Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[Parront]

And the schmaltz you can make! Those old layers are a gold mine for awesome fat.

Fried potatoes in chicken fat with onions!

 

[aart]

They are not called "stewing hens" for nothin'!

I use the pressurec ooker for everything over 16 weeks......but it's the longer resting that makes them sammich worthy!

And the schmaltz you can make! Those old layers are a gold mine for awesome fat.

This hen was not fatty enough for smaltz, tho I've had few that were..tho smaltz is not my thing.

 

[Parront]

I use the pressurec ooker for everything over 16 weeks......but it's the longer resting that makes them sammich worthy!

This hen was not fatty enough for smaltz, tho I've had few that were..tho smaltz is not my thing.
View attachment 1872846

The best is a large 10 week old Cornish-X roasted. Lots of nice fat renders in the bottom of the roaster, and bird is just right at that age for baking, remove the cover and brown the skin.

 

[aart]

The best is a large 10 week old Cornish-X roasted. Lots of nice fat renders in the bottom of the roaster, and bird is just right at that age for baking, remove the cover and brown the skin.

That hen I cooked today was 30 months old....too old to roast.

I thought smaltz was raw fat rendered slowly, like you render raw pork fat for lard.
I have roasted the young cockerel parts to get pan drippings for gravy.

 

[Parront]

That hen I cooked today was 30 months old....too old to roast.

I thought smaltz was raw fat rendered slowly, like you render raw pork fat for lard.
I have roasted the young cockerel parts to get pan drippings for gravy.

Any chicken fat was called schmaltz when I was a kid -- rendered out of a fat Cornish roaster is pretty tasty! Pour off the pan drippings into a jar, refrigerate, and take off the fat on top for your fried left-over baked potatoes. Skimmed roast drippings into the day-after chicken bone broth/soup. Those old people who grew up in the Depression did not waste a thing! It is still the way I cook.

 

[jolenesdad]

Y’all I’m hungry now.

 

[Morrigan]

I render the fat down, than strain it through a triple layer of cheesecloth. I love to use it to roast vegetables in.

 

[Parront]

Y’all I’m hungry now.

That is why we want meat birds!

 

[Parront]

I render the fat down, than strain it through a triple layer of cheesecloth. I love to use it to roast vegetables in. View attachment 1873404

That would take quite a few bird's extra fat to get a qt. jar. Chicken fat is good to cook anything in. The old folks even used it spread on bread like butter. I never did that with it. We had a metal container with a lid and a strainer that we used to keep big pieces out.

 

[aart]

I render the fat down, than strain it through a triple layer of cheesecloth.

That's from rendering (slow low heat) the raw fat from older hens?