Putting a Face to Food

Here’s a little dose of reality for you. Every time you eat meat an animal had to die. I know that is hard for some of you but its the circle of life, didn’t Mufasa teach you anything as a child? As part of my quest to get as close to my food as possible I headed to a live poultry butcher on Webster Avenue the other day with my friend Chris. I was hoping that I would be able to take the live chicken home with me to slaughter in the backyard of my apartment but sadly I did not have that option and the deed was done in the backroom of the butcher shop.

Chris and I made the trek up Webster Avenue to the shop that he knew about from having tutored at a school up their. I was nervous on the walk, in anticipation of killing my food. We saw the shop ahead but walked passed it before walking in, scoping out the situation, both of us a bit nervous. Then I just swallowed my nerves and walked in, ducking my head as I passed through the hanging plastic at the door. When I looked up I was in a room about 15′ by 15′, with dark gray walls, chickens, ducks, pigeons, guinea fowl, and turkeys in cages lining each wall, the floor covered with crap and feathers, the room smelled like a farm, and a thin African man with short dreadlocks and a meat suit stood in the center next to the lone scale hanging in the middle of the room. I was in such awe of the situation and so excited that I could barely get out my words. I asked how it worked and whether I would be able to take the chicken home or if they killed it there. When I asked if I could kill it he looked extremely shocked and told me the realization that they would do it there. So I reached into a cage and pulled out a chicken. Kicking the bird let out a deathly shriek which hit Chris hard. Having killing my animals for food before on hunting trips I knew the reality and that animals do not go down easy. Chris was pretty shaken by this though but as a foodie and realist he accepted it and kept taking photos.

After waiting close to 15 minutes my chicken returned from the back, sans life, feathers, blood, and most internal organs. It was a heavy bird. Live she weighted 10 lbs. so once killed, feathered, and gutted I was walking home with a roughly 8 lb bird. It was heavy pulling on the thin black bag it came in. Then as I grabbed the bottom of the bag on the walk in fear it would fall out I was hit with another realization. The bag was still warm. The body heat of the recently live bird was still there.

Once I got to my apartment I went to work on the bird. Removing all the offal, feet, head, and extra fat to be left with a bird ready for the oven.

Chris and I cooked up the heart and liver in butter and onions. They were delicious. Especially the liver which did not have that strong flavor liver usually does but was very delicate. I even found the sweetbreads in the chicken’s neck. But though were not as good and pretty flavorless.

Then I took the fat and all the extra skin to render it out. The fat was amazing. Not hard and white like a store bought chicken but yellow and soft with a mind blowing flavor.

The next day I cooked up the neck, cock’s comb, head, and feet. The cock’s comb was delicious and a texture I was not expecting. I thought it would be chewy but was not. Then the legs were good but messy and very sticky.

I roasted the whole bird to do a early Thanksgiving for my roommates. The strangest thing was that when I went to go truss the bird I had some difficulty because rigamortous had set in, again showing how fresh the bird was. The bird was so much better than any chicken I had ever eaten. It was juicy and so flavorful. The only issue was the white meat was very stringy I am guessing because it was an old bird.

Next time I head up to the live poultry butcher I am going to see if I can participate in the killing. Also, I plan to get something other then a chicken. Not sure if I want to get squab, duck, or guinea fowl next. A tough choice.

To read Chris’s account of the adventure check out his blog at http://turntableskillets.wordpress.com/