If you feel hen-pecked, it’s natural

Hilde G. Lee Daily Progress staff writer
Published: July 22, 2008

With the price of meat going up by leaps and bounds, I find myself turning to chicken as a main course. I have always had an affinity for chicken, particularly during the summer months.

Today with large chicken hatcheries and mass production chicken has become a staple in our diets. Until recently I never thought of it as a main course, year-round.

Since Colonial times in America and until modern methods of production, chickens — the cock or rooster, the hens and their chicks — always have lived close to their owners’ homes. They needed protection, especially at night, from the predators, which were constantly after their eggs and their flesh.

Chickens also were kept close to the farmhouse for feeding purposes and egg gathering. The care of these barnyard animals was women’s work, along with housework and milking.

Pet roosters

In many households, the rooster almost achieved the status of a pet. Not only was his crowing useful as a “time machine,” his swaggering walk added a macho status.

Some food historians say that when the rooster crows, people listen, and they believe that is the proof that speaking eloquence is a male virtue. The rooster was thought to symbolize the church preacher, warning and rousing his flock.

The rooster was thought of as a gentleman and punctual with his crowing. He looked after his family. This was his duty, because he was stronger and cleverer than the rest of the flock. He showed them where they could find food, and people claimed that they had witnessed the rooster’s fatherly concern. Because he was a bird he could afford openly to have many wives.

The rooster made quite certain that he alone was in charge of his household by keeping upstart roosters at bay. His womenfolk could be difficult at times, but he kept them in order through his patience and masculine prestige.

Pecking order

In 1922, a Norwegian psychologist, T. Schjelderup-Ebbe, demonstrated that hens observe what he called a “pecking order.” One hen dominates the rest and demands signs of submission. This hen tends to peck any insufficiently humble hen into subordination. The hens lower in prestige than she similarly browbeat others and so on down the line.

Fierce battles ensued if newcomers were introduced into an established order. Roosters easily ruled over all the hens and did not allow themselves to be “hen-pecked.”

More and more, the

barnyard rooster and his hens have disappeared from rural America. In 1934 a California businessman, John Kimber, came to the realization that among chicken farmers, eggs were one thing and chicken meat another. He decided that the production of each would be more profitable if undertaken separately. Kimber put his theory into practice and thereby revolutionized modern chicken farming.

From that time on, chickens were intensively bred either for egg-laying power or meat production. In this effort to produce eggs, the hybrid White Leghorn chicken was developed. She lays only white eggs, which most North Americans prefer.

The White Leghorn is the world’s most prolific egg-layer. She will give 230 to 300 eggs during her most fertile two-year period, after which she is slaughtered for meat. This compared to about 30 eggs a year for most hens before man began selecting and breeding them for eggs.

It also was in the 1930s that use was made of the ancient farmer’s lore that hens lay more eggs when there is more light — more during long summer days than in the winter. After the fall molting season, hens did not produce eggs to a great extent. Thus hen houses where built where the use of artificial light controlled the laying habits of hens.

Today there is a great deal of automation in raising chickens for meat. When it comes time for slaughter the chickens and package the whole or parts, the operation is almost like an assembly line in an auto factory. All is FDA controlled.

Some parts of the chicken that are used in pet food, canned chicken soup and bouillon cubes, or other products such as frankfurters, bologna and summer sausage. The feet are exported in huge numbers to the Orient, particularly China, where chicken feet are considered delicious.

The following recipe for chicken and tomato is easy and quick to prepare. I use sliced chicken tenders for this recipe. Serve with a mixed green or bean salad.

Pasta Spirals with Chicken

and Tomato

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

2 ounces sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained

1 garlic clove, chopped

14-ounce can chopped tomatoes, drained

1 tablespoon tomato paste

¾ cup chicken broth

12 ounces fusilli (spiral pasta)

8 ounces chicken tenders, diagonally sliced

Salt and ground black pepper

Basil leaves, for garnish

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion and carrot for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and set aside. Stir the garlic, canned tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken broth into the onions and carrots and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Pour the sauce into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Return the sauce to the pan and stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and chicken. Bring back to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Add salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve, garnished with basil leaves. Serves 4.