Before the advent of factory farming, chicken was considered a gourmet food, eaten maybe once per week. In those days large roasted birds served as grand centerpieces for elaborate Sunday dinners. Conserving traditional breeds also means conserving these old cooking traditions. You can do both by serving beautifully roasted heritage birds for your shabbat and holiday meals. Below is my recipe for a traditional herb and garlic roasted bird adapted specifically for kosher heritage chickens. 

Ingredients

• 1  whole kosher heritage chicken
• ~2 gallons water
• ~¼ cup salt
• ~¼ cup sugar
• handful of dried herbs
• 2-3 tbs whole peppercorns
• 1 large lemon cut into slices
• 2-3 bunches of fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and sage - 1/2 minced
• 1-2 tbs cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup shmaltz, beef tallow, or margarine
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3-5 cloves garlic - minced
• 2+ cups chopped veggies of your choice - (enough to lightly cover roasting pan)

Cooking Directions:

1. ​Brine - Per gallon of water add ⅛ cup salt and ⅛ cup sugar. Also add a handful of dried herbs, the whole peppercorns, and half of the cut up lemon. Brine whole bird in the fridge for 4-18 hours. If you don't have the time to brine you can skip this step by adding 1-2 cups of liquid to the cooking pan instead, though I far prefer brining to adding liquid to the pan. 
2. Rub - Take bird out of the brine and dry. Vigorously massage the minced fresh herbs, 1/2 of the garlic, and cracked black pepper into your oil for 60-90 seconds. Rub 1/2 of the herbs and oil generously onto every part of the bird. Pull up skin around the breasts and thighs and rub remaining oil into the bird under the skin.
3. Stuff - Fill cavity with remaining garlic, fresh herbs, lemon, and truss (tie up) the legs.
4. Roast - Layer bottom of cooking vessel with veggies and place the prepared bird on top. Roast in a tightly covered pan at 300° until meat is tender, usually 30+ minutes per pound. 
5. Finish - Broil uncovered chicken for approximately 5-10 minutes making sure to rotate so skin gets fully crisp on all sides. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

When people search for humane chicken their minds usually focus on one thing, access to the outdoors aka is it free range or pasture raised? The thing is that this doesn’t actually matter all that much when looking at the big picture. If you start with a genetically unhealthy animal then raising it outdoors will do little to improve its life. I’d much rather eat a genetically healthy chicken raised in a barn than a badly bred free range bird. Taking what are called hybrids and raising them naturally is the equivalent of planting a GMO seed of corn in an organic field and calling it organic… it just doesn’t make sense.

I only eat heritage poultry. Unfortunately this makes it real hard to keep kosher because there is no commercial kosher heritage chicken or turkey available anywhere on earth so I have to kill and process everything I want to eat. About a year ago I wrote a post about the sheer exhaustion that processing my own meat was causing me and that despite the fact that at first it was empowering at this point it's just become exhausting. Not much has changed in the way of commercial birds since I wrote Ethical Convenience but I’ve been determined to find a more convenient way to eat poultry ethically ever since. I spent nearly a year planning and all my hard work came to fruition with a successful shechita run in August. I killed and processed 30 birds in less than a quarter of the time it took me to do only 15 birds in the past. I even felt happy and energized afterwards. What I learned not only helped spare me energy but can also make producing local kosher poultry, a dream of many that still lies unfulfilled in the U.S., a reality.

I spent last Sunday at the Good Shepard Poultry Ranch in Lindsborg, Kansas performing my 3rd annual fall heritage turkey harvest. People are used to buying turkey any time of year, but heritage turkeys mate naturally and are consequently restricted to doing so only during their late winter breeding season. After hatching in the spring, the birds grow for eight months and are ready for slaughter just in time for, you guessed it, Thanksgiving. I also spent the day processing several heritage chickens, including some older breeder hens, which gave a lot of rich, yellow chicken fat that I rendered into shmaltz. I even saved the feet and made 12 quarts of delicious poultry stock. To celebrate the harvest, I invited a few friends over for an “organ party,” where we grilled up some hearts and livers from the slaughter, yum! Just two weeks ago, my 10cf freezer was almost empty, but now it is just about two thirds full. Being able to do this all myself is very rewarding, but I also can’t begin to describe how much work it takes and how truly mentally and physically exhausting it all is. When I started doing shechita I wanted to be connected to my meat no matter what the hassle, but after almost three years, I admit, I would love sometimes to go the store and buy some meat like everybody else.

Writing this series has me on quite a journey. We've talked about so many of the elements that go into making a truly incredible chicken soup: the fat, the feet, the organs, the age... and most importantly the blood. I hope you've learned as much as me, so with no further ado enjoy the recipe!



Heritage Chicken Soup
Prep time: 1-2 hours
Cook time: 8- 10 hours

Ingredients:
1 whole 4-6 lb heritage stewing chicken including the feet, gizzard, heart and neck - (if you source smaller 2-3 pound hens than you can use 2 birds)
2-4 tablespoons schmaltz (add more or less shmaltz depending on how fat your chicken is)
1 big bag of fresh or frozen vegetable scraps - such as onion skins & ends, carrot peels, celery leaves & buts, leek tops etc..
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2-3 medium yellow onions - quartered
1 head of garlic - 1/2 peeled and the other half minced
3/4 pound carrots - roughly chopped into large pieces
3/4 pound celery - roughly chopped into large pieces
3/4 pound cauliflower - roughly chopped (optional, adds thickness to the soup)
1 1/2 pound russet potatoes -peeled and halved or quartered
3/4 pound parsnip or celery root - peeled and roughly chopped into large pieces
1 head of fresh parsley - minced
1 pinch of dried thyme
Your choice of fresh herbs, I personally enjoy thyme or dill (optional)
A few cups of fully cooked noodles or rice (optional)
salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste (optional)