So we ate our first chicken........ ewww

[comp6512]

After the rooster was culled, he rested for a full 48 hours in the fridge.

We did not brine him.

I roasted him in the oven for 3 hours at 350. I used minimal spices because I wanted to taste natural chicken.

Here's my report, and DH agreed.

Rooster was soft, not hard at all. But chewey. Most importantly, he tasted .... gamey... ? Completely unlike a store bought chicken. You could taste and smell the gamey stuff.

Are we not used to it? Will it pass? Should it have been brined? Rooster was 4.5 month old Buff Orpington.

Now, we are ready to cull a 2.5 month old duck. Will I have the same luck? Should I brine the duck?

 

[LarryPQ]

I had the same sort of experience. I liked the texture better, and the taste, but it SMELLED like the pet it was before I processed it.

That is: I could smell what I was feeding it. That is the "gamey" taste/smell to me. They say your sense of smell is most attached to your memory. So, perhaps brining would get out some of the smell, as well as adding spices & herbs. Just the other day I roasted up 2 scrawny leghorn roos. I stuffed them with leeks, and no other spices. That seemed to help.

 

[chicks4kids]

I always brine my birds and always spice them up the way I used to do with a store bought chicken.

I think maybe you were trying too hard to taste or smell the difference?

So of course you will. Just brine it next time and spice it up the way you normally would. This will give you a more precise idea of what your birds will taste like. You'll still taste the difference in the homegrown vs. store bought even with the spices. You'll be like "So THAT'S what it's supposed to taste like"

 

[Intheswamp]

comp6512, how did you bleed the rooster out when you processed him?

Ed

 

[Mrs.Puff]

I'm agreeing with intheswamp. Are you sure you bled him? Brining can help if you didn't get to bleed him very well.

 

[Katy]

How old was he? An older roo is going to taste more gamey than young bird.

 

[Kittymomma]

350 for 3 hours sounds like a lot of cooking. I usually do 425 for about an hour + or - depending on size....

 

[Keara]

Funny how the inside of a chickens smells like the outside of a chicken!

I had a little difficulty getting over this the first time too. 'Cuz I realized fresh raw chicken meet smells a bit like fresh chicken poo; just not so strong. But I just put them in a pot and simmer with herbs and onions for a day. Pull the meat off the bone strain out the broth, and call it soup.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Chicken you raise at home will never taste like store bought (unless you are raising CornishX and even then they will taste a bit different). Just like home eggs vs. store eggs.

I grew up eating home chicken and prefer it much more to store bought (cardboard pressed chicken is what I call it). My DH grew up with store bought, so I prepared him before we tried it - told him pretend it is not "chicken" and eat it.

Here is a good link/article about heritage/dual purpose chickens and cooking - I have found it very informative. (I saved it from a post by member srsmith69)

www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

 

[Harleena]

Quote:
Yes, I did that too with 2 roos. We paid someone to dress them and learned how, but the next 2 roos we had we just gave away. We didn't enjoy eating a bird we knew.