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Did this for the first time yesterday. Two chickens from a local farmer. Eviscerating and defeathering weren't too bad, the slaughter was the hardest part, I'd say. It's good to know where your food comes from and how much work goes into it. The chickens were one year old and not the pent up broilers you get at the store that are only 6 weeks old. The meat was definitely not tender and quite tough. Lesson learned. Next time cook a chicken that has had a proper life in a stew or braise it to make the meat tender. The chickens had amazing amounts of rich fat, I've never seen anything like it on a chicken you get from the store. Definitely saved it for rendering.
Anyway, who else slaughters their own chicken to eat? Which method do you prefer for the slaughter? Are there any ways to remove the feathers faster when doing it by hand after a hot water dunk?
I like my meat all neatly wrapped up in plastic, and preferably boneless, so I can't tell what part of the animal it is.
No, I don't kill my own chickens. Nor do I hunt. I'd like to be a vegetarian, but only meat makes me feel satisfied.
I like my meat all neatly wrapped up in plastic, and preferably boneless, so I can't tell what part of the animal it is.
No, I don't kill my own chickens. Nor do I hunt. I'd like to be a vegetarian, but only meat makes me feel satisfied.
Me too! I like my meat packaged already. I am not against hunting but I'd rather not do it.
I like my meat all neatly wrapped up in plastic, and preferably boneless, so I can't tell what part of the animal it is.
No, I don't kill my own chickens. Nor do I hunt. I'd like to be a vegetarian, but only meat makes me feel satisfied.
That's funny because I made chicken gallantine---i.e. I deboned the whole chicken and stuffed it. Trussed it for a roast. Prepackaged meat isn't cleaner than doing it yourself. At least I know the chicken I killed wasn't fed a steady diet of antibiotics, raised in overcrowded pens and knee deep in fecal matter, a sick chicken from a factory farm, and slaughtered on a line with 1,000,000 other chickens, many of which could have been sick with bacterial infection.
I used to; as farm kid I was taught. Happy free range chickens with fields, a creek and trees.
And to this day I find supermarket chickens pallid and tasteless, since I was raised with the real deal.
I was taught with an ax and I still think that is the most humane.
Feather removal was a nasty job always and I don't know of any short cuts beyond dunking in boiling water.
I have killed my own chickens, though now I seldom eat chicken. Suburbia doesn't lend itself to keeping chickens.
And, I am not really into the farm thing much.
When I was a kid, we lived on a farm, and I still remember my first chicken kill.
haven't butchered my own chickens, but I have bought pastured raised chickens and it's true, they are not tender birds, not even the spring chickens! But if you get an old bird for stewing, that flavor is amazing, and the stock that results, OMG!
My grandpa use to wring the necks and that left me very traumatized. We use old hens or Gallinas for stewing and good broth/ stock. Pollo or young chicken for tender recipe dishes.
I have killed my own chickens as a young girl but prefer not to anymore.
Actually here's the final product completely deboned and stuffed:
WOW, absolutely beautiful, great work! Looks like plenty of delicious and fragrant garlic as well. What time did you say dinner was?
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