Stewing Hen Stock w/ Greener Grass Farms

Hi! How have you guys been? I've been busy with a lot of things... work, home stuff, family stuff. I'm sure you all understand. This past month I did a lot of cooking for Greener Grass Farms. I cooked for two farm tours, and I got to use a new piece of meat to me - a stewing hen. When Dan presented the stewing hens, I honestly thought how much different can they actually be from a plain ol chicken. I was totally wrong, and I learned so much about this flavorful bird.

So, what is a stewing hen? Basically they are laying hens that no long produce eggs. Old ladies I suppose ha. In their package, they look like a normal meat bird. I made stock for chicken soup. Here's what I learned about stewing hens.

1. The flavor is unbeatable: I thought my chicken stock was flavorful, but this stewing hen brought stock flavor to a new level. The color is much more rich than a meat bird. 
2. There's tougher skin/more fat: This didn't concern me, but there's more fat to these birds. I ended up skimming quite a bit of fat off the top of my stock, which is OK. The skin on these birds is quite thick and tough.
3. These birds don't have a lot of meat: I was surprised that there's really no meat on these birds ha. One stewing hen might provide enough meat for a pot of chicken soup, but don't expect to yield a lot of meat.
4. Lots of time: I had four of these to cook for the tour, so I tried many methods; stove top and instant pot. They both worked wonderfully, but it takes a lot of time to get these hens tender. I usually make stock at 60 minutes manual in my Instant Pot, but I ended up going for 75 minutes with the stewing hen.

According to Dan and Deb, these birds used to be so popular for cooking, and I can see why. I'd love to stock these hens in my freezer for beautiful stock all winter long. I hope you reach out to Dan and Deb to try out a stewing hen. It's always fun trying new things :) Here's my stewing hen stock recipe below.

STEWING HEN STOCK
INGREDIENTS

• One Greener Grass stewing hen
• 1 bay leaf
• Scraps from onions, garlic, carrots, and celery (I use the scraps from my soup ingredients)
• 2 teaspoons peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Splash of organic apple cider vinegar
• Filtered water

METHOD

• ​Place broth ingredients in an Instant Pot. If you don’t have an instant pot, you can easily do this on the stove top for a good 6-8 hours. Completely cover the hen with filtered water. Place the lid on the instant pot and set it to manual for 75 minutes. Release pressure, let cool a bit and strain.