Once upon a time there was a very happy cook, me! Nowadays, not so much. I blame the poultry police!
I don’t think there are many who don’t love a really good roast chicken or turkey.
Something that has been in the back of mind for a number of years re-emerged when were in England not long ago and were reminded of what we think of as proper, really good poultry. There is something so basic, yet so deliciously decadent about a roast chicken or turkey with golden, crispy skin and lovely tasting, juicy meat.
The chicken or turkeys I want to talk about are called “New York Dressed” birds. I bought them at Hycrest Meats on South Granville for years. First the poultry police forbade the butcher shops from selling them and if you were lucky you could track down a grower who would sell them, farm gate, to you. Life is good, we managed to find a grower! Until that discovery, we had given up on turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas! Time marches on and we are happy! Then the chicken police struck again and insisted the farmers organize themselves every December and rent a space so that all their birds can be dispatched in these premises instead of on the farms where they had been it doing so for years; without any problems whatsoever, with the health inspectors on site at the time. The farmers/growers decided they couldn’t afford the cost and so stopped doing “New York Dressed” birds.
There are people who say there is no difference between “NYD’s” and organic, grain fed birds and that they are just as good, and shockingly, there are butchers who agree. I don’t agree…the taste isn’t there. When the NYD’s are dispatched, they are hung for a little bit, then just a day or so before you pick up your bird the innards are removed. Once roasted, you end up with the turkey of your childhood dreams, golden brown, crisp skin, juicy meat and finger licking good.
Back to England; we saw this type of poultry everywhere! It’s a traditional way of preparing birds and it appears as though the chicken police have not messed with that tradition. Wish it were so here! Friends have suggested we spend Christmas in England every year!
It’s really sad that for years and years we were “allowed” to buy these birds and then some government officials decided it’s not a good idea. We’ve seen the reality of what has taken place at government inspected meat packing plants!
Helpful link to Phyllis’ Roast Chicken or Roasting A Turkey. And for a scrumptious Italian Sausage Bread Stuffing With Pears.
Oh my, but you are so right – the flavor just is not there anymore. Sadly, it seems to be the case with so many food. I thought you might enjoy this article from the ever lively Gareth Jones.
http://www.garethjonesfood.com/9177/putting-on-your-saturday-bresse/
Thanks for the link to Gareth…I did enjoy the blog very much. We are so afraid of food these days it seems to me. A couple of weeks ago we had an outbreak of E-coli that came from cheese made in B.C., in which person died and sickened a number of others. The first thing my sister (retired Agriculture Canada) said was it has to do with unpasteurized milk. I have had conversations with a very well respected cheese purveyor in our city about this, she firmly believes, as do others, that it does not have any bearing. It turns out that the cheese company is owned now by a large company, not a family owned one. If the employees do not follow the proper protocol cleaning the equipment, my belief is that they did not, who knows what can happen! Sorry to go on and on but it’s one of my issues.