A few questions about butchered birds.

[Wolf-Kim]

We butchered our extra roosters today. Two Wyandottes and a leghornXEE.

The birds are in their ice bath right now.

Adam would like to know if the birds can age a day or two in their marinade(Zesty Italian and some in Buttermilk). Or do we need to age them first and then marinate the day we plan on cooking them?
None of the birds were over a year old. They just started crowing and chasing the ladies, so I'm guessing they were only 4-5 months old.

Also, we wanted to try slitting their throats this time, but we heard we were not suppose to cut the windpipe. We ended up doing the chop method because we didn't know where to cut to slit the throat. We even tried looking up a diagram or explaination and couldn't find one.. So if someone could describe how they slit their chickens throat, that would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks!
-Kim

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I let our two birds age in the fridge for 2 days and then ladt night put them into a sweet fruit juice marinade. I'm cooking them tonight, apricot glazed cornish hens

 

[Mrs MIA]

We age ours a day or two in salt water before adding any marinades or freezing.

Last time we did it, we added Italian Salad Dressing in the sucky-seal bag, and then froze it like that. Hopefully when it thaws, the dressing will soak into the meat more. *drool*

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Thanks. We'll let them age a little before adding any marinades.

Tori, that sounds wonderful about the freezing. You'll have to let us know how that turns out.

-Kim

 

[minifarmer]

I have the bird upside down (I put their legs in little slipknotted rope hangers), then I put my left thumb on the edge of the birds left jaw (knife in right hand). I use a boning knife to cut with just because it's not to heavy or bulky to work with. Take a deep breath, let it out, then draw the knife above my thumb at the jaw. I'm holding the head with my other fingers, so they're out of the way (I'm a klutz, so sometimes I wear a kevlar fish filleting glove, but since the cut is over the top of your thumb and angled in it's pretty safe.). lots of blood=good cut. I only cut the one side and hold on to the head and keep it angled after I cut for a better bleed out.
I have cut the wind pipe by accident( my first time raising birds), but did not notice any difference in the meat quality or blood retention in the carcass. karla

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
Thanks Karla. I'll save that for next time. We opted for the old reliable chop method because I didn't want to botch a throat slit. I chickened out. LOL

I really appreciate it! I had wanted to try a throat slit because it was popular among the members, but I didn't find a "how to".

-Kim