Best ways to cook Freedom Rangers?

[Stuart309]

We are processing most of our FRs tomorrow and expect them to be 4-5 lbs. They are a little short of 10 weeks of age. I have read that some of the meat birds that take longer than the CX to grow to market weight should be cooked slower and at a lower temperature, but I'm not sure that that applies to ours. What cooking advice, if anything, might I give to those picking up their first FR tomorrow?

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I have never done FR, but I think you should be just fine. Just let them rest in the fridge or cooler with ice a couple of days before freezing.

 

[Mrs. Mucket]

We've processed our Rangers at 9-13 weeks and have roasted or fried all of them. They're still tender! I stewed a year-old FR roo and he was tasty too.

Like 4H Mom said, be sure and age them a few days before cooking.

 

[AK Michelle]

The ones I did were kinda chewy, define a few days... 48 hours? 72?

Thanks!

 

[DaughterOfEve]

my dear old amish butcher recommeds letting the meat rest a total of 5 days. Before or after freezing is up to you but he recommends doing it all before.

I also recommend using a quick brine solution when you thaw it out. They usually call for sea salt and spices depending on how you are cooking it. There are lots of recipes on line.

 

[Saltysteele]

aging does not work with chickens. there is not the same bacteria in chicken, as in beef. same as in pork, does not get any more tender.

by "aging" a chicken, you are letting rigor mortis leave the animal. overnight, or up to 24 hours is plenty enough.

cook them the same way you would cook any other chicken. they are going to seem tougher than the chicken you buy in the store, but that is because the chickens in the store are full of flavor additive, preservatives and meat tenderizers.

some brine them with good success. just depends on what you want. we don't brine ours. cool them in a tub of cold water till carcass temp is down, then put them in a tub with no water and cool overnight.

if you let a chicken age a week, you're just giving the bad bacteria a chance to get a good foothold.

 

[pat3494]

We just finished processing 25 FRs over a 3 week period, 9-12 weeks of age. We let ours rest in the fridge 3 days and then vacuum seal them. We ate one already as a beer can chicken and it was very good. Our next one will be Coq au vin. I would say that how you cook them would depend mostly on how young they are and how fatty they are. We picked a fattier one for the beer can chicken because it was baked. The coq au vin will be braised so the moister process will not require a fat chicken to be tender. Our FRs turned out looking like grocery store roasting chickens, about 5-6 lbs. I would recommend them as a good meat bird based on this one time experience.