The Bad
Two weeks ago our local farmer's market opened. As it has been an unseasonably cool spring, the pickings were pretty slim. However there was a new vendor there selling Old Iron Wine, a label specifically bottled for the Pasco Farmer's Market. The vendor called it a "young, farmer's table wine" and at $6 a bottle, I was willing to give it a shot. Buyer beware! For $6, all you are getting is a cute label on a bottle. The wine was completely undrinkable. For starters, when I opened it, it fizzed out like a champagne which has been uncorked improperly. A carbonated red? Still, I was willing to give it a taste test (stupid me!). Upon first sip, I immediately spit it out. Unfortunately, despite the offending wine being ejected from my mouth, the sickly sweet aftertaste kept building. The whole bottle was dumped down the drain. What a waste of the farmer's time and of a good $6. If you frequent the Pasco Farmer's Market and come across Old Iron Wine, skip it!
The Good
On the upside, the farm I buy my eggs from slaughtered some of their chickens on Saturday and I bought a few. I had never had fresh chicken before and I was curious to taste how they would differ from grocery store chicken. Boy, the taste was incredible! They were so much meatier than store chickens and cleaner too. The juices of store chickens often get slimy feeling, but the fresh chickens were clean and soft feeling. I put them on the grill and they were just wonderful. After picking the carcasses clean, I put them in a stock pot and now have a good 10 cups of wonderful stock on hand as well. Nothing goes to waste! If you are living in Southeast, WA and are interested in fresh chickens or eggs, Greene Hills Farm has it going on!
26 comments:
I try not to let things go to waste either. I am so curious about fresh chickens now. Have to check that out.
What a bummer about the wine.
... carbonated red wine? No thanks. I would love fresh eggs though, I wish I could get them around here easily. My brother hasn't been sharing his lately. Heh. That chicken looks wicked good, too.
You poor thing.......hmm...sometimes the name does tell something.
Old Iron, sounds odd to me...
It's really worth doing the stock at home, esp. in spring time, ample amounts of vegetables are available, and many trimmings could be used for the stock too. Once one tried the home made stock, then no more canned stock from the supermarkets.
If you add me as 'The Ugly'; then we would have a Clint Eastwood storyline going here :)
I just read that my favorite Apricots were fooled again with the warm weather, and a late cool front has cause them to be sparse in the market as well...
Our local outside markets start up in a few weeks...
You can always use terrible wine for cooking.
That sucks about the wine. What a total rip-off!!! But aside from that farmer's markets are like a playground for any foodie. =)
Fresh chicken is so much more tasty! Sorry you had to endure bad wine, nothing is worse than a bad bottle of wine.
I'd say the good totally made up for the bad! Fresh chickens are my favorite way to go, too! I have a wonderful poultry farmer at my Farmer's Market where I try to get all my chicken and eggs :) And turkeys at Thanksgiving!
I just found your blog and like it a lot! Can't wait to read more!
This is so bad. Good thing your chicken was fresh. Taste, as you said, is so much better.
AWESOME! I can't wait to slaughter our chickens...well I can but I want to taste the fresh meat.
We are just getting into selling eggs, do you mind if I ask how much you pay?
I have eaten fresh chicken, and when I say fresh I mean watching it happen and then plucking the feathers my self... this was not my idea of a good time but yes the meat did taste extremely different.
What a bummer-the wine!! But the fresh chicken sounds wonderful, and you took full advantage of it! That stock is going to be lovely to cook with!
The good part sounds good :) We just had to dump a really expensive bottle of wine, it was a gift and prior to our possession of it, this wine was not stored properly and went totally bad. It was so bad I couldn't even use it for cooking. I think our local market is open already but I haven't been yet, looking forward to it.
What a shame about the wine, it sounds horrible!
At least the chicken was good thought, it's amazing how much difference there is between good chicken and the cheap stuff from the store.
Sorry about the wine. That's too bad. I've never experienced a bad bottle of wine. Guess I'm just lucky.
I've also never eaten a fresh chicken. I'm so glad to hear your experience. Thanks for taking us to the market. How fortunate you are to live near a good one. Ours in the mountains here is tiny with some nice produce but that's about all of the food they have. But we've got potters and jewelers.
Sam
Sorry about the wine it is very up setting when you can't even drink a glass. Love the thought of fresh eggs and chicken. Better luck next time.
oh, i'm sorry about your bad experience, but i give you props for trying! you're a brave girl :o) and yes, fresh chicken is awesome. we have it back in the philippines all the time.
I'm glad that your farmer's market has some redeeming qualities in the form of fresh food. However, that wine is totally offensive! Man oh man, don't you wish you could go back to the guy who sold it to you and give him a piece of your mind?! Six dollars for that? It's not right!
I agree. Fresh chickens taste SO much different! I wish my farmer's markets sold fresh chicken, too!
But it's always worth trying a new wine/beer etc to see if you like it! That was a very nice post and I'm glad you can also use everything...bits and leftovers - for other purposes. We have to be savvy in this economy!
Yuckaroo on that wine!
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Thanks for sharing.
When they say "Young farmers wine" do they mean the drink that 15 year old farm kids get drunk on, maybe? I can't diss the carbonated thing - sparkling red is something Australia is noted for and it can be lovely. But that chicken sounds absolutely superb.
Yikes to bad wine. It is always so disappointing to try something new and have it be yucky. I need to hit our local markets soon!
Sorry about the wine! I know it had to have been really bad to have been poured down the drain. Put it out of your mind and try to forget the taste!
I have never cooked a fresh chicken before but your description makes me wish I could find one! Good or bad, hooray for the start of the farmer's market season!!
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