The bird, the whole bird and nothing but the bird

A lesson for the white meat crowd.

Forget about smart phone detox, I dare you (or your kids) to try a one week chicken breast meat detox.

No nuggets, fingers, boneless wings, sandwiches.

Think about it.

Think about food.

Think about how we've been manipulated.

In my 2002 book We Want Clean Food, I warned you that agribiz was parading us to become an all white meat culture and super-duper big breasted chickens were indeed in our future. Yea I wrote that 23 years ago, in 2002.

In 2008 during the last republican economic meltdown that only benefited the oligarchs, I was invited to do a presentation for NY State to WIC mothers on how to stretch their budgets and feed a family economically.

My Presentation, designed for a single mom with two kids, was simple; $20 for 1 bird and provisions to make 4 healthy meals. Back then the national average price for whole chicken was $1.25 a pound at the supermarket, or about $4-4.50 for a medium sized fryer.

I had about 20 attendees, young women, a balanced mix of white, African American and Latino.

A set up cutting board and knife, a butane burner, assorted veggies and grains and a whole bird.

When I proceeded to explain the economics of buying a whole chicken and the meals that could be prepared; sauteed breast, roasted legs and thighs, wings and backs cooked in rice, and of course chicken soup, I saw many faces turn gray.

I held the bird up by its wing and danced it across the cutting board, ala Julia Child. As I demonstrated how simple breaking down a chicken was, I was met with a chorus of “Ewwws!”

The comments broke my heart.

The brainwashing was tragic.

“My kids won’t eat that, they only eat nuggets”

“I can’t do that in my house, everyone will get sick”

“No way I am ever touching raw chicken”

The only women who seemed cool with cutting up a chicken were the Latinas. Because they were mostly first generation immigrants, they still had a connection to what it took to feed a family with real food.

When I attempted to remind them of how our grandparents made do with simpler, unprocessed food, the resistance was strong. I felt like an old man.

My altruistic presentation was a dud. I learned more than they did that day.

A few years earlier when our oldest son Willie was about 16, I encountered another episode of whole chicken phobia. Wille was and still is a great eater. We cook together, everything from everywhere, and when we travel, we always order the funkiest, scariest food, to experience the local culture. Apparently, not all kids are raised this way.

One autumn Sunday, Willie and his buddy Eugene were playing hard in the yard with a football for hours; passing, tumbling and making up scrimmage games. Atfter s few hours, they were dirty and hungry boys.

In the kitchen, my wife Liz was making her specialty, Sunday roast chicken with rice and gravy. Sunday dinner in our house was either Sunday red sauce made by me, or roast chicken made by Liz.

The house smelled bewitchingly good. She set the table with sides, gravy and her gorgeous, glistening bird, plattered up for me to carve. Willie and Eugene finished washing up and of course I invited Eugene to join us. He politely passed, explaining the “I don’t like that kind of chicken”

I ws pretty stunned.

“This a a beautiful local chicken, What kind of chicken are we talking about? ” I asked.

“I dunno, it grosses me out like that” He said.

“Have it your way, more for us,” I jokingly said.

As the family dug into to the succulent bird, Eugene went into the family room to play video games while we ate, or so I thought.

A few minutes later I heard the microwave chime and a smelled that disgusting aroma of fast food. Believe it or not, he snuck out to the local supermarket and bought himself a box of frozen nuggets.

Sad, so sad. It is really not a matter of preference, It is a matter of brainwashing.

Have modern Americans been coerced into being afraid of whole food? It is all that they trust? They are certainly afraid of germs. The chemical lobby in the US has led us to believe that without their poisons, we would all be dead. And the grain industry, who in tandem with the chemical industry, created our toxic American food system, have incorporated their ill bred grains into every part of a those nuggets and fingers, from the feed to the coating to the shitty sauce.

A few years ago when the Social Stratosphere was bombarded with the “new” science that we should never wash a raw chicken in the sink for fear of death by contamination of your dish drainer, I objected, only to be harassed by millennials. I am just out of touch, I was told. My objection was simple, how could millions of chickens that have been washed in the sink be killers?

A good Chicken is good wholesome food. Use it all.

Read this from the Washington Post.

"For whole-animal butcher Sophia Hampton, this ubiquitous cut of meat is actually the most problematic item in the case.

"These shapeless blobs are a staple of the American diet. When it comes to chicken, the most popular animal protein in America, most people prefer just the white breast meat to the whole bird or leg meat. This is [true according to some hard data](https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../our-insatiable.../...), and it is also true according to the countless customers who walk into the butcher shop and ask for chicken. They are surprised to see that there are legs and wings attached, and “No, no. Do you have regular chicken breasts please? I need something easy tonight.” I nod and grab the limp oval flesh, but not without thinking about how inefficient the equation of eating has become for everyone involved here.”

Read the article in the Washington Post…I know, I know..but it is a worthwhile read.

Meanwhile, buy a whole bird, dammit!

Chicken Soup 101

A hundred variations can be made but this is the straight dope.

Boil a whole chicken in lightly salted water for about 45 minutes.

Remove it from the broth. Skim some fat if you are so inclined.

Add carrots, celery, onion, potato, parsley, bay leaf.

Pick some Chicken meat from the cooked bird and add that, and the neck to the soup, Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Season to taste.

Use the rest for chicken salad or something for Tomorrow's lunch.

Use the remaining bones for a longer cooked stock.

While soup is cooking, saute and enjoy the liver.

Waste nothing.

Eat.

Who is the lucky one who gets the neck?

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https://ricorlando.com

And on all Social except X because X is poison.

chefricorlando