Page 4 - National Poultry Newspaper

A flavour revelation for a supermarket roast chicken.
What better way to start the working day?
The author’s go-to egg farm Fremantle Egg Company’s product I’m a fan of pastured eggs from hens that get out and about. typically has great colour and plenty of flavour.
Shelling out for production preferences
I LOVE chickens and I love eggs.
On the other hand, chickens in free range systems may choose to not even leave the con- fines of their sheds, and in many cases spend relatively little time free ranging.
and assorted other poul- try, including ducks, geese, turkeys, partridge and quail.
Cant
Comment
by BRENDON CANT
Chicken meat, while always appealing to me, has definitely come in to its own and into my home big-time over the past few years – largely for eco- nomic reasons.
But alas, today none will fit on my small sub- urban block.
Of course, it’s long been the best value meat protein when measured against the big three.
Having said that, I can rarely go past the brown Hy-Line free rangers at Fremantle Egg Company without pulling in and picking up a dozen mega jumbo eggs, and usually enjoying a quick chat with owner Ian Wilson and his friendly staff in their spruced up farm shop.
With local government bylaws becoming more restrictive each year, sadly the days of back- yard suburban chooks are probably on the way out.
Chicken far surpasses beef – the price of which has gone through the roof inthepastyearorso– lamb and pork, albeit the latter comfortably and consistently represents the best value compared
to the other four-legged proponents.
The tandoori-flavoured chook was so good and it backed up my premise that fast-growing indus- trial chickens need spruc- ing up!
Let’s hope therefore that the likes of Ian Wil- son retain their interest and investment in poul- try, so we urbanites can continue to enjoy the products of their endeav- ours.
The one issue I do have with chicken however is that it can be a little bland and often needs revving up during the cooking process, with for example marinades, sauces, cur- ries and spices.
When it comes to eggs, my bare minimum is free range but my preference is pasture raised.
These 840g beauties al- most always have great colour and plenty of fla- vour, albeit sometimes seasonally going ‘off the boil’ a little.
They need consumer support now more than ever as they face radical input price hikes, envi- ronmental and planning intrusions and some- times overzealous gov- ernment regulation.
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This is especially the case with mass-produced shed-grown fast-grow- ing chickens – bred and raised to go from the shed floor to the table as quickly as possible.
The latter production category – and yes, it’s a price point thing – gives chickens the best possible chance to do what chick- ens want to do, that is forage, peck and scratch around, dust-bathe and freely frolic.
I must say, it’s nice hav- ing a nearby go-to egg farm when you reside in the suburbs, as I do in South Fremantle.
So, decide on your per- sonal production prefer- ences and shell out now and buy Aussie eggs.
The notable and fla- voursome exceptions are pasture-raised hens, or even roosters, according to my poultry palate.
I have at various times of my life kept and bred meat and egg chickens
While these are typi- cally more difficult to find and inevitably more expensive, they still of- fer relatively good value for money and certainly come home to roost on the flavour front.
Very occasionally, I will resort to buying a cooked roast chicken from my lo- cal Woolworths,www and admit I was pleasantly surprised recently when I bagged a Woolies tan- doori hot roast chicken for $12 – I think the same price as the usual ‘plain’ version.
Closed-loop egg farming. Having peaked in its production cycle, this Hy-Line hen was culled, returned to its original home, then bought by me and turned into a hearty winter soup.
Page 4 – National Poultry Newspaper, July 2022
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