Are roosters appx. 13-14 weeks okay in flavor to eat?

[Ridgerunner]

When I was a kid Mom would fry the gizzards, no pre-boiling. They were pretty stringy but when you are feeding five kids with one bird you use it all and it gets eaten. I use the gizzard in my broth, slow cooked for a long time. When I pick the meat off the carcass to use in tacos, salads, or soup, I reward myself by eating the gizzards and heart. They make a nice snack.

 

[Birdielee]

it's the toughest muscle in the bird

Alternate use for gizzards: my mom used to give us gizzards for teethers. We have a photo of me or one of my siblings crawling around with a gizzard in our hand
apparently we liked them a lot

 

[Birdielee]

There's some peruvian soup that is a lot of gizzards, some hearts and necks. It's really good. I dont know how long the gizzards cook, but they turn out nice and tender. It's called aguadito de pollo. The green (regular) version. It has a ton of cilantro in it. Once somebody gave me a white version without the cilantro but it was lame.

 

[3KillerBs]

But the amount of work from slaughtering the roosters, to brining, to roasting, deboneing, then backing enchilladas........ hhmm I'm not sure it was all worth it.

I wouldn't bother with all that -- but then I never brine because one of the reasons we want meat birds is to NOT have meat soaked in saltwater like the grocery store birds'

My annoying packing peanuts were shoved into the stock pot two at a time, simmered all day, then picked and turned into chicken and rice, chicken bog, and chicken and dumplings.

 

[Parront]

Sounds like the little brown leghorns I used to have. Most layer breeds are just not very big. Don't get discouraged, just having peace in the flock again makes it worth it.
For little birds gizzards, I just leave them as halves, and like others have said, save them in the freezer until I have enough to make a batch.Depending on the size, I cook them in the pressure cooker 20-30 minutes, bread them and fry them with the breaded veggies as a great snack/appetizer. I do use the feet and necks and backs for soup. Sometimes the wings go in the soup pot, too. Little birds rest in the frig until the next weekend after all that work, then BBQ or bake in the oven.

 

[3KillerBs]

I do use the feet and necks and backs for soup.

Those feet added to the carcass in a crockpot overnight make a stock that can be sliced once it's cold! I loved having that as an ingredient for all those recipes that want chicken broth or chicken bullion.

 

[Parront]

Those feet added to the carcass in a crockpot overnight make a stock that can be sliced once it's cold! I loved having that as an ingredient for all those recipes that want chicken broth or chicken bullion.

I count the feet as part of the bird, and a reason to raise my own is to have ALL of the bird. So, I guess my estimation of ~2 pounds for a cockerel might be on the high side for the people who do not use all the parts. Like the birds we are discussing here, picked usable meat might be a lot less. A whole bird split open and the back/neck removed per person. You pick and eat the bird outside at the picnic table with corn on the cob and clean up with a hose! Watermelon for desert, Arkansas delight!

 

[Mosey2003]

I have found that the feet on my dual purpose birds are MUCH easier to skin than when I did Cornish Cross. I can only assume that a little more age made the skin thicker, thus easier to peel off. I tried to blanche and skin the CX feet and it just didn't go well at all and I ended up scrapping them. I, too, like them in stock.

 

[3KillerBs]

I count the feet as part of the bird, and a reason to raise my own is to have ALL of the bird. So, I guess my estimation of ~2 pounds for a cockerel might be on the high side for the people who do not use all the parts. Like the birds we are discussing here, picked usable meat might be a lot less. A whole bird split open and the back/neck removed per person. You pick and eat the bird outside at the picnic table with corn on the cob and clean up with a hose! Watermelon for desert, Arkansas delight!

I have picked so many chicken carcasses in a lifetime of frugality and using all the meat that can be used that my coworkers in the deli^ are astonished at how fast I can reduce one of those little rotisserie chickens to a pile of meat -- and get more meat off them than others too.

I even save carcasses in the freezer until I have enough for the stockpot or the crockpot.

When I had the in-town flock I didn't worry about being quite *that* thorough, though, because I would give them the picked over bones with the unwanted giblets so that they could finish cleaning up. The ultimate recycling!

^Lowes Foods has the Chicken Kitchen attached to the deli and we use yesterday's rotisserie chickens for the rotisserie chicken salad, the chicken quesadillas, the BBQ chicken pizza, the picked chicken sold cold, the chicken soup (pre-COVID on the salad bar), etc.

 

[Parront]

I have picked so many chicken carcasses in a lifetime of frugality and using all the meat that can be used that my coworkers in the deli^ are astonished at how fast I can reduce one of those little rotisserie chickens to a pile of meat -- and get more meat off them than others too.

I even save carcasses in the freezer until I have enough for the stockpot or the crockpot.

When I had the in-town flock I didn't worry about being quite *that* thorough, though, because I would give them the picked over bones with the unwanted giblets so that they could finish cleaning up. The ultimate recycling!

^Lowes Foods has the Chicken Kitchen attached to the deli and we use yesterday's rotisserie chickens for the rotisserie chicken salad, the chicken quesadillas, the BBQ chicken pizza, the picked chicken sold cold, the chicken soup (pre-COVID on the salad bar), etc.

Pretty sure Costco uses the unsold rotisserie chicken like that, too. After the BBQ, not much left at my house. We even ate the necks when I was a kid, left on and BBQ with the backs. My husband will not sit and pick and eat that slow! My Grandmother's family were the chicken raising people, they had an "egg farm" in Yuba City, CA in the 40's. Little leghorn roosters were eaten.