It's been a long time coming ... our rooster Foghorn Leghorn has crowed his last cookle-doodle-doo at sunrise and is bound for brodo (soup).
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| R.I.P. Foghorn Leghorn |
The massive white rooster, Foghorn Leghorn couldn't have been any more quintessential (with a striking resemblance to the famous cartoon character), as me marched about the yard owning the place, quick-step dancing around his ladies and herding our gaggle of hens home at dusk. He was surely a sight to see (and hear all day long!)
But after getting a bit aggressive, charging & trying to attack Jason numerous times, he finally went after me. Well that was it - off with his head! Literally. With a house full of guests we were a bit nervous of where to clean the bird at 8:30 in the morning so we went to the side of the house. But a few of the guests noticed, took interest & called their kids over to see - ages ranging from 8-18. They said "I want the kids to know where their food comes from." It became a whole family affair as I plucked his feathers, Jason butchered the bird (with the watchful eye of Doc. Gaggi) explaining to the guests what each part was & how he would later use it for cooking. In the early morning hours, these brave guests had a front-row seat to authentic country living in Italy.
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| Plucked & ready for butchering |
This is life on a farm. We knew we first brought home our hens & roosters what they were meant for, food. Our hens provide us with almost a dozen eggs a day for our pasta & desserts, after a year or so they are slaughtered with the roosters and are bound for many more delicious dishes. It is considered a specialty to serve your own eggs & chicken and we are proud of their delicious flavor & rich color. Our chickens are happy: well fed, free range & live a good life - not to mention incredibly tasty!
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| The original |
RIP Foghorn! Sooth the lining of some hungry stomach... But, Ashley, what are all the ladies going to do now without Foghorn? Who will round them up and bring them home each evening? I know those hens! I do hope you had a junior "in training" for ALL the hens'needs!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog. A lesson I learned on the ranch...don't name your food. This post also reminded me of the dilemma faced by Dan Barber (chef at the wonderful Blue Hill at Stone Barns) with Boris the Hog. You can listen to it here:
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Thanks Jane! I'll check it out for sure. I've heard such great things about Blue Hill at Stone Barns (we used to live in NYC for 8 years before Italy). It's true about naming your food - we don't name the hens but the roosters are so funny & I just gotta call them something when I say buon giorno in the mornings!
ReplyDelete@Earth Pilgrim - Harold, we have 2 young roosters ready to take the reigns! They have been in training for about 3 months - they're ready for the ladies!
ReplyDeleteGreat stuffs. Thanks for the post!
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