Posted on 04/26/2015 10:33:43 AM PDT by nickcarraway
SNIP
In the town of McPherson, Kansas, there is a butcher shop called Krehbiels Meats, where, not long ago, an elderly woman bought a chicken that moved her to tears. The chicken had longer legs, a smaller breast and yellower skin than regular chickens, and on the back appeared two words the woman, who was in her 70s, would not have seen in a very long time: “barred rock.”
SNIP
She had every reason not to be excited. During the course of her 48 years of marriage, chicken had only ever brought disappointment. The problem was chicken and dumplings. It was one of her husband’s favorite dishes, but every time she made it his verdict was always the same: “Not as good as my mother’s.”
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I’ve hunted and eaten many quail-no need to any more, since there is a place out here that sells dressed and packaged farm-raised quail for a decent price-since quail is all dark meat, like doves, I don’t see how that taste could be duplicated in a chicken that is part white meat, but I’d be very interested in finding out if it can.
I prefer the dark meat from birds/poultry, because that is where the best flavor is-I’d be happy to see chickens that were all dark meat...
When I have to, I buy my meat at Costco. I used to go to Fry’s but the taste was more bland than any other.
When I am lucky enough to get drawn for elk, I don’t have to buy anything other than breakfast sausage or bacon.
My 1st husband-a ranch kid like me-called the mass-produced food in supermarkets Purina people chow...
I like grass-fed beef and can still get it at a few stores around town. Surprisingly, not at the Whole-Foods-equivalent Health Food store. Their organic veggies are flavorful. Even the big chain markets are wising up to organics, particularly Fred Meyers (owned by Kroger), where the weekly organic veggie/fruit specials are outstanding.
I get outshouted all the time about GMOs, but I refuse to eat them. Why should anyone take a chance with produce that tastes like cardboard and contains Roundup-ready molecules that bind with that cancer-causing pesticide?
New article in Scientific American about that: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/weed-whacking-herbicide-p/
If you ever have the opportunity to get a turkey hunt *out-of-town*, do it.
You’ll never eat another type of poultry again. The diff will astonish your taste buds.;(
Not all of us have the opportunity to raise our own flocks for meat and eggs .... it’s the cost of convenience of living near a grocery store. ;(
Fortunately, I can get Readington Farms chicken....it isn’t all that bad. But it is *never* on sale, like Purdue or Tyson.
And I still put my post-it notes on the halael chicken.
http://www.nutritionrank.com/calories-readington-farms-all-natural-chicken-444338
My wife and I raise chickens (pullets) to sale to the public for layers.
We hatch them from 4 different flocks that we have, Rhode Island Reds, Delaware, Speckled Sussex and Dominique. Well when you hatch you usually get 50% pullets and roosters.
Needless to say we have an abundance of quality meat chickens and have not had to buy the nasty steroid injected chickens in the market. We raise the roosters to about 2 lbs and then butcher them.
You can buy REAL maple syrup, but you pay a lot for it now. Costco has some, maybe your supermarket. But you won’t find it among the name-brand bottles of sticky stuff. They’re all blends of “maple flavor” ingredients.
Best thing for anyone to do is run out to a used bookstore or antiques store and buy up the old Betty Crocker cookbook with the red-white checkered cover, as well as Sunset Publications’ cookbooks, such as for baking bread or Italian cooking. Or any cookbook published before the ‘70s.
Escoffier is good. I also really like the old Joy of Cooking.
No way. I cook everything from scratch. No cans in my cupboard, no boxed items whatsoever. A few bottles and jars of things like catsup and salsa, some bags of pasta. I live on a limited income, have to watch every dollar, buy excellent mostly organic ingredients. It helps that I actually enjoy chopping veggies. And that I do not overeat. Tonight, top sirloin is on the menu. But a small serving.
A good source for free e-books of older and out of print cook books as well as 18th century living tips for preppers.
https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Cookery_%28Bookshelf%29
We used to hunt wild turkeys when I was a kid on the ranch, but that was more than 60 acres. I live 18 miles from the nearest “town”-less than 900 people-but people in this rural area raise livestock-mostly goats and chickens-for sale and their own use on 20 or less acres-you can bow hunt in season, but not with a firearm-I’ve never hunted with a bow-only a rifle or shotgun.
That chicken sounds like the next best thing to locally raised free range ones-does it look and taste appreciably better than the indoor cage mass produced stuff?
That chicken is not as large and pumped up looking as a Purdue....but the taste is good, doesn’t taste like chemicals.
I have an old Joy of Cooking-early 70’s that I got when I got married-some of the ingredients in recipes are easier to find here in BFE than at a supermarket in the City...
I grow or buy fresh, cook it fresh-I do keep bullion cubes, sometimes canned tomatoes and frozen artichoke hearts-that are only obtainable in Cali or Mexico most of the year, but there are no other boxes, cans, bags of frozen veggies, etc in this house-well, other than dog and cat food...
I’ve always cooked that way for my family and myself-and when my husband and I were young, just out of college, had a little kid and were short on cash, cooking fresh stuff at home had the extra benefit of saving a bunch of money as well as being healthy, just like it does now.
“A trip up 89 or the Beeline should answer that for you. You try building a rail line through those mountains.”
They’ve built rail lines all over the country through all sorts of mountains, though, haven’t they?
-”chicken tractors” that we move around the garden fertilizing the ground below.-
When I moved onto and 1830’s farm, 30 years ago, I put in a large garden in the backyard. The garden was insane.Everything grew fast and huge. One day the owners stopped by, and told me I’d planted my garden where the large chicken building used to be, for about 100 years. The next year I had to plant things twice as far apart!
Another reason why our cooking doesn’t taste as good is our herbs. Using fresh herbs has so much better flavor, deep and rich, than store bought dried herbs.
We have our own herb garden, and pluck and use what we need, as we need it. Unbelievable goodness.
Quite possibly the most wonderful thing I’ve seen on the internet in 20 years. Thank you!
When we had the farm, we use to get day olds and its what you feed them that makes them tasty...The day olds could only get from two different breeds...They were not one bred. By 4 months they were ready to butcher and the cocks would average 5-6 pounds dressed and the females 4 to 5 pounds...hubby took orders from work and they all said it was the best chicken they ever tasted...25 chicks would go through 1/2 ton of feed in 4 months. Most of the feed they consumed in the last 2 month...by then I was putting out 2 50 pound bags a day...Much store bought chicken is soaked in water to give them more weight at the store.
We charged more than store bought, we had better chicken, and they don’t come cheap but well worth it. Its been so many years since I sold the farm I couldn’t tell you the name of the day olds. Only one farm sold them...but they also sold many breed chickens, including the ones that laid easter eggs, yellow, blue, and green. But the funniest ones were the polish chickens.
I’m always amazed at how the food industry manages to take a healthy, fresh and tasty food that people have eaten for centuries-animal or vegetable-mass produce it and turn it into something that is not even really good for human consumption...
All that talk about chicken has me thinking I’ll light the grill and cook some free range chicken thighs I have...
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