Today was EMOTIONAL to say the least. I've been bugging and bugging my poor husband to kill that chicken-largely because I just want to have it over and done with. He can't stay with the other rooster and chicken because they fight and we're not going to build him another coop for one little cockerel...he can't roam around free because of the cat...it was inevitable. And he's meat. And times are tight. And I refuse to use the credit card to go buy more groceries even though we need them--it's got to stop somewhere and we have a perfectly good chicken dinner sitting out there.
So Derek went outside to go kill him. All of a sudden I started to feel sick. I've never killed anything. The chicken I buy at the store is SO removed from this experience. I almost ran out there and told him to stop. I peeked out the window--I told myself "don't look you DON'T want to see!" but I peeked anyway and saw him killing the chicken. I wanted to cry. I don't even know why--it's just a chicken--but I fed him and took care of him and thought about his needs.
Derek had a hard time finding the caratid artery in the neck. I still don't know if we ever did find it but he did die. Derek finally just chopped his head off (did you want to know that? sorry!) But I'm glad that he did because it made him seem less like a nice little chicken and more like dinner.
So I walked out there to go get the dead chicken and I couldn't help it--I started crying. My husband was so sweet and just held me.
It sounds really silly writing this but this was one of the single most traumatic and negative experiences in my life!
It was my job to pluck him--I knew if Derek would kill him then I knew I could do the plucking and I did. It was really easy--you just dunk him in boiling water and the feathers pull right out. Without his head on it wasn't too bad. It would have been much harder if he was staring at me.
But the worst wasn't over. Cutting him up was hard and DISGUSTING. The guts are gross and let's just say we missed the part about not feeding him for 12 hours before slaughter! I thought it would be nice to give him his last meal this morning! Not the best idea....
Our knives work ok--I've always known I need a good set of knives for how much I cook--but when it comes to cutting up a chicken and needing to cut through the bones--our knives wern't worth a darn! We were sawing through the chicken. It took forever...it was like disecting an animal in science class. We had our laptop in the kitchen and we were trying to follow the instructions on how to cut him up--it was pretty difficult when you don't have the slightest clue about what you are doing (well actually Derek was the most helpful one because he has a degree in biology and took animal anatomy in college!)
In case anyone want the websites for the same info here they are:
but be warned! They show pictures of chickens being slaughtered! But they are really informative on how to do this because it is kind of complicated and there is definitely a right way to do it....
If I was planning on doing this a lot I would be encouraged from the guy who does the first blog because his first butchering experience was just like ours. His first time took him 4o min to cut up the chicken (sounds just like us). But now he butchers 50-75 chickens a year and he says he can cut up each one in 5-7 min.
But I don't plan on EVER killing another chicken! I can't even imagine killing a goat after seeing how cute they are as babies!
From now on milk and eggs is all I need!
Here's a picture of the plucked chicken and below is him all cooked up
Pretty small huh? We had no idea--his feathers made him look so much bigger. And he was FROZE in that position--I mean REALLY stiff. Derek strung him up in a tree by the legs and his legs and wings would not move. There was no way we could get him to bend his legs for fear of breaking them...I wonder how they make the whole chickens at the store more pliable. You can move their wings and legs just fine. If anyone knows you can post me a comment.
You can see how I cut his feet off too high and kind of messed up the drumsticks--they should have the joint at the bottom--oh well.
The recipe is simple and makes for the most moist chicken breasts--liberally salt him all over and then brush him all over with 2 tbsp. butter and then roast him 25 min on one side and then 25 min on the other at 400 degrees. Keeping the breasts on the side instead of face up is how you keep them from drying out.
As for dinner...the kids loved the chicken. As for Derek and I--well we each tried a bite to say that we did--and it tasted like chicken--but neither of us ate anymore. I should also say, although it was really moist, the meat was extremely tough. You could barely bite through it. You just had to kind of tear it with your teeth. And we were forewarned by a comment from Susan on one of my blogs that it would be. Roosters aren't any good for eating apparently. So that just makes me wonder what farmers do with all the roosters because you only need one rooster on a farm. (***since I wrote this I checked out some books from the library and one in particular called, "ABC of Poultry Raising," by J.H. Florea says this on killing, "...It is better to have the bird killed and dressed a day or two, or at least several hours, before it is to be cooked. A chicken cooked as soon as it is killed and dressed is likely to be tough and stringy [!] Like beef it needs a little aging." pg. 101***)
Well I better go clean up the dishes. And make chicken stock out of the carcass. Nothing like some homemade chicken stock in a pot of beans :)
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