Storage
Keep in the fridge below 5˚C. If you’re not going to eat it within a day or two, freeze your meat as soon as possible and always within the use by date. Once frozen, use within a month. Use on the day of defrosting.
How to cook chicken quarters
Place the leg quarter in a roasting tray and roast at 180°C for 10 mins. Add the breast quarter and cook for another 40 mins.
Organic chicken farmer
Most of our chickens are raised by Andy Hayllor, one of our veg co-op farmers in Devon. The birds spend most of their time outdoors grazing grass, red clover and chicory; scratching and making dust baths, searching for bugs and exhibiting their natural behaviours.
Chickens are naturally timid creatures and without encouragement, stay indoors and never learn to roam and scratch. Many birds labelled ‘free range’ are kept in houses of many thousands. In theory they have the option to go out, but very few actually do. By contrast, Andy’s organic birds live in small flock sizes. They have shelters to encourage them away from the house, which Andy moves regularly to encourage them to roam about.
You might notice that the meat has a distinctive yellow colour. This isn’t from maize, but is as a result of their natural outdoor diet and lifestyle. It is proof that they really do ‘range free’. Short of raising chickens in your garden yourself, it would be hard to better these birds for flavour and welfare.
Riverford butchery
We choose traditional breeds, which we believe give better flavour. We carefully hang and butcher the meat ourselves, then mature it for extra flavour and tenderness.