Aging the meat was the ticket

[Michele S]

We had a couple really nasty inedible birds before several of you told me age the meat. WOW. What a difference!!!! I aged them four days in the refrigerator and the meat is so moist and tender and yummy. I had people giving me major crap for "aging meat" and I told them that the people in my meat chicken support board told me to and be quiet. And they were like, "You have a support board for WHAT?" You guys rock!!!

 

[augustmomx2]

Great to know

My first batch of meaties will be butchered May 5th...this board rocks

 

[little_grey_bantam]

Yeah... BF giving me crap about leaving meat in the fridge too...

I told him BYC SAID so!
Or else he'd be eating another boot

Do you put anything in the water? Salt?????
Or just water? Switch out the water everyday???

 

[wyo-helpmeet]

I aged mine 3 days before freezing mine. No water, salt, anything. "Stewed in their own juices" for lack of better words. MUCH different taste than the supermarket- much richer. Absolutely delicious!

 

[Michele S]

Quote:
We had them in water and ice at first, then wrapped them in saran wrap and put them in the fridge. I meant to do them on day 3, but I was sick so I let it slide a day and cut them all up on day 4. I did not use salt in the water. They are just superb now. Now with all my free time, I am googling new recipes!!!!

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
The only circumstances I brine for, are if it's an older bird, (older than 20-25 weeks) the salt in the meat tissues helps keep it from drying out when cooked, or if for some reason I didn't get a good bleed-out, like when a bird got killed in a mishap or something. Then I soak it in salt water to get the blood out. Young birds, such as broiler hybrid usually are, don't need it brining. They just need to age a little, and they'll be moist and tender as is.

I know people advise changing the water everyday, but I've forgotten to, and let it soak in the same water a couple of days, (or more) and it was fine. I doubt that it really matters, as long as your fridge is cold enough.

Otherwise, I don't soak meat while aging it. I just either put it in a plastic bag, or in a container with a lid, so it doesn't dry out. I usually use something like my water-bath canner, it's big enough to hold 3 or 4 good-sized chickens, and has a lid. I try to place the birds more or less upright, so that fluids drain out of the body cavity.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

I aged all 11 of my ranger roosters for about four days. All have been very tender and they about 14-15 weeks when butchered.

 

[jaku]

I don't understand why anyone would think it bad to age a few days in the fridge, especially when you consider the sitting around that store birds must do- at least a few days to get to the grocery store, who knows how long on the store shelves, then people put them in the fridge at home a couple of days.

 

[bugflipper]

Folks are so paranoid because of salmonella. When you butcher them yourself and control the situation there is no problem. When you have an assembly line of several thousand birds a day being butchered with 8 hours between disinfecting you probably should not age that meat. Think of it, a brine injector that passes into 50 thousand birds a day before cleaning isn't a real good thought.

 

[har]

Have you ever noticed on TV or where ever they leave the inards in the chicken for a day before they take them out. I think this is practiced in England. Whats the deal with that.