Anyone else find Sasso meat to be tough and stringy?

[aimee750]

I can't stand the CX anymore so we do red broilers and normally process around 11 weeks and have wonderful results. My best guess is you let them go a little to long. Try to harvest earlier and see if your results are better.

 

[LuthersMom]

I raised a few Sassos this year, along with some Kosher Kings and some Jackies (all from Freedom Ranger Hatchery). I processed the Sassos at around 13 weeks, the others around 16 weeks (because of my schedule, not their size - they were plenty big!). Live weights of the Sasssos were 7.2-7.5 pounds. I've been starting to eat them recently, and like others have said - they are "firmer" than commercial chicken (I have not personally raised Cornish Cross) but certainly not tough. The breast meat is moist and tender and very flavorful. I do not have an outdoor run for them, they are in my barn in a large pen and did very well.

 

[McChooky]

All my meat birds are raised on pasture in addition to their regular ration. The Cornish don't forage much once they are over 6 weeks old but they will peck at the grass around them as they wait for their next meal. The Sassos were much more active. And it's not the taste, it's the texture of the meat I don't like.

Are you aging them a couple days? This allows them to go thru rigor mortis before packaging and improves the texture

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

Yes, I usually age them a few days in the fridge before they go into the minus 10 freezer in their shrink wrap body bags.

 

[FunClucks]

Yes, I usually age them a few days in the fridge before they go into the minus 10 freezer in their shrink wrap body bags.

Have you checked that they are fully past rigor before freezing and/or cooking? I fridge age them in large metal bowls under plastic wrap and then wiggle a joint to be sure it moves freely prior to freezing because I eat as soon as it's thawed. If you plan to rest in the fridge for a week or so after fully thawed, the chicken can finish going thru rigor at that time. But your birds are old enough that three days may not be enough for rigor to pass - if you're not fully thru it you'll get a tough bird regardless of your low and slow cooking method.

ETA: I've had older birds that needed 5-7 days or so to fully pass rigor. Meat I process myself stays fresh in my fridge for at least 10 days, so I just wait patiently for rigor to pass.

Some of my Ginger broilers have been rubbery - they're a 3m broiler that I often raised them till they were older. My cooking method contributes to that - If I marinated them more for longer before cooking, or cook at a lower/slower temp, that would probably help reduce the rubbery-ness. But I'm impatient. My solution to rubbery is to shred the chicken and mix it with sauce after cooking - BBQ, italian, salsa, Indian curry, whatever my chosen sauce of the day is. If you break it down more, it is more palatable.

If you're wanting tender chicken nuggets, CX will probably be easier to do that with, as they are typically processed very young so they stay tender even when large. You can figure out how to do that with the Sasso, I just suspect you will need to process them at quite a younger age than you have/did.