In the last post I talk about processing a few of our Indian game hens for meat. One was a bantam and a respectable 1.3kg.
We spatchcocked the bird to reduce cooking time. This isn't the first bantam we've eaten this year, earlier in the summer we had six young bantam cockerels that were spending their days fighting and worse so we ended up having them for a BBQ. the lightest weighed in at 330g but we all had one each for our tea and it seemed far better than wasting them.
This bantam was on a different level - the others were more like eating a quail whereas this had some good meat on it. It fed all five of us, but the bones were picked clean by the end!
One thing I really love is the difference in leg meat and breast meat - the light and the dark. Unlike supermarket birds (or even home raised Ross Cobbs to a certain extent) you can really see the difference in two meats.
And a surprising amount of fat cooked out of it, especially considering there was no internal fat.
So I'm pleased with the little bird, I might even hatch some of these out for meat when I put some more in the incubator next time, although the hen birds are considerably smaller.
Anyone else eat Bantam chickens?
No but I wish I could. Looks lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt was very nice!
DeleteI, the Tigger, will eat any roast poultry that looks as good as that one.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know! My children wolfed it down!
DeleteLooks excellent. Out of interest have you worked out the cost of this compared to an organic free range chicken from the butcher?
ReplyDeleteNot yet - I did with the ross cobbs and if I don't include my time there is a huge saving - if I do then the chicken owes me money...
DeleteThat looks so good. One thing I miss from our previous 5 acre property is the poultry (turkeys, ducks and Red Shavers for eating). The "our" was my late husband and me.
ReplyDeleteThe chicken you can really taste the difference. There is a big poultry producer near here who does it right and has them out on grain so can be found but it's tricky.
DeleteLooks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThe amount of fat that cooked out is a little surprising, considering the fact you stated there was no internal fat.
Yeah, nothing inside which is normally what happens when I leave them too long and feed too much grain. All under the skin I think.
DeleteI'll admit our extra bantams are usually cooked for the cats. Which is kind of a waste as we love quail and they have way less meat.
ReplyDeleteThat's still not as wasteful as it could be - I'd say that's a good use really. When we did the tiny ones it took ages but was during lockdown and a good homeschooling opportunity.
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