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Skagit Red Chicken: A Whole New Breed

An exclusive heritage-breed raised just for Town & Country Markets, the Skagit Red has a richer, bolder, more old-fashioned flavor. It’s a chicken that lights up any weeknight recipe so brilliantly, you’ll be forced to rethink the phrase “tastes like chicken.” Cooks up so juicy and tender it falls off the bone. No need to drown it in oil or bury it in butter (unless you love it that way.)

Leaner and more nimble than your average mass-produced broiler bird, Skagit Reds take advantage of all the extra room our partner Draper Valley Farms provides on their free-range chicken farm in the Skagit Valley near Mt. Vernon. When the thermometer drops below freezing, their specialized barn can hold up to 15,000 birds, so each flock has more than enough room to scratch, peck and play around—under comfy, warm, custom heating lamps.

Humanely raised, salmon-safe – no water-fouling fowl here – and antibiotic-free, Skagit Red Chicken is a delicious non-GMO option if you want superior flavor without breaking the bank. The Skagit Red even meets the rigorous Step 5 standards of the Global Animal Partnership. How? Along with all the extra pasture for grazing, they enjoy several enrichment measures, like indoor and outdoor roosts, for perching and more natural sleeping, extra-dry floor conditions to keep their feet healthy, and plenty of grass for foraging, so they’re clean, safe and happy. For a chicken, these are 5-star accommodations.

Spatchcock and save time (plus you get to say “I spatchcocked it!”)

Skagit Red Chickens come whole so it’s a great excuse to hone your spatchcocking skills and prepare your meal in half the time. “Spatch-what?” you say? Don’t worry, we’ll show you how. Or just ask our butchers to do it for you – no extra charge, although you do give up your bragging rights.

Prepare the bird

  • Remove the neck and any remain gizzards from the cavity. Don’t throw it away … freeze it for later and make some top-notch chicken stock.

Remove the backbone

  • Flip the bird onto a stable cutting board with plenty of room o Locate the backbone, running from the tail to the neck.

  • Cut along the right side of the backbone using kitchen shears

  • Repeat on the left side

  • Remove and keep the backbone to freeze and add it to the other future chicken stock-making bits

  • Flip over and place both of your palms on the breast of the chicken, a bit closer to the wings. Apply firm pressure until the sternum breaks and the chicken flattens out.

  • Using your kitchen shears, clip the wings at the last joint and remove, leaving just the “drum” and “flat” attached.

  • And you’re done. Congratulations, spatchcocker!

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