I am able to get pastured chickens from small farms, where they run around outside, eating grass and bugs in the sunshine. The flavor is wonderful, but my very picky husband finds them tough, and complains when I buy and cook them. I do use them for making chicken stock, but if I want to cook chicken for dinner, I buy one from a local poultry farm, where they are not caged, but are raised in barns, so are somewhat limited in the exercise that outdoor chickens get, which toughens their muscles.
Interesting they would be tough. But I suppose running makes us tough. I don't remember toughness in mine but I may just have been distracted by it's flavour - which produced the most amazing stock.
Love reading Tabled. Your deep dives into all food subjects. So glad that my meeting you on China tour put your writing g on my reading radar. Hello from Wisconsin. Pati
Pati!! Hello...from Costa Rica currently. Keep travelling, keep curious is my favourite recipe. So good to hear from you, and thank you for reading Tabled!
Excellents as ever. I naver imagined stuffing a chicken and then cooking it in stock? When I lived in France capons were normal supermarket poultry. I don't recall a huge difference of taste so are capons also industrially reared? I have seen one on sale in Engalnd ever I think
You can industrially raise any kind of bird, sadly. Capons can got to order at a good butcher particularly near Christmas, and I've found them at those outside the capital.
I am able to get pastured chickens from small farms, where they run around outside, eating grass and bugs in the sunshine. The flavor is wonderful, but my very picky husband finds them tough, and complains when I buy and cook them. I do use them for making chicken stock, but if I want to cook chicken for dinner, I buy one from a local poultry farm, where they are not caged, but are raised in barns, so are somewhat limited in the exercise that outdoor chickens get, which toughens their muscles.
Interesting they would be tough. But I suppose running makes us tough. I don't remember toughness in mine but I may just have been distracted by it's flavour - which produced the most amazing stock.
Love reading Tabled. Your deep dives into all food subjects. So glad that my meeting you on China tour put your writing g on my reading radar. Hello from Wisconsin. Pati
Pati!! Hello...from Costa Rica currently. Keep travelling, keep curious is my favourite recipe. So good to hear from you, and thank you for reading Tabled!
Love this article. It’s a tradition that continues in SW France to this day!
The French may be the most versatile chicken cooks of all.
100% - The Villeréal Saturday Market is pretty fabulous, too!
Excellents as ever. I naver imagined stuffing a chicken and then cooking it in stock? When I lived in France capons were normal supermarket poultry. I don't recall a huge difference of taste so are capons also industrially reared? I have seen one on sale in Engalnd ever I think
You can industrially raise any kind of bird, sadly. Capons can got to order at a good butcher particularly near Christmas, and I've found them at those outside the capital.