2 Roosters to butcher -ugh

[cluckmecoop7]

Do any of you hate butchering? And why?

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes, I hate butching, it is a mess, and I have to work myself up to it. Really peeling plastic wrapper is SO much easier... but I got it done.

And now, I get to get a new rooster that I have had my eye on, and it won't be long before we are hearing some little peeps.

MRs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

One old rooster, one young rooster, and I skinned them. I was thinking of pressure cooking, but that old boy is tough, he was even tough to skin. So... do I put them in the fridge to wait, do I pressure cook them, then pressure can them?

I've skimmed old roosters, you have my sympathy buy also admiration for sticking with it. With all that strong connective tissue they can be really hard to skin. I've had some 5 to 6 month old cockerels that were starting to get challenging but nothing like a mature rooster.

I've never pressure cooked or pressure canned an old rooster. I don't know if they need to age or not, pressure canning is a great tenderizer. In theory I'd think you don't have to age them but that's theory. In practice my thoughts are along the line that it won't hurt to age him and it might help.

I have baked old rooster in a tightly covered pan for 4 to 5 hours at 250 degrees without aging them before freezing them, but I did let them spend an extra day or two in the fridge after they thawed out. That probably counts some as aging. They had flavor as you would expect but the texture wasn't horrible. You could tell it was not a young cockerel however.

@Beekissed pressure cans chicken. I don't know if she ages them or not or if she cans old rooster. It might be interesting to hear what she has to say.

 

[aart]

One old rooster, one young rooster, and I skinned them. I was thinking of pressure cooking, but that old boy is tough, he was even tough to skin. So... do I put them in the fridge to wait, do I pressure cook them, then pressure can them?

@bobbi-j cans a lot of chicken, thinks she cans it raw.

I now rest all cleaned carcasses for at least 3 days before cooking or freezing.
Really makes a difference, as I've not rested a couple long enough.
Butchering fresh turkey's taught me the larger the bird the longer the resting period.
Parting out a 2 days rested turk was MUCH harder than a 4-5 day rested bird.

I hate butchering.

Have you ever done it?

Do any of you hate butchering? And why?

It's hard job...I don't mind the slaughtering (killing, plucking, and gutting) once I learned it, as much as the clean up afterwards.

 

[Mrs. K]

I should have rested the old rooster. The pressure cooking really did nothing for him. He was very hard to skin. I had not ever skinned one, always did the plucking, but as they were to be used for soup - I did not want to set up the feather plucker for just two. He was so hard to skin, I nearly didn't try the younger bird.

The younger bird, skinned very easily, and in the pressure cooker and 20 minutes, turned out very well. The old rooster was nearly too tough to cut with a knife.

Live and learn.

Mrs K

 

[cluckmecoop7]

@bobbi-j cans a lot of chicken, thinks she cans it raw.

I now rest all cleaned carcasses for at least 3 days before cooking or freezing.
Really makes a difference, as I've not rested a couple long enough.
Butchering fresh turkey's taught me the larger the bird the longer the resting period.
Parting out a 2 days rested turk was MUCH harder than a 4-5 day rested bird.


Have you ever done it?
It's hard job...I don't mind the slaughtering (killing, plucking, and gutting) once I learned it, as much as the clean up afterwards.

No, I have never done it.

What's so hard about clean up? I would rather do that than kill a chicken...it must be hard, right?

 

[horsekeeper]

I keep most of my chickens until they are at least a year old so I don't cull out a good one by mistake. I raise Jersey Giants and Cochins among others and it takes them a long time to mature. Winter time is tough, but I use a kill cone outside, then bring the bird in the house in a bucket so they don't leave a trail of blood. Scalded in a canner pot in the bathtub, dipped in a bucket of cold water to cool off and not cook the skin, then plucked and the feathers put in a plastic grocery bag waiting in another small bucket. Off to the kitchen sink to rinse and get rid of any stray feathers I missed, eviscerated and trimmed up a bit, then into another grocery bag and into the refrigerator for 3-5 days.

I then part them out and cook two at a time in my big pressure cooker at 15# for 20 minutes. Let it cool off enough to open and use tongs to take the pieces out and leave in a big baking pan to cool. Once cool enough to handle, the meat comes off the bones and the skin is removed. At that point the meat is cut into small pieces for soup or casseroles and all the skin and bones goes into a soup pot. Freeze the meat in cup increments for recipes in individual bags and then put the bags in a gallon or two gallon freezer bag so they are easy to keep track of.

The cooking liquid is dumped in the soup pot with it along with an onion, carrot and celery. A little more water, salt, pepper, and some parsley goes in, then it simmers for a few hours to leach out all the good flavor and reduce the liquid. Strain it into a container with a lid (or cover with plastic wrap) and refrigerate. The next day, peel of the fat on top and save in a container in the refrigerator to fry the best potatoes you ever had. Freeze up the broth, which is probably like jelly now, in whatever measures you use for recipes.

I like to freeze in 1/2 cup, cup, 2 cup and quart. One trick is to put a sandwich bag in a measuring cup and fold the edges down, fill with broth, then fold back up and close. Put the sandwich bags in a 1 gallon freezer bag and take out as needed.

Even the toughest roosters come out tender enough to eat using this method. If you have pets and do not like the giblets, boil up the heart, liver, and gizzard, let them cool, and then cut up into treat sizes and freeze 4-6 pieces in sandwich bags to take out for treat time.

Another strategy for older birds is to slow roast the whole bird and then crockpot for a double cook.

 

[aart]

No, I have never done it.

What's so hard about clean up? I would rather do that than kill a chicken...it must be hard, right?

It's definitely hard to kill animal, especially the first few.
It's still not 'easy', as in enjoyable...but it's part of being a meat eater.
I raise chickens for food, eggs and meat, so learning it was part of the whole deal.

It might be more work for me than others as I don't have running water where I need to do the process...and am working alone with some health/mobility issues.
Setting up the equipment,
slaughtering and cleaning the birds,
then cleaning up all the equipment(kill cone, scalding pot, feather can, evisceration trays, gut bucket, rinse buckets, chilling cooler, cage staging area) is a lot of work.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Thanks for all the info! I'm learning a lot on this thread!

 

[horsekeeper]

It might be more work for me than others as I don't have running water where I need to do the process...and am working alone with some health/mobility issues.
Setting up the equipment,
slaughtering and cleaning the birds,
then cleaning up all the equipment(kill cone, scalding pot, feather can, evisceration trays, gut bucket, rinse buckets, chilling cooler, cage staging area) is a lot of work.[/QUOTE]

I have similar issues. That's why I only do two at a time and bring them inside where everything is easier. Quite a challenge for the 50# turkeys, geese, and muscovy ducks. Those I only do one at a time.