Alaska Chicken Lover's Soup for the Cold!!

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
Not sure yet... we took three out that were definitely not good, lots of bubbles, and one with a blood ring. The rest are still iffy. We'll try again in a few more days.

 

[Alaska animal lover]

Well, we survived. It took us about 3-4 hours per 40 chickens. After 80 it was a long day.
The plucker we used was the kind you hold onto the feet and rotate the birds around. It only did one at a time, but it was way better than hand plucking. We just didn't have time to get the Whizbang plucker done, luckily Stephs friend had the other one and let us use it. For free!
None of us had ever done this before, so I'm pretty proud we did so well. One thing we did make was a scalder like Tori and Jeremys. That thing worked so good! It held within 4 degrees of 150 ALL day. Only one time did we have to add water.
So for four newbies, it went much better than expected.
Once we got started, we forgot about weights, but I know there were some 11lb. pre-processed. We estimated 450-550lbs of processed chicken.

I won't be doing it again for a long while, and never that many at a time again. The smell!

 

[MrsDeb]

Yep! The smell took me awhile to get over the first time we did ours. I don't think I ate chicken for 6 months! hehe.....

I don't know if anyone else does this or not, but we found a considerable difference in the texture and tenderness of our birds
after letting them sit in a cold spot (cooler with ice, or fridge) for 48 hours before we froze them. It gives the birds muscles time to relax. This year
we wrapped them in plastic and just put them in coolers with lots of ice being sure not to let the meat touch the water.....They are SO tender!

 

[Alaska animal lover]

Deb, why can't the meat touch the water?

 

[MrsDeb]

EDIT: I guess I should have said don't let chickens sit in standing water....Because of bacteria growth......Unless your water is made into some sort of brine to preserve your bird. Sure, we wash our birds off as we pluck them and then they are placed into either the kitchen sink or cooler with lots of ice to get the body temp down while we do the finishing touches etc They are then pat dry and placed in plastic wrap....but we don't allow them to sit in standing water to relax them...I think of a freshly dressed chicken as a highly perishable item and could make us ill if not handled right.

 

[Alaska animal lover]

Okay, so what kind of brine prevents bacterial growth? Salt?
And only if you're letting them sit for a while?

 

[MrsDeb]

Im not sure, Tori might have the answer to that one. I have never brined one, but I'd love
to give it a try someday!

 

[Alaska animal lover]

Okay, I called T, and she said they use salt. She puts them in a 5 gallon bucket, 4-5 birds I believe she said? and fills it up with her very cold 34 degree well water and some ice, and uses a cup of salt.

 

[MrsDeb]

Do you know how long you need to brine them?

 

[Wolfwoman]

Sam has been a cook/chef for over 30 years... he's never made me or anyone else sick off of his food and he's served... well I'd have to say 100s of 1000s of people.

We put ours in 5 gallon buckets in plain water and in the cooler, I can get 2 birds in a 5 gallon bucket if I'm lucky. They sit for 24 hours before they are processed either whole, or cut up and vac packed, then frozen. The cooler is at about 35 degrees, so I'm not worried about bacteria!

Now, if you don't have cooler space and need them to sit out, then I would worry more. In the cooler it would take over a week to grow anything nasty in those temps.

Plus, I REALLY don't need any added salt...