, put a bunch of purple basil tops into a glass jar (I make it by the gallon... if you have to buy the basil, you'll probably want to start with a pint or so!). They don't need to be packed in tightly, but you want to more or less fill the jar loosely.

Then pour in enough white vinegar to cover. Yes, just the cheap white "distilled" vinegar. You could use cider vinegar or other "good" stuff, but the color won't be nearly as nice. And whatever alchemy the basil does smoothes out the harsh "cheap" stuff amazingly.

Shake it up a few times over the course of the first week. It will quickly turn the most amazing fuschia color. I usually leave it soaking until I have time to press it all out in the fall. But you can start "stealing" some to use after a week or so. I figure a month is plenty to get the full strength of the color and flavor- you can strain and press it any time after a month.

I use this in all sorts of salads- pasta, potato, etc. We've also found that it makes an amazingly good and effective meat tenderizer- when we had some tough steaks from a beef cow which was a little too lean once, simply splashing the basil vinegar onto them while barbecuing made a huge difference. Marinating really tough cuts works even better. My kids- all of whom are good, creative cooks- use this stuff by the quart (it's a perennial stocking stuffer at Christmas!)

Once you've tried it, you'll probably insist on growing some purple basil every year- it only takes one good plant to make a gallon of vinegar, and it will grow well in pots.

Summerthyme

[Animal Lover]

Boy, does that sound GOOD!! You have me drooling. I could drink vinegar.

[LC]

And on the subject of chicken fat.......those big fat hens often have a wad of fat on their belly which can easily be removed. When I have several heavy hens to process I save up that fat and also pull of any other fat that is easily removed as well as slicing off the back skin which has a thick layer of fat under it. All of this can be rendered in a low oven.

Also you can wash the fat from broth. Just dip off and put in a pan of water over low heat and stir a bit. Then dip off again and allow to solidify. A brief rinse or scrap of the bottom of the chunk of fat and it is ready to be wrapped for the freezer.

I have used chicken fat for baking plain bread and as the fat in roux for creamed chicken.

LC

[BeaHold]

Thanks Summerthyme,

Purple Basil. Are you using the one with the slight licorice taste? Thai Basil or something else?

"white vinegar" Just the plain stuff. Ok.

I have an organic raw apple cider vinegar from a local farmer tho grows the apples and also makes the cider then the vinegar. Also I have a local made raw red wine vinegar, along with a 24 year old balsamic from Italy.

This purple basil vinegar will be good also. We enjoy using a large variety of vinegars

Thanks

Beahold

[momof23goats]

I pressure cook mine, then either add noodles, or dumplins to it.

[Summerthyme]

Beahold- no, this is a plain purple basil- Red Rubin or one of the other varieties. I grow it from seed every year, and it has a strong basil scent and flavor, but no anise/licorice to it that I can see. That might be good to try, as well, though. Basil comes in so many amazing flavors- there is a green "cinnamon" basil which is spicy and interesting.

However, for whatever reason, the only time I tried using a green basil to make vinegar it was a huge disappointment. It just didn't really do ANYthing, which is sort of weird, as most herbs will flavor vinegar when you soak them in it.

I have about 4 gallons of an apple-raspberry vinegar. Not intentionally... it was going to be an apple raspberry wine, but things got very busy while it was in the first fermentation pail, and I didn't get it moved to a carboy with an airlock in time. I didn't see any sign of fruit flies... but SOMEthing got some acetobacteria in there. To be honest, I'm not complaining- we didn't NEED the wine that bad, and the vinegar is incredible! Pale pink, fruity and wonderful. I use it in salads, and the kids are all getting a bottle in their Christmas stockings this year.

Summerthyme

[Disastercat]

Some of the best cooking we ever did was with blueberry mead that turned to vinegar - the venison was amazing!

[RevDoc]

Davey, I butcher my broilers at no more than 12 weeks of age.

The laying hens are cooked down into chicken stock, and the meat, (which falls off the bones), is pulled apart and dehydrated, bagged, and sealed.

I sometimes pre-mix dehydrated spaghetti sauce and chicken into plastic breast milk bags, for simple meals. Fill the bag with warm water for 20-30 minutes, and add to noodles or rice you cook while waiting for the chicken and sauce to rehydrate.