Cooking pasture-raised chicken

A brined free-ranged chicken is tender and extra flavorful! -image Vyperx1

Pasture or free-ranged chicken is better-tasting, healthier, and the chickens generally live a happy life (however short) scratching around and pecking, flapping and dust-bathing. 

While the idea of eating a backyard chicken may seem highly objectionable to some, others have dual purpose flocks and keep hens for eggs, roosters for the table. Nearly all American breeds of chickens were raised to be dual-purpose- most are heavy-bodied birds that lay prolifically. Extra roosters can be of table size by 14 or 16 weeks, while broiler or fryer hybrids are large enough to eat around 8 weeks. 

These hybrids are not viable as pets, because they grow too fast to live very long. Aspiring locavores wanting to raise meat birds and keep a pet flock often find they don't become attached to hybrids due to the lack of personality and lazy nature of these specific purpose birds. Processing the birds is not something the average city-dweller can manage, and can be hired-out to a processing company for a small fee per bird.

It is unusual for a city chicken to make it to the table, and not many dual-purpose flocks reside inside an urban environment, but many who keep chickens as pets seek pasture-raised birds for the table, based on the aforementioned reasons. But how does a free-ranged chicken differ when one prepares a meal? Is there a difference when I buy a bird at the Farmers' Market? Actually, there is- a grocery store, factory farmed chicken isn't allowed much movement in its short life, and the feed is considerably different. The result is a bird often considered 'tough' or 'chewy' by those accustomed to the typical market fare. Oddly enough, visitors to the U.S. complain about our chicken being too soft, nothing to chew. 

One will need to prepare the free-ranged bird differently to produce a tender meal more like what this culture expects. The easiest way to do this is to brine the bird overnight. 

Brine:

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 2 crushed bay leaves
• 1 T. black pepper
• 2 T. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. crushed juniper berries
• 2 T. dried thyme
• 1 qt. apple juice

Bring above ingredients to a rolling boil for 5 minutes and then remove from heat. Add apple juice and 1 gallon cold water. When cool, pour over chicken to cover. Extra brine may be kept for one week refrigerated, or may be frozen for later use. This brine recipe can be used to prepare any chicken recipe, including a conventional bird- the flavors are neutral and complement any style of seasoning. Foodies may find that having sampled a brined bird, it's really difficult to go back to eating them without this step! 

Another hint: when roasting a whole chicken, place a halved or quartered lemon and a quartered apple in the cavity to retain moisture, and always bring bird up to a 180 degree temperature next to the hip joint. Check in the deep part of the breast to be certain a safe temperature has been reached, as well.