Saturday 30 July 2011

How To Suck Eggs (Grandmothers please note).



The last time we kept chickens they were truly FREE RANGE. They congregated around the central courtyard of our old farmhouse, and at night simply found themselves somewhere to sleep in our huge hay-filled barn; occasionally appearing with a dozen or so chicks in tow. Otherwise they just lived in total freedom; more often than not using my veg' patch as a dining room. 

Occasionally one or two would be invited to sacrifice themselves at the altar of gastronomy, and they needed to be caught.... not easy when they've developed Olympic standard leg muscles. So I devised a cunning plan.

I would soak stale bread in wine (sometimes with some 'eau de vie' added for ooomph), feed it to the hens, then wait a few mins before they were all staggering around like Glaswegians. It was then very easy to pick the best of the younger crop, prior to dispatch.

Plucking: In England I've seen people make really hard work of the whole plucking process. Over here things are much simpler. We boil up a large 'bucket' of water, then dip the entire chicken into the boiling water (for a few seconds). The feathers then almost fall out by themselves, leaving a beautiful cleanly prepared bird.... Forget dry plucking and the air filled with tiny feathers; that's for mugs!

In our house it was always the children's job to collect eggs. It is partly for this reason that we are about to keep hens again. I cannot imagine our grandchildren growing up without the pleasure of going out each morning to collect eggs for breakfast. I did it when I was small, my own children did it when they were small, and I want my grandsons to have the same wonderful experience now.

Get yerself over here Grandma; now suck that egg!

16 comments:

  1. Your plucking procedure is how we do it over here I did not know there was any other way.
    We actually got chickens for the exact same reason,and it is the first thing the children do when they get here,it is a race in fact.

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  2. Ah...chickens are quite the rage in Seattle these days.

    Thought you might enjoy one of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons:

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Z2-G8zCrlW8/SHJURVALAoI/AAAAAAAAA-c/5IjdLP_LsVs/s400/boneless.jpg

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  3. Hello:
    In our days of keeping chicken we never got as far as eating them although what you say about plucking is of interest for, it is true, we have seen people make very heavy weather of this task.

    As for collecting the eggs, a constant delight and one of which we never tired.

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  4. I hope your grandchildren appreciate how lucky they are to have you and Lady M as grandparents.

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  5. I've never had the chance, but I guess my grandmother hated having to pluck chickens. She would have liked your method.

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  6. I used to be terrified of collecting eggs...the old girls would ruffle their feathers and peck at my hands.

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  7. Uh-huh. I see. The way you got your chickens soused prior to their demiet puts a whole new spin on "coq au vin."

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  8. This post brings back memories!
    When we had our own chickens here, I was the one who would get so excited to find the eggs in the nest. I was just as much a kid about it as the kids were!
    We would always start with a large cauldron of boiling water, whether it was pigs or hens. Nice story. Thanks. Kat from the Compound

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  9. I've suggested to my neighbours that we should be the first condo corp in Niagara-on-the-lake to keep chickens...didn't go over very well. Not that I will be discouraged...I've been known to win the war of attrition.

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  10. The Condo coop; sounds like a brilliant idea! Buy a clipboard and collect signatures.

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  11. I think keeping chickens is the new in-thing. Over the past few years I have driven past so many homes with colorful fowl walking about.

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  12. Collecting eggs used to be one of my favourite jobs too!

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  13. Yes, our grandchildren always enjoyed collecting the eggs. Mind you I remember taking some eggs down to our daughter-in-law in Auckland and when she cracked one she asked me to look at it as something was wrong. She had never seen a lovely dark yolk from a free range hen before!!!

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  14. We used to send our kids out to my in-laws' farm in Kansas for two weeks every summer. They learned how to do all kinds of fun farm stuff, including how to kill, pluck and dress a chicken.

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  15. Wine soaked bread...I want to be free range on your homestead ! We are so going to try that here in Illinois. I wonder how much wine we should use for our pastured hogs prior to their trip to the locker ?

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  16. I used the hot water buckets method too cro
    makes live easier!
    also
    I never bleed the hens, just tie them up and let them bleed internally into the head before gutting the next day

    simples

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