What is the Best Tasting Heritage Meat Bird?

[Farmer123]

Hello! I'm getting ready to start chickens for the first time this Spring and need advice on getting the best tasting meat bird. I'm interested in getting a heritage dual purpose breed i.e., BO, RIR or BR. I would prefer sticking to a single breed using some hens as layers but would consider getting separate breeds if needed. I've read some feedback here on BYC that BO's and RIR's are disappointing for meat but from others I've heard that they are quite good. Appreciate any input, experience or advice that you might have. I'm located in West Michigan.

Also, my understanding is that the weight and age of the bird determine it's classification as a broiler (2-3#),
fryer (3-4#), roaster (5-7#) or stewer (7+ and/or over 1 year old). Is this correct?

Thanks,
Farmer 123

 

[LilyD]

The problem that most people have with BO and RIR as well as other heritage breeds is that they are comparing them with the chickens we buy from the stores. Heritage breeds will have less breast meat and if they are not aged properly and cooked like a heritage bird they can be a little tough if they are older than 6 months. I find that I can go as long as 9 months with my birds and have heard that you can go as long as a year before processing as long as you age them well before eating them. If you are okay with not having huge breasts on your chickens the taste of a heritage breed bird is absolutely amazing. My son who has eaten our heritage birds for the last 3 years now says that birds from the store and the Cornish X that we raised are very bland and spongy tasting. The heritage birds which are all we eat now are much more flavorful and the meat has more substance to it. I'm not sure if I am describing this in a way that you can understand but it's the only way I can figure to put it lol.

I have eaten BO, RIR, Production Red, Delaware, Brahma, Gold Comet, Cochin, and mixes of the above so I have tried a lot and many different ages as well. It doesn't matter how old they are as long as you know how to cook them. Older birds go in the crock pot younger birds can be cooked like birds from the store you just have to age the meat to get rid of the rigor first. The birds at the store go through the same process we just don't see it since we aren't eating them right after processing. Love the taste, the texture and won't be eating anything but my home grown birdies anymore. Sorry for rambling it tends to happen when I type late at night lol.

 

[LilyD]

I think Redsox and LilyD are right on.

The only place I have any disagreement at all with what either of them said is I have eaten roosters more than a year old and thought they tasted great and were not tough. They had some texture but I don’t consider that tough. I had no trouble eating them. It does depend a whole lot with the older birds especially how they are cooked, but if you have an age appropriate recipe, any chicken can be cooked.

Thanks LilyD for the info, it is very helpful! How do you age the meat?

Farmer123:
I age my meat in the fridge and you can do it one of two ways. First you can put it in the fridge right after processing and let it rest until the rigor has passed. It will be different for different birds and you have to go more by the feel of the bird than age so I can't give you an exact time. You will be able to move and manipulate the muscles and it won't feel stiff when it's done with rigor.

You can also put it in the freezer right after processing and then let it age before cooking it. This also works although some people swear it doesn't. I think that more often than not birds aren't aged long enough and that causes the problems with the tough birds.

Here's what I do. When I am processing I have two large 20 gallon tubs full of ice water that has about 4 cups of salt in it. The salt helps the water to be a little bit colder, and it also helps to draw any blood that's left in the bird after processing. They stay in the tubs of ice water while I kill, pluck and gut all the birds. I usually do batches of 10 to 15 so I don't have many waiting to be processed and I do it early morning when it's cooler so there is less chance that the birds will spoil. I also have two tubs of just plain water for birds that are plucked and waiting to be cleaned out so they stay cold as well. In my view the birds start aging there before I even get them inside. Because I don't have a fridge that is just for the birds once they are all done and processed I cut them up into their respective pieces if I am parting them out or bag them whole and I put them right in the freezer. When I want to eat one I will put it in the fridge and let it thaw all the way and often will brine it in salt water (1/2 cut salt to 1 gallon of water plus seasonings) for 12 to 24 hours before cooking. Then depending on age I choose how to cook them. Birds 6 months or under I use as whole roasters, fryers or to bake. 6 months to a year I will cook low and slow either in the oven in a roasting pan or in a crock pot often with lots of moisture to keep them from drying out. 1 year and above I usually part out and can to use later for tacos, casseroles and other things that need chicken meat but not whole chicken parts. So far I haven't had a tough bird in the lot and mine free range until the week of processing so they definitely build up muscle, unless of course I cook it wrong and I have done that in the past wanting to cook something like store chicken, taking short cuts and regretting it afterwards.

Hope this helps

 

[Maggiesdad]

Love the comparison photos, spifflove! Here is a Basque cockerel - dressed out at 5lb. It's not skinned, but gives you an idea. The leg-thigh/breast ratio is much like your Buff Orp, and the darkness of the leg and thigh was similar, too. The feed store Barred Rocks we raised dressed out much like your White Rock (sorry -no photos) ... nice and meaty, but the flavor was bland compared to the Basque. I baked the two breeds' leg-thighs side by side in a rice casserole.

 

[bj taylor]

i'm curious for answers so i'm going to bump your questions.

 

[redsoxs]

I agree totally with the comments of LilyD! It is more of a perception thing. I think chicken tastes great. It doesn't matter it's Cornish X or one of the cockerels from a "fry pan" special at the local farm and ranch...or it it's stewing an old hen in the crockpot. I will admit when I first tried something that hadn't been from the store I was little put off. But then I thought, "Why would it taste the same?" Now I kind of accept each bird on its own merits and cook them accordingly and enjoy them just as much. I feel the same about venison. It tastes different than beef but it is still delicious.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think Redsox and LilyD are right on.

The only place I have any disagreement at all with what either of them said is I have eaten roosters more than a year old and thought they tasted great and were not tough. They had some texture but I don’t consider that tough. I had no trouble eating them. It does depend a whole lot with the older birds especially how they are cooked, but if you have an age appropriate recipe, any chicken can be cooked.

As to your basic question. What is the best tasting variety of tomato? What is the best tasting pie? It depends on the person doing the tasting. My point is how can a total stranger know how your palate works? What I consider flavorful you might consider strong, especially if you are used to those extremely young chickens you buy at the store. What I consider a nice texture you might consider so tough it is inedible.

Sex gets involved too. A pullet will stay tenderer and have less flavor than a cockerel the same age.

To me age has a whole lot more to do with it than weight. According to your weights, you could fry some 5 year old bantam roosters. I’m not going to try to chew it if you do.

Just like I’m not going to try to guess what flavors you like, I’m not going to tell you any specific hard and fast rules for how your family will enjoy chickens of a certain age. That is about as pure personal preference as you can get. All I can suggest is try a few different things until you hit what your family likes. I suggest when you first start out, choose some slower moister cooking methods to see the results. Then adjust from that.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You can age them in a refrigerator for a few days after gutting and plucking. Or you can soak in brine for 4 to 24 hours, 3/4 kosher salt per gallon water.

By age heritage birds would be classed Broiler up to 13 weeks, Fryer 13 to 20 weeks, Rooster 5 to 12 months and then stew birds. I'd like to try an older rooster roasted at 300F, bet it would be excellent and would seem almost wasteful to stew. Going to brine the 11 month old cockerel hanging right now from the swing set as I'm using his brother for mating for Easter hatching. Though it's understandable why three year old layers would be stewed.

I had Orpington and have settled on a variety of Plymouth Rock and it's merely because I like that variety and breed. I've not noticed a difference from Orpington to Plymouth Rock in taste. I'd just pick a breed you want to work with for whatever reason be it that it's endangered, grows larger, or is pretty (like my blues) and go with it.

 

[cukooformarans]

We are getting dorkings for meat birds. I have not tried one yet though only read about them. We have eaten Orpington, game-marans crosses, Cornish cross, turkens, and several other miscellaneous breeds. Our favorite so far has been the game-marans cross and the turken.

 

[LilyD]

Thanks Ridgerunner! I guess I was looking for opinions on how the Buff's tasted compared to a RIR or BR. I've read somewhere that the BO was mild and the RIR was a bit stronger but I do agree that it's a matter of personal taste more than anything. I was just looking for opinions. I guess I should try them before actually buying them but there aren't too many people around here offering it. Thanks again for the reply.

Farmer123 I don't know that they really had a difference in taste, I have eaten both and I can tell you that I wouldn't be able to tell you which was which except I had labeled the package. Then again they were the same age (6 months) at processing and about the same size, around 4lbs processed. I have heard that Dorkings do have a taste all their own but I haven't had a chance to try them yet since the only rooster I have is busy fertilizing eggs for me. I can let you know next year lol.

I can tell you that if you eat a rooster it has a different taste and texture than a hen, and depending on age of the bird the taste gets a little stronger. It works the same way with other animals too. Sheep for instance if eaten before a year have a much milder taste than a sheep eaten after a year. Also a capon (neutered rooster) will have a totally different taste than a rooster that still has it's reproductive parts because of the hormones once it reaches breeding age. That is one of the reasons why the Cornish X has such a bland taste. Processing it at 6 to 8 weeks before it becomes sexually mature the meat has a very mild taste. The meat from a rooster that has been breeding for a while would taste much stronger. Not sure if this makes sense or not but hopefully it does.