An Extra Rooster? Sounds Like Lunch to Me!

We ended up with an extra rooster this summer. Our new flock of chickens are Araucanas and we weren't sure if this last one was a hen or rooster for a while so he is the 'leftover' rooster. We have already butchered the rest of the roosters that came when we ordered 50 straight run chicks back in March. Straight run means there are usually an equal number of hens and roosters. We do this to have some to eat and a choice of new roosters. This last  one is too old to fry but should be good baked. I will cook it just like I would a turkey.

**WARNING** WARNING**WARNING**WARNING **

If you do not wish to see our butchering process, please read no further on this post. We raise some of our animals for meat and prefer to do our own butchering. It is a yucky job, but if we want quality, homegrown meat to eat, this is part of the process.

A friend of ours came over that wanted to learn how to butcher chickens. He has recently started raising his own chickens, but hasn't had any to butcher yet.

The first thing we do is thank the Lord and the bird for the meat we are about to receive. 

We usually set up sawhorses with a board to use as a chopping block and chop off their heads with an axe. But since there is only one bird this time, I will kill them with a three pound sledge hammer and cut off the head with a pair of strong kitchen shears. This will allow it to bleed out.

I have only tried plucking one chicken and that was many, many years and many, many chickens ago. I could not get all of the pin feathers out to my satisfaction and ended up skinning that bird.... and every bird since then.

 

So we will skin out this bird....

 and gut it....

We keep the heart, liver and gizzard.



 

It doesn't take long to dress out one bird. If you haven't had homegrown chicken, they don't grow near as big as commercially grown birds.

Wash it up......
and throw it in the pan. It sounds a little like...Pattty cake, patty cake, baker's man, roll 'em up, roll 'em up, throw them in the pan.....

This bird is five months old so it should bake up very nicely. I sprinkle salt, pepper and marjoram in the body cavity. Then I stuff it with an onion. On the outside I sprinkled garlic, salt and pepper.

These are some of the potatoes we grew this spring along with some of the carrots we canned. Mmmm...this makes me hungry!

There you have it. Homegrown chicken, potatoes, and carrots.

Knowing how to grow, process and cook your own food is a skill that takes time. It increases the nutritional value of the food and at the same time, decreases the additives and chemicals of commercially produced food. Just like in the post Ferns' Fast Food, this meal took many months of production before it ended up on this plate. It was well worth the wait. 

Until next time - Fern