Text 1683, 87 rader
Skriven 2008-02-01 19:22:02 av Carol Shenkenberger (7666.cooks)
   Kommentar till text 1661 av DAVE DRUM (1:123/140)
Ärende: Chooken
===============
    
 >  CS> Not sure, ours has gone up as fish became less easy to get here
 >  CS> (opposed to Sasebo where it was everywhere and cheap).  The downside of
 >  CS> baking a whole chicken here, is all 3 of us prefer the dark meat <g>.
 >  CS> Chicken breast gets turned into chicken salad most of the time or goes
 >  CS> with the carcass into a broth-pot.  I know.  We are wierd.  If there
 >  CS> was such a thing as an all dark chicken, we'd be getting it.
 > 
 > Try a free range (preferably bought right from the farm) chicken. You may fi
 > that the light meat has enough flavour to bother with. When I used to hook '
 > with a wire coat hanger and wring their necks in the back yard I used to pre
 > the breask and wishbone pieces (different cutting scheme) while my mother
 > always like the thighs and my dad the back pieces.

I've considered it but am not sure the only ones i see, really are 'free
range' if you know what I mean.  They are listed as 'organic' but may just be
old hens from the organic egg factory.  That should mean free-range but not
of the same age (stewing hen age).

I may try it as an experiment.  Also once the farmer's markets open again in
spring, I might be able to find such here.  I live well into the city area
and the farms are a good 1.5 hours away at best.

I have one good idea, just occured to me.  The 'Little Israel' place had
organic 'kosher chickens' in the freezer.  Although not 'cheap' they were not
outrageous and i trust the quality of that store well.  In fact, I have taken
to getting my marrow bones there.

Had a nice chat with the proprieter on diet needs and he dug out some from
the back area then repackaged them for me into 2 batches, triple wrapped so
the second one would be freezer safe til next month.  (Doc wants me to have
this, but not too often due to cholestrol.  Case of one diet need competing
with another).

Kosher meat bones are hard to find but the cut is more marrow than the
regular store stuff and while the proprieter (a butcher when he was able to
keep the butcher shop portion open with fresh) said these seem to cook up
'less fatty' than other types.  He was careful to not say they were
'cholestrol free' as thats not possible, but he said they make a fine bone
soup and took time to describe how to pre-roast them to remove some of the
fat but none of the 'goodness' I need.  A method I never would have thought
of!

His method is to use cupcake pans with a little water (TB at most) in the
bottom then prop the bones over that so they dont touch the water.  The fat
leaches down but the marrow will stay in place unless you overcook.  Roast at
450 for about 10 mins, then flip them over and 5 mins the other side.  He
said if some does fall through, just to defat the 'broth below' in the
freezer for 5 mins and the marrow will be fine.  Said 1 in 15 or so fall
through on him and he just adds that 'cup' into his soup as its not too much
for him.  He's not used to making it in smaller amounts like I will be doing
(4 bones max) but he figures it will be ok.

 
 > With battery choooken the dark meat is all that has any noticable (and not m
 > of that) flavour.

It works well enough for me.  Like Dale, I dont want to grow expensive tastes
so much that I can't be happy with regular stuff.

I think some of this is also related to how we prepare and spice the chicken
meats.  White meat is too 'delicate' for most of our cookery so it tastes
only of the seasonings.

Relatd to all that is that we do not eat as much meat as most of you all do,
hence the meat has to be more flavored to make the same 'punch' and thats
harder to do with white meat chicken.  I suspect if we ate 8oz meat portions
a day, we'd not care if some of it tasted more like 'oregano tomato sauce'
but if you eat average of 4oz a day, you want *meat* with a *meat bang*
taste.  I hope that makes sense.

Think of my post with the quail.  It's fist sized (even with my small fists)
and I can see it easy that 1 would be enough per person in my house.  I can
also see some of you might need 2-3 each <g>.

We really do enjoy eating meats, but we do so with careful cookery so the
amount counts.  Half the time honestly?  We have vegetarian meals.

Tonight we had cream cheese crackers, tangarines, and soft boiled peanuts out
of the crockpot (cooked with no salt, and a light use of patis and cayenne
pepper).  Probably not our most 'healthy meal' but it was matched with an
after school snack before dinner of blanched chinese broccoli with sesame oil
and tofu-dashi soup.  The cream cheese is a full fat one (guilty!) but we
normally have the FF type and Charlotte and i like it well enough.
                xxcarol
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
 * Origin: Shenks Express (1:275/100)