3 Chickens Tough and Stringy... help!

[jerseygirl1]

I bake mine, not sure if that has anything to do with it. But, they are always fine. Once I tried the crockpot, but it gave off the odor of apple cider vinegar! I use it in their water. Never had a problem either time with them being tough.

 

[BunsNChicks]

I wonder if that is normal, maybe store bought is more tender because they add sodium to it?

 

[jerseygirl1]

Quote:
Doubt it, my meat chickens were fine. I really didn't do anything different - maybe it's the way they were processed?

 

[lemongrass]

Maybe 48 hours wasn't a long enough rest? Then again the birds weren't that old... How did you kill them, since everyone is pointing as that as a possible answer? Killing cones and slitting the artery in the neck but leaving the windpipe intact will kill the bird a bit slowly and allows it to bleed out well. As others advised, ice water for cooling...as long as its 50 degrees its cold enough. And letting it sit in the fridge for a few days (I'd do more like 3). I know that in other animals, the slower they cool the more tender the meat because there's a chemical/enzyme or something the body releases that makes it more tender. I think with birds this is what is happening as we let it "age" in the fridge.

So, in short: How are you killing it? How did you process it? How did you chill it?

All things fail, I'd let them sit 3 or 4 days in the fridge next time, just to be sure.

 

[tagra123]

Were the cornish X tough or dry. A lot of time the home grown animals are leaner and dry out easier while cooking which would make them seem tougher. Add some butter or oil while cooking and see if the texture improves.

If there wasn't much fat on the cornish, increase the feeding time each day and/or add some extra corn or sunflower oil or seeds to their diet.

For the DP birds same thing , unless they are older then slow cooking is the best method.

 

[chickened]

Birds with more body fat do seem to be more tender I don't know why.

 

[marymac]

I have noticed the same thing with the roosters we butchered. They were DP, but they were 4 or 5 mths. and almost tasteless. if the only chicken I ever ate was my home grown DP birdes I would eat a lot less chicken I think. Compared to store bought I didn't like my fresh chickens at all. I hate eating them, yet what to do with the extra roosters when you hatch some. It's hard to rehome all of them. I have thought about grinding up all my roosters nest time and making chicken sausage.

 

[chickened]

Chicken burger is good.

 

[ChickyLaura]

I butchered 4 year old Buff Orpington roos, and let them rest in the frige until I could move the legs easily, which was 3 1/2 days. I cooked one in the oven at 300 degrees for like 2 or 3 hours in one of those cooking bags and it was awesome! The next roo I cooked (from frozen) in the pressure cooker and it was again awesome! My step daughter cooked hers in the crock pot and said hers was really good. I might make the last one tonight.

Maybe you need to let it rest longer? I really doubt 48 hours would've been long enough for our birds.

Good luck next time. Ours were The Best chicken I've ever had. Kind of like a cross between turkey and roast beef.

 

[jfishfam]

Could someone explain how you cool the birds down quickly? Do you put them in a big container of ice water? I'm curious. We've had meat chickens with other people twice and both times it was a little tough, second time was better. We will be getting meat birds soon and this is my first venture on my own