Blue/Black/Splash Orpingtons - It's what's for dinner

[MissPrissy]

We have eaten it but I have never made it. I suppose it would be possible but these home grown birds are like gold. I cook them one at a time so we can savor and enjoy each and every one of them. To do three at once would surely be decadent!

 

[Jenlyn9483]

MissP, Good job with the Ram, he looks so tasty. How is the meat? have you tried it? I keep playing with the idea of buying a lamb or sheep at the auction just to process. Just like skinning a deer I suppose. Definitely be something new. This saturday we are going to process my friends Sow and hopefully by the end of February we will be processing my Big Black gilt.

 

[MissPrissy]

He is fabulous. The meat melts like butter. He is very mild tasting too. Better than any lamb I have ever bought - including imported Australian lamb.

 

[SterlingAcres]

We just did 9 of our BO cockerels. They were 12 weeks old and though they are lacking large breast areas, they are a hefty size. I cannot wait to make one

We plucked all but one. He was skinned. I wanted to see/taste the difference. I'm really excited to try them. LOL

 

[MissPrissy]

The main difference you will find is the texture. You won't have mushy meat. The flavor can be a little more enhanced with home grown as well.

 

[Jenlyn9483]

MissP how old was your ram when you processed him? Generally I like the taste of female animals better than males, EX: deer, hog, chicken etc. I wonder if a young Ewe would taste better than a ram.

 

[MissPrissy]

He was approaching 9 months old. I have never had such wonderfully mild lamb. If I didn't tell you it was a ram lamb you would never know. He was intact.

All of the research we did said a ram lamb would be excellent under 1 year old if left intact. Of that I am now a firm believer.

 

[dancingbear]

I'd never skin one unless I tore the skin up somehow while plucking. Even then, I'd leave on what I could. I just love fried chicken skin, and that crisp, brown, caramelized skin on a roasted bird. No way I'm throwing that away!

MP, was the 10 lbs. live weight? If so, do you know what the dressed weight averaged? Nice looking bunch of birds.

 

[Cetawin]

MissPrissy we should be neighbors...I wouldn't feel so odd then. Just the fact I hunt deer and elk sits bad with the tree huggers and tofu eaters around here but I am not about to change. I am doing meat birds this coming Spring and would love to do a steer and/or a ram.

Keep up the good work...that ram looks tasty. Great job skinning him, that would be a nice and easy hide to tan.

 

[2manyhats]

We are new to the butchering, but with the high cost of having it done, we are learning. We have 2 pigs that need to be butchered this weekend and a ram lamb to go in about a month. We did 4 BBW turkeys about a month ago. The smallest dressed out at 20 lbs for the Thanksgiving table. We did the breasts off the bone. One side feeds 5 of us with left overs. Not bad for a couple of kids from the burbs gone country in their middle years.