We raised our own meat birds this summer.
They had a pretty happy life with a grassy area to roam and a wheelbarrow of greens thrown in the munch on every day.
We took them in at 10.5 weeks and had an over 8 lb average on those babies. (Should have been processed the week before thanksgiving, not great plannning on our behalf!!!)
Wowza.
What to do with an 8 lb chicken let alone the 11.65 lb ones.......????
Value for money that's what.
I cooked one 8 lb chicken for the 5 of us. A $36 bird.
One gorge on roast chicken, stuffing, carrots, patooties, gravy etc.
Next night I made butter chicken curry (don't tell anyone but the sauce was from a jar and "tarted" up) and lucky me had leftovers for lunch the next day.....
Next night we had chicken quesadillas....
Then I made two deep dish pot pies with more than 2 cups of meat in each one. (Maybe even more than 3!)
Also 2 cups of homemade chicken stock in each one.
One we ate (and had leftovers for lunch the next day) and one I froze.
FIVE MEALS!!! (and 3 lunches!)
Now why would anyone pay $25/3 birds at the local grocery? 3 carcasses, not as much meat and who knows what kind of life they led??
Louisa's Deep Dish Chicken Pie (ideas from a bunch of different recipes on the net.....)
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
2+ cups chopped chicken
1 med onion chopped
garlic cloves (I put about 4 or 5 in)
salt and pepper to taste
one pie I put cumin the other nutmeg/thyme
1+ cups chopped carrots
1+ cups chopped grean beans (I have an excess......so I chopped them the size of peas....)
chopped leftover potatoes
1 cup chopped chanterelle mushrooms
I cooked it all up on the stove while I made the crust and thickened with flour (about 1/3 cup)
Crust:
2.5 cups white flour
1 cup butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup icy water + 1-4 Tablespoons
I made it in my kitchenaid with the flat beater.
until pea sized lumps....
Makes top and bottom crust.
I put them in deeper dishes that the crust fit......
Put in the oven at 425 for 30+ minutes. Crust looks ready and contents are bubbling
The one I froze I half cooked.
Shoulda taken a photo!
3 comments:
Yup, you should have taken a picture! ;) But I'm guessing it was fabulous from the description. My mouth is still watering. You raised some big birds there, my dear!
That was some bird! I sure wish I could raise some chickens...I like to know what I'm eating too! They are feeding chickens crap so they will grow faster and we are eating that crap and getting fatter. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I'm thinking..I need to find a farmer around that is honest in what he feeds his chicks..You have done a good job...Ginny
Sigh. We lost our entire broiler flock. All ten. We lost some to disease and the last ones to waiting too long for slaughter. I think they died from a heart attack.
Hoping to do a bit better next year, but we're not sure if we're going to do broilers again. We're sort of switching over to ducks and may raise them for meat.
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