Alternative Poultry For Safer Eating

Recently, as a Sunday dinner guest, I eagerly helped myself to a piece of Southern fried chicken. Unfortunately, when I bit into my drumstick, my relish was spoiled by the black, discoloration of meat and bone. This is not normal, but caused by improper handling and bruising or injury to the bird prior to slaughter. Today, such damage is common in store bought chickens. Daily we see television commercials hawking bacteria killing products to make our kitchen safe after handling raw poultry. As consumers, we do not have to accept damaged, diseased goods. Not many shoppers are aware that there is an alternative to the store bought poultry they are accustomed to.

Day Range method is a system of raising poultry which creates a happier, more humane environment for the poultry, meets their basic needs, and creates a safer and more flavorful product. Day ranging takes its name from the practice of allowing the poultry to range freely within a grassy paddock, free to scratch, feed and exercise during the daytime and return to safe housing at night. Alternatively, there are Pastured Poultry and Free Range Poultry that are housed continuously on grass. Birds that are raised this way benefit from access to sunshine, clean air and fresh, green pasture. The results are better meat texture and more satisfying flavor. This means that the poultry is raised in a more considerate way than mass produced, commercially confined birds. I also believe that the consumer is provided with a safer product that has less contamination from disease causing bacteria.

As consumers, we all have growing concerns regarding the safety of the food we buy at the grocery store to feed our family. Recent news stories warn us about diseases such as E. coli, salmonella, and listeria. Even the United States Department of Agriculture has become concerned about the quality of meat processed in the United States today, due to changes in the government food safety procedures. Recent studies have proved that growth hormones and preventative antibiotics leave drug residual in the meat you consume and this has proven negative impact on your health. Read more about commercially produced meat and the health problems generated: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/etc/script.html.

 Commercial producers confine hundreds of birds into crowded buildings where the facilities and animals quickly become contaminated with bacteria ridden feces. Overcrowding causes the birds to fight among themselves which often results in broken bones or even death. Profits require the birds to eat large quantities for maximum growth in the shortest time possible. Often young bones bow under the increasing weight causing deformities. To control losses from disease caused by overcrowding all the birds are fed antibiotic laced feeds. To get the quickest growth possible, the bird's high protein feed often contains animal protein and growth hormones. This is the cheapest way to provide poultry to the commercial market, but it is not always the best.

All natural and organic day range poultry is fed only NON MEDICATED, grain based feed which contain NO GROWTH HORMONES and NO ANTIBIOTICS. On many small producers' farms, the poultry is farm processed, following published safety guidelines, in state approved facilities. Producers take the time to insure that each bird is properly bled out and cleanly eviscerated. The results are unbelievable! You have never had chicken this fresh and flavorful before unless you have raised them yourself. Day ranging poultry produces a superior product, very similar to the successful Label Rouge model in France. To learn more about this unsurpassed European method of raising chicken visit this ATTRA site: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/labelrouge.html.

Alternative production methods do cost a bit more, but you will find that you are purchasing a better product. Once you have tried it, it will be very hard to go back to commercially produced poultry products. Day Range and Free Range chicken, turkey and duck is available in most areas of the US now as these methods become more popular. The next time you fry a chicken, deep fry a turkey or roast a duckling, try a bird that was raised in an alternative method. There is a difference!

Simple Roast Chicken

1 5-6lb Day Range chicken, (remove wing tips)

1 orange -- halved

4 whole garlic cloves

4 tablespoons butter

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup homemade or canned chicken broth

(Fruit juice or wine, for deglazing, optional)

Remove your top oven rack and place the remaining oven rack on second level from bottom. Heat oven to 500 degrees.

Remove the tail and crop fat, the neck and giblets for making chicken stock later.

Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the orange, garlic and butter.

Season the cavity and skin with salt and pepper to taste.

Place the chicken in a roasting pan, breast-side up. Put in the oven, roast 50 to 60 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

Remove the chicken from the roasting pan, as you lift the chicken; tilt it over the pan so that all the juices run out of the cavity and into the pan.

Place roasted chicken on a serving platter and garnish to serve.

Pour off excess fat from the pan and put the pan on top of the stove. Add the stock or other liquid and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom vigorously with a wooden spoon. Reduce by half. Serve the sauce over the chicken or at the side in a gravy bowl.