Another switch in topic: reading a chicken soup recipe in the NYTimes inspired me to seek out a “stewing hen” at my local Chinese market. It’s supposed to render the most flavorful broth. Anybody have experience with this nasty, scrawny looking thing? It cost me 6 bucks for 3 pounds!
Never used one.
I thought stewing hens were old laying hens that are no longer productive egg producers.
Supposedly you can coax a lot of broth flavor out of them.
But if you are willing to do your own butchering you can get them for free.
People keep hens for eggs. When they stop laying they can either butcher them or keep them around as useless eaters who bother the other birds. A good portion of people do not want to do either so they give the live birds away.
You can generally find them on Craig's List.
There are a number of videos on YouTube that will show you how to correctly butcher and clean a chicken.