~MARYLAND de HEN~

all photographs by Wilbur M. Reeling & Nikon 5400
~MARYLAND de HEN~

ORGANIC, GRASS FED FREE RANGE de HEN @ $1.65lb

... but not "molecular gastronomy"Recently my friend Chuck, at http://chuckeats.com/, blogged a $40.00 S.F. chicken tale.

I think the Farmer's Market chicken fellows are charging you for killing the famous S.F. “Screaming Eagle” at the price you are paying. At that $40.00 price tag they should throw in eating it at the French Laundry and have Keller himself hand-feed it to you. Now come on, mmmmm, it's still just a chicken!!

They're selling a bill-a-goods to you poor San Fran Rubes.

You 'Boys' out there in the West must be nuts to pay that! I think you guys in S.F. are getting the old Navy pick-up-the-soap in the shower deal with those Chicken Farmer's prices!! Only a rube fresh off the boat would be shelling out that kind of money for any kind of hen. IT'S JUST A CHICKEN- come on now ... it didn't come STUFFED with PERIGORD TRUFFLES did it?

above: This is a pix of a hen that I recently prepared for the famous gourmet, Mr. Art Bocutti, in Ragged Point, Maryland just a few minutes drive from Camebridge.

We have a couple of beautiful bucolic farms in the area here in Maryland but my favorite for free-range chicken has become this little ORGANICLY GROWN & GRASS FED "de HEN" from a local Mennonite farmer.

BELIEVE IT WHEN I SAY …"$1.65 per pound and killed & dressed out the day you order it"… and as to the stuffing in Maryland, we like a type called 'select' plump, Chesapeake Bay Blue Point Oyster Stuffing, with a bread dressing , some pine nuts, white wine, Fleur De Sel , fresh cracked Penja Pearl of Cameroon Peppercorns and a touch of fresh herbs. I add the Chop Tank River Oysters from my friend's company, "SOFT & SALTY CRABS 'n OYSTERS" outside of Camebridge, Maryland. I use the very best of everything including the stuffing bread from Ned's Breads in Baltimore and I prefer the Ned's 'Ciabatta' because it's as good as the best of your S.F. sourdough types. (w/out the sour part) Serve 'er up with a bottle of cheap $8.00 Chateau de Chasseloir Muscadet sevre et SUR LIE -- it's like being in Mennonite Maryland Heaven and I'm a Daoist-Chicken-Quintessencetist!

- LOL -