Just processed our first roosters!

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
I imagine that was her version of what we do when we let the meat rest in the refrigerator. It is too tough and chewy if we do not rest the meat before freezing or cooking it because rigor sets in, and you have to wait for the muscles to relax and the rigor to be gone before cooking. So in that respect, I can see her logic in that.

I would have loved to have seen poultry carcasses hangin' from the clothesline, though. That would have been a sight to see! LOL!

 

[cravenchx]

Am I to understand that birds older than 9 months
are not good for meat?

 

[scooter147]

Quote:
If you looking for a bird to fry no. If your looking for a bird for meals that can be cooked long and slow like chicken-n-dumplings, noodle soup, chicken-n-rice etc. the older the better in my opinion. The older birds have acculuted more fat which we all know is where all the flavor comes from.
When I "stew" and older bird I stew the whole bird. When done stewing I generally only use the breast meat in the disch and the leg and thigh meat is mixed with the dogs food. Depending on how many people I am feeding I will add breast meat from a fry to the dish.

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Can he come hang out with me next?

That had to have been the best chicken soup I have ever made/eaten in my life! We are totally hooked on processing now!

My husband's lookin' around the yard, wondering if there's any more naughty roosters that need killin'....

(Actually, we already have several in freezer camp LOL.)

 

[scooter147]

Quote:
Can he come hang out with me next?

That had to have been the best chicken soup I have ever made/eaten in my life! We are totally hooked on processing now!

My husband's lookin' around the yard, wondering if there's any more naughty roosters that need killin'....

(Actually, we already have several in freezer camp LOL.)

Yep!!! When we have a pot luck at work I'm asked to make chicken-n-dumplings and I never have to worry about cleaning up any leftovers. I generally use a two year old hen to make my stock. People ask me what my secret is. I simple tell them a good old fat hen. They tell me that their chicken-n-dumplings are never that good. When I ask what they use a lot of them tell me they use a fryer or just chicken breast. Well there is your answer. I suggest they buy a stewing hen at the store that it's much better but I always get the ole, it's too expensive or I'm not dealing with a whole bird etc. etc. etc. My response to the expense thing is that yes they are about three times the price but if you think about it generally you are going to get at least two meals out of it and possible three is you make enough dumplings.
Did I mention I work with city people.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Can he come hang out with me next?

That had to have been the best chicken soup I have ever made/eaten in my life! We are totally hooked on processing now!

My husband's lookin' around the yard, wondering if there's any more naughty roosters that need killin'....

(Actually, we already have several in freezer camp LOL.)

That sounds

. I have 13 that I have to process and I can't wait to have some good ole soup.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
That had to have been the best chicken soup I have ever made/eaten in my life! We are totally hooked on processing now!

My husband's lookin' around the yard, wondering if there's any more naughty roosters that need killin'....

(Actually, we already have several in freezer camp LOL.)

Yep!!! When we have a pot luck at work I'm asked to make chicken-n-dumplings and I never have to worry about cleaning up any leftovers. I generally use a two year old hen to make my stock. People ask me what my secret is. I simple tell them a good old fat hen. They tell me that their chicken-n-dumplings are never that good. When I ask what they use a lot of them tell me they use a fryer or just chicken breast. Well there is your answer. I suggest they buy a stewing hen at the store that it's much better but I always get the ole, it's too expensive or I'm not dealing with a whole bird etc. etc. etc. My response to the expense thing is that yes they are about three times the price but if you think about it generally you are going to get at least two meals out of it and possible three is you make enough dumplings.
Did I mention I work with city people.

See there? They want to make it good but then don't want to do what it takes to make it. People!

 

[HHandbasket]

I have one girlfriend who is a big animal rights activist but is an omnivore and tries to eat organic as much as possible, lives up in Oregon and tries to eat locally-produced food as much as she can, that type of person. Well, when I told her we were processing our own birds, it just upset her so much & she just couldn't understand how we could do such a thing.

"Because then I know how the bird lived and how the bird died, which is more than I can say for what you know about that store-bought pre-frozen IQF chicken breast you get at Costco or Sam's Club or Walmart or any of the other grocery stores." Not to mention, that stuff will never, ever taste as good as the fresh chicken from the yard, no matter how ya cook it.

She understands that her factory farm-produced chicken has to die, but she just doesn't see how someone can raise a bird from a chick, then pluck it, gut it, behead it, and eat it. It's not easy at first, but it's so worth it.

 

[scooter147]

Quote:
I don't understand what she doesn't understand about raising your own when you are animal rights person who cares about the treatment and feeding of the animals you eat. Seems to me she wants to completely remove herself from the whole process which to me makes you some what of a phony. Please don't take it as slam against your friend. I too have a good friend who is somewhat the same way. She loves the way I treat my animals and will come over for a chicken dinner or pork roast from a pig that was pasture raised at my dads place, however, I have asked her to come over and witness (don't have to pluck one feather) the process so that her appreciation of how her food gets to the dinner table is even more. A $1,000 bribe wouldn't work.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I can't "do the deed" but I can pluck, cut, gut, clean and eat. I have someone come over to "do the deed" and when the "deed" is over, I go back outside and begin plucking. I wish I had the courage to "do the deed" because then I wouldn't need anyone to come over and do it for me.