Best Heritage Breed for Meat?

[punk-a-doodle]

Oh neat Butch! Which is which in your photo, and would you mind posting on taste and texture if you are eating them? Would love to see those RIRs too.

 

[ButchGood]

Roasting the 2 Buff Orps right now. One a garlic herb and one Italian. I'm giving the Astralorp (which was the biggest at 3lbs 9ozs.) to my daughter. The other 2 are right at 3.5 lbs.
Ill be sure to get a picture of the 9 RIR's when they get processed. I'll be a little more creative with the skin so I can truss those legs.
The Australorp is the one in the middle with the broken breast skin. He had a contusion on the skin, probably from a fight in the bachelor pen. I had to cut that portion of skin away. He did have the meatiest breast. And I thought the Buff Orps were supposed to be bigger.

 

[ButchGood]

Well I am a little disappointed in these first 2 birds. I should have crock potted them instead of broiling. Looks like 20 weeks was a little to old. My RIR's will be done at 18 weeks instead. The flavor of the meat was out of this world good. It didn't taste like chicken, it tasted like chicken X 5. One was very chewy, the other had a nice tender breast but the thighs and legs were chewy. If I would have used the crock pot or another slow cook method This review would have been more positive I'm sure. It wasn't so bad that the birds got wasted. There was nothing but bones left when we were done, we just had to chew, chew, chew.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Thanks so much for the progress update! Eager to see how the RIRs dress out. I just tried a recipe on the free-range Cornish X we bought, but the recipe is also apparently used on heritage breeds, and is made for a smaller, tougher bird.

The first step is to "rain salt down" on the bird, and inside the cavity. Let it sit in the fridge uncovered overnight (this dries out the skin). For under three pound birds, you simply stick the chicken in a 450 degree oven...no basting, rubbing the skin with oil or butter, etc, no trussing (which was really hard for me as I am used to oiling the skin and trussing) until done. We had a 4.5 pound bird, so we did 450 degrees for 30 min, then 375 until the correct temperature was reached with a meat thermometer. I did stuff the cavity with a garlic clove, apple chunks, and lemon halves...but you arent supposed to as you wan as little steam as possible.

The high heat did just what it was supposed to. Similar to searing beef, the skin came out extremely crispy delicious, and it sealed in the juices. Even after being left to rest for 20 min before carving, the meat was still literally dripping with juice. I am eager to try it on a heritage bird when our local supplier raises some, to see what the results are. I wonder if leaving the meat sealed with the juices helps with toughness/chewiness?

 

[Bullitt]

When you say unnatural or unaltered, what do you mean. CX's have been around for a long time they are chickens they hatch out of eggs. They are extremely tasty. They also act like other birds also, mine walk around eat bugs and grass and sleep and eat feed and drink water. The difference is that some grow them to freakishly gross size and all they do is sit around and eat.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

The Cornish Cross can't reproduce because their chest is too large. They also are prone to health problems. I call that unnatural.

Something like a Red Sex-Link can be produced naturally by a Rhode Island Red rooster and a Delaware hen. Then the Red Sex-Link chickens can breed naturally, although a variety of offspring will be produced.

 

[Pele]

A few suggestions for breeds you can look for:

Jersey Giants
Freedom Rangers
True Cornish (referred to as Indian Games, very large birds, but capable of natural reproduction)
Faverolles
Dorking
Heritage RIRs (hatchery birds have been channeled to Egglaying and are slight)
Heritage NHs (same as RIRs)
Heritage White Rock

And as just a thought... if you are mainly looking for white meat, Asils are bred for and noted for their large chest muscles (developed as protection during fighting).