Paul Goldfinger, MD    Editor@Blogfinger.net

Political correctness and science have influenced how farmers raise crops and how farm animals are treated.   In prior generations,  people got along just fine by grabbing a chicken from the barnyard, chopping off its head, and then serving it for dinner.

As a child I went with my grandmother to a Kosher butcher in Bayonne.  He had chickens in cages, and then Grandma chose one.  The butcher wore a white coat and turned his back to us.  Next thing I knew, we were leaving the store with a dead chicken in a bag.

When we got home, my grandmother plucked out the feathers and then  proceeded to open up the bird’s abdomen.  I loved that part.  She discarded the “guts” and kept organ meats like the liver, heart, pancreas and lungs.  She even kept the yellow feet for soup and the fat to be turned into schmaltz  (chicken fat)  for cooking and schmeering on rye bread with a little salt.

She also chopped up the skin to make gribenes  (pr  grib’-a-nez) which was to fry it in a pan with schmaltz.  It was salty and crunchy and was a fine alternative to bacon.  But they never deep fried chicken.

The meat was cut into pieces and boiled with the soup.  Or it was roasted  for dinner.

I loved all the organ meats. Especially chicken livers pan fried with onions. And I even liked to eat the boiled soup chicken with ketchup.

Then, over the years, we learned about salmonella, so careful cooks will take the temperature of chicken before serving the meat  for eating.   An instant-read thermometer is needed, and the goal is 165 degrees.

Also cross-contamination must be avoided, such as touching the raw chicken and then touching spices or tools.   Wash the cutting board and shears in hot water with soap.

Of course we all read labels on food….. right?  Today Eileen sent me to buy a raw chicken cut into pieces.    That required that I read the label.  The chicken was tightly wrapped in plastic, and the plastic contained a lot of information. My chicken choice seemed to be perfect, although I was surprised by the list of attributes; is all that meaningful?  And this is what the label said:

—hatched, raised and harvested in the USA

—raised without antibiotics

—no added growth hormone

—humanely raised   (Merriam-Webster says that humanely means  ” marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals.”)

—vegetarian fed

—family farm raised in a stress free environment

—minimally processed

—quality guaranteed

—“natural”

—and, last but not least, Kosher.

I think we might offer children some of these qualities.   It seems that chickens might have less stress than humans.

FATHER JOHN MISTY   “Nancy From Now On.”