Roger the rooster is now in the roaster
When we first ordered our chickens, we ordered all pullets. But cockerels are not that well endowed, so telling males from females is not that simple. One of our White Rock chickens grew bigger than the others and developed a much larger comb and wattle. It was the final cock-a-doodle-do that confirmed his gender. Here he is, proud of the flock behind him.
We didn’t mind the crowing in the morning or all day long for that matter. In fact, I enjoyed the sound effects. It gave the farm the final touch it needed to be a farm.
Well, as you know, we’ve been enjoying our eggs in the morning. But the thought of opening a fertile egg and finding a growing chicken had me a little nervous. And the ladies didn’t seem as fond of Roger as he was fond of them. So…
Roger is now in the slow cooker, but he has good company. Tonight’s dinner will be Coq Au Vin.
Chuck has put this lovely dish together, substituting bacon with his homemade butter, pearl onions with onions from our garden. He has also used Hen of the Woods mushrooms, found earlier this Fall, and some dried Morels from our hunts this past spring. (Yes, we still have a secret stash of Morels.)
Dinner will be around 7 pm (unless Chuck keeps opening the cover of the crock pot and saying “Santa Maria, can you smell that.” Okay, so we watched The Mark Zorro with Tyrone Power last night.) You’re all invited.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I am really excited about this Coq au Vin. It turns out that the chickens you buy in the grocery store are all females. But the word Coq is french for rooster. I have made Coq au Vin before, but this will be the first time I have made it with rooster meat.
The difference between rooster meat and chicken meat is rooster meat has more connective tissue. This all breaks down in the slow cooker to basically make chicken stock.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
He was delicious. Yum!
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 am
I am trying this recipe, but with regular old chicken thighs. If I happen to come across a rooster, though, he’s toast.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Now that raising chickens is becoming more popular as a hobby, I am guessing (live) roosters will become readily available. Most people who raise chickens as a hobby are after eggs. Occasionally they will end up with a rooster. They probably do not want to go through the ordeal of butchering it. They also probably do not want to wait until the rooster dies of old age.
Roosters can be loud and annoying. They harass the chickens. Fight with each other if you have more than one. So I am guessing that anyone who is willing to take the rooster away - will get the rooster for free.
Now that I am known in these parts as a rooster slayer. My landlord offered me his roosters. And I saw a sign in the place where I buy chicken feed where someone was trying to give away their rooster.’
Chuck, the Hatchet
October 30th, 2009 at 8:34 am
[...] just as it was intended, with a actual, live rooster. Well, strike the “live” part, but he used a rooster from his own farm—Roger, to be exact—not the pre-disassembled chicken I picked up at the Hy-Vee meat [...]