After twenty years of vegetarianism, I was craving meat again. I did extensive research and farm visiting to find the meat I’d feel good about eating. I’m lucky to have easy access to Marvellous Edibles Farms stewing/soup chickens every winter. A soup chicken spends almost two years laying eggs (which were sold at the market or shared with the M.E.F. family). These chickens are best made into a soup, as roasting them makes the already tough meat, dry. Here’s what I do to further this bird’s post life and get some delicious flavours to create even more meals.
Chicken Soup Ingredients
One stewing chicken
1-2 carrots
1 stalk of celery
1 small cooking onion
1 clove of garlic
1 inch piece of fresh ginger
A few sprigs of fresh parsley
salt and pepper
6-8 cups of water (make sure the chicken is mostly submerged in the water)
Chop veggies, clean chicken and place in large slow cooker. Easy! Leave for 12-24 hours. Cool and drain liquid for broth. Yum! Cool down the meat (which will be very tender and fallen apart) and take meat of all the bones. I usually get about 2-3 cups of meat. This is good for almost 5-6 meals. Next blog entry, I’ll have a recipe idea for the meat.
A soup chicken will give you around 6-9 bowls of chicken soup. You can even extend the flavour and use it as a broth for other soups/stews. At 13 dollars a chicken, that works out to be a dollar a meal! When you respect the animals during their life and extend them far in meals post-life, the love comes out in its flavour.
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