Who knew!?

Any good carnivore knows that beef and pork have tenderloins and that those are the precious cuts that are the most tender and valuable part of the beast.  Did you know that chickens have tenderloins too!? 
I did not.
Until a few weeks ago when I started investigating the best way to cut up a chicken so that you can get the most for your money and have the least waste. 
I used the method of an idol of mine, the Salatin family from Virginia. You may have heard of Joel Salatin and his pastured livestock and his forward thinking ways, using traditional methods and ingenious ideas.  He is the inspiration for how we raise our chickens on pasture and I am huge follower of his writings.  Anyway, he and his family process thousands of pasture raised birds, right on their farm and this youTube video is the rough basis for how I cut up our birds (although admittedly I'm not nearly as fast and efficient...yet! haha).

Anyway, watching the video was the first time I really paid attention to what makes up the actual MEAT of a chicken rather than just roasting or quartering it and eating it. 
So when you order a cut up from me you'll get the two breasts and then along with them, two strips of the finest chicken meat you'll ever eat.  It's like butter!  I don't know what they do with this part when you buy chicken breasts in the store, but back in my breast-buying days in college, I don't remember anything ever being like this. 

I will write more about this in the next week, but as a safety tip for cut-up buyers, cut off those wing tips before you freeze them.  They turn into the fiercest weapon on Earth when they freeze and tend to pierce whatever package they're in.  So if I were you, and wondering what you should do with two wings, I'd toss em in a pot of water with carrots, celery and onion, simmer for a while and make the best stock in the universe.  Especially after you strip the fall-off-the-bone meat and add it to the stock and make soup that'll cure whatever ails ya.

Oh, I've got so much to say about chicken!  About these chickens!  About this CSA!

More to come soon!

-Sally