The sad case of Selma established that unless you’re actually starving, a scrawny 4-year-old Rhode Island Red laying hen is not worth eating in any form or fashion.
Now meet #4, a 3-year-old Brahma. Say hello, #4.
Okay, she’s not in a talking mood. She’s having a bad morning.
Anyway – #4 is quite the opposite of “scrawny.” Many adjectives could justly describe #4, but scrawny would not be among them. In fact she seems to carry much of her body weight as blobs of fat.
So we’re going to re-do the “let’s roast a used-up laying hen” experiment, and see if it’s possible to get any use out of a Brahma.
Stay tuned.
There’s a reason they call them “boilers”……
Likely, pretty much. But that’s useful info as well. If I have to boil them down for them to be of any use to me, I may as well do it as a project and can the meat. Whole-chicken stews are of no use to me in warm weather, the Lair has no refrigeration.
If nothing else throw in a few veggies and can the stock.
Had my first Harvest Creek brand can of shredded chicken in not-really-hot sauce from Costco today. Rather tasty mixed with a can of corn. Not exactly cheap, but no fridge needed. On the downside, no eggs come out of it. Please carry on with your culinary fowl experiments, Joel. I still think a sun oven has potential for you, though the dogs might be an issue when unsupervised.
Lovely looking bird. If it is tough boiling to get a batch of broth to can seems to be the thing to do if you have access to a pressure canner. An attempted chicken dinner, yum, but how much does it cost you in fuel? Would using a pressure cooker from the gitgo make more sense and use less fuel? You can brown the meat when you use it.
You have a pressure cooker, right? That’s what I would do with your layers. Broth, shredded chicken and lots of possibilities for good eating.
Well, yeah. It’s a given I’ll use the pressure cooker. Used it yesterday, in fact.
Greasiest, fattiest chicken I ever attempted to eat. I’ve got it in Ian’s fridge right now, hoping to skim off the worst of the fat.
I’m starting to think do them all at once and freeze the carcasses until I can get Landlady’s help getting geared up to can the meat.