What is the Best Tasting Heritage Meat Bird?

[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

 

[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.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is all my opinion. I’m sure some others will disagree with me.

Another way to maybe look at this is that if you can get a chicken that is still bred to the true heritage criteria, you might notice a difference in taste between breeds. But that is practically impossible to find or maybe make comparisons. Different breeds will have different confirmation, so you can get more white meat with some or more dark meat with others, so that is one difference you can still notice. Shape and confirmation is a huge thing that separates the breeds. Color and pattern does not define a breed as much as shape does.

Different hatcheries have different people with different abilities selecting their breeding flocks with different goals in mind, so you can’t say all hatchery birds are the same, but there are some general tendencies. A tendency with hatchery birds is that they tend to have about the same general shape regardless of what breed they are sold as. Some hatcheries are better about this than others and some breeds from hatcheries do tend to have different body shapes. I’m not going to say there is no difference between breeds, just that there is often not nearly as much as there should be with hatchery birds.

Breeders are a really mixed lot. You really can’t generalize about them even as much as you can about hatcheries. Some people get hatchery birds, have no idea what they are doing as far as selecting breeding birds, and sell hatching eggs. Some know exactly what they are doing and breed to Show Quality standards. You are going to get birds with the right confirmation from these people. Some go even further and not only breed for the standards the judge sees but look at the original utility of the bird and breed for that. You have people that call themselves breeders at all levels in between these. That’s why I say they are a mixed lot.

For an egg laying breed, that may be egg color, size, how often they lay, and a general food to egg ratio. I saw one post from a certified judge that thought most judges were getting too excited about a laying breed bird just being big when the original intent was not huge size but a smaller bird that ate a little less because they did not have to use so much feed to maintain their bigger body. They were bred to be more efficient in converting feed to eggs.

Similar with the meat birds. They were bred not only for confirmation but for how fast they grew and how well they converted feed to meat. Take Delaware for example. They were developed as a meat breed. They are listed as an endangered breed, not because there are not a lot of birds sold as Delaware. It’s because there are a very very few people actually breeding Delaware not only to Show Quality standards but to the original intend of the breed.

White to dark meat ratio, how fast they reach butcher age, and all that can and will affect flavor. So with true heritage breed birds you may notice a difference in flavor in some of them. With breeders that work on confirmation you will get a difference in white to dark meat ratio. But with the vast majority of chickens out there, I really don’t think you will see any real noticeable difference in flavor just from what is called breed. I suggest you don’t get too hung up on it. In practically any bird you are likely to get, the difference will be insignificant.

 

[mstricer]

As far as, heritage birds go, I like the Marans they are very tasty.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Basque hens are very tasty, much much darker and more flavorful than feed store Barred Rocks. We did a 18month old Black Australorp rooster in the crockpot and he was divine. A lot of it has to do with what you like, and how you fix it. Good read on cooking with heritage chicken here.

 

[chiqita]

As far as, heritage birds go, I like the Marans they are very tasty.

X2 so far they are my favorite heritage bird. Have not tried Dorkings however.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I would think the husbandry technique you use would have an impact on taste also. In my mind, if they are allowed to free-range and find bugs, greens and such versus living in a pen eating only chicken feed from a bag will have to have some impact on the flavor of the meat.

 

[Spifflove]

My wife hated my butchering birds... until I cooked her a White Rock. Then she looooveeed it!

Here is a comparison of the breast characteristics of the White rock (with the long neck) vs the Buff Orpington (with the short neck). The BO was selected as the largest of 7 specimens. The White Rock was the largest of 4:




Not tested was Mr. Egg McCracken, my only Cochin:


As you can see, the White Rock is significantly more meaty than the Buff Orpington. I really want to try Buff Rocks but I suppose they are similiar to Whites. I could be wrong. I also salivate every time I see Mr. McCracken but so far he escapes testing.

I also tried Speckled Sussex, but they were so small I would hesitate to classify them as duo-purpose.

Anyone with any other results? What heritage breed is not only tasty but meaty?

 

[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.

 

[Farmer123]

Thank you very much...as they say a picture is worth a thousand words! It was very helpful to see the birds side by side. My goal is to find a heritage bird that has good size and tastes good