Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[cbnovick]

Ain't that the truth!!!! I don't know how, for sure, we're gonna breed these monster ringlets back down to specs.




Weighing in is what we had to do in High School wrestling. Would it add a drawn out, tedious process? Perhaps. In car racing, there is also an inspection.






Bob touched on this a while back in talking about Frank Reese breeding for quality meat. Not sure we've plumbed the depths of that discussion adequately. Perhaps we should cage up our eminent meat cockerels for a few weeks and feed them something else?

Yes, that sounds like a good idea...feed them a higher fat/carb ratio feed like a 'finisher' or meat/broiler food for at least a few weeks...i'd think 4 weeks might even be better...fat marbling in beef improves flavor no doubt...perhaps texture...
An aside---anyone ever eat a Dorking? Supposedly they have fine, tender textured flesh. I was thinking of trying a few whites at some point perhaps.
Cindy

 

[bnjrob]

I dressed an 8 month old Rock last year (guessing he was 9-10 lbs) and I found him to be very "stringy" in texture, even after cooking him in the crock pot. Got any suggestions? I have about 15 cockerels running around now and I need to cull down to about 5. Wouldn't mind putting a few in the freezer

Thanks

We just ate a couple of 10 month old cockerels roasted in the oven and they were great. I swear by brining now as a way to consistently come up with tender meat, even with older birds. I didn't have time to brine right away, so they sat in the frig for about a week, then I brined them for a little more than 24 hours.

 

[cbnovick]

Paula Deen's Brining Poultry



Bring on the Moisture, Bring on the Brine!
Brining poultry, especially breast meat, adds moisture and flavor to the meat. Brining consists of preparing a salt water solution in a 1:8 cup ratio of salt to water. The bird is then soaked in the brine for a period of time, much like a marinade. To put it scientifically, the brine hydrates the muscle tissues allowing them to retain moisture during cooking which helps the meat stay moist.
You don’t have to be cooking a whole bird to use this technique. In fact, because boneless skinless chicken breasts dry out so easily during cooking, they benefit greatly from a quick (30 minute) soak in a brine solution.
The simple 1:8 cup ratio if salt to water can be enhanced by steeping fresh herbs in the liquid so as to infuse the meat not just with moisture, but flavor as well. Additionally, you can substitute part of the water for other liquids, such as lemon juice or apple cider.
You must keep the salt to liquid ratio the same, but you can increase or decrease the full amount in order to accommodate the size of what you plan to brine. The recipe below is for brining a whole chicken.
1 cup kosher salt
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
4 cloves garlic
3 cups water
5 cups ice cold water
Bring 3 cups water to boil in a pot. Mince the garlic. Remove the thyme leaves from stem, if using fresh. Add garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and salt to boiling water. Stir until all the salt has dissolved, and then turn off heat.
Allow mixture to steep for 30 minutes. Stir in 5 cups ice cold water. Pour the cooled brine into a heavy duty sealable zip top bag. Gallon sized freezer bags work great for small chickens. For a turkey, use a larger bag, such as a 1.25 ft. x 1.25 ft. zip top bag or a bag specifically designed for brining turkeys.
Submerge the bird into the brine, making sure the brine fills the cavity and that the breasts are fully submerged. Seal and place in the refrigerator.
Small chickens can be brined in just a few hours, 3 at most, where as a turkey should be brined for 12-24 hours.
After the brining time is up, remove the bird from the liquid, drain and pat dry. You will not need to salt the bird, but you may wish to place additional herbs underneath the skin, rub the bird with butter, and/or stuff the cavity with onion, carrot, and celery.
To roast: bird should start out roasting breast side down, this helps prevent dry white meat, followed by roasting breast side up. A perfect roasting is achieved best by monitoring the bird with a thermometer to ensure neither under or over cooking occurs. A temperature reading 165 degrees F indicates a safe done-ness for poultry. Allow bird to rest for 5 minutes before carving (10 minutes for a large turkey).

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Ok....gotta process a few and try this brining trick.

I can always sell my cull hens as "layers" to someone, but cockerels are just gonna have to go to the freezer. We spend too much on feed to just give them away

Thanks for the tip

 

[ocap]

Mr. Blosl ---when you are feeling better about the world, maybe you could tell us what inspired you about pen crafting??
Cindy in AZ (where it's already too dang hot---sorry Bob

)

I am not as cranky today but my wife is. Would you believe the Century Link Internet telephone company which we have had for 20 years lost its Internet ability yesterday.

She did not post on her machine which I use to post with and I used the new lap top to lurk around last night. I spent a hour trying to find out why we don't have a signal but have a phone that rings. Then it came on about 11 am.

I shipped out a batch of Red Bantams to a new partner in Tenn. today. That went well and weighed some White Rock Large Fowl chicks that I am sending to a Jr. Next week in Wisconsin.

Hopefully, that will be the end of my shipping.

In regards to my new hobby making custom made ink pens, my son has been making them for 12 years in Texas I wanted to get into this after I retired so he was coming down to our house this past Thanksgiving so he ordered all the equipment, that I needed for turning pens and to get started.

When he came here he set up my shop and showed me how to do it. On the third pen I made it by myself as he was outside and would not help me. Then from there I have been working just like you guys trying to learn from Fourums how to do this and that. I have advanced to a new level and making pens called Semented pens. Takes a hour more to make a pen two total hours. However the pens are breathtaking. They are made out of plastic so I am not using wood for these new sports pens. I have orders for LSU, Saints, Auburn and Alabama school pens.

I made about 20 pens for mothers day presents for my friends and have orders for Fathers days and the sports pens for the favorite school is in demand.

Funny how some guys have a room with $5,000 worth of School stuff in it like ALABAMA OR Auburn.

They will put the pen on the shelf on a special pen holder to show it off to their buddies. I guess that's what they call Man Caves.

Its a fun hobby and I make about $7. per hour for my work. Don't know if I will ever make enough to pay back my investment for the equipment. But if you keep busy and try to learn new stuff you will live to be a old man. I just don't want to loose my mind or memory. That's what I do for a living. I take care of people who are locked up in a building who have memory loss. They get worse every month and sooner or latter they die of it.

In regards to the weight of my hen I weighed the other day. She weighed one oz under standard hen weight which is great for a three year old hen. Her chicks I hatched two more today are little red fluff balls. I hope to have a new line of super small Mohawks in three years. Maybe I can get them with large fowl type and be two oz under standard weight.

I will still get beat at the shows as the judges like Reds with backs like a New Hampshire or a Rock but I breed to the book that Walt reads and that is the APA Standard of Perfection.

You all have a great day and if you see a white runner duck with his eye ball almost sticking out of his head and standing up straight and looks like a coke bottle from the 1970s you give him a big hug for me.

Bob,
you are near Pensacola, see if you can make a pen with Navy Pilot wings and market it throught the Museum at Pensacola Naval Air Station

 

[FOGELLY]

Ok....gotta process a few and try this brining trick.

I can always sell my cull hens as "layers" to someone, but cockerels are just gonna have to go to the freezer.  We spend too much on feed to just give them away

Thanks for the tip

Scott,
We process at least 50 a year.
It is best to allow the meat to chill for a couple days before freezing or eating. If you freeze them to soon after processing and before they have a chance to go into and out of rigor they will be tough. This is true of all meat.
We put them into an large ice chest full of ice water, for at least two days. I will drain off the water daily and and more ice and water. Also a little splash of AVC.

Ron

 

[3riverschick]

Quote: ---------
You could try trough fattenig them. Just a thought from Sussex land. There's article about how to do it in Google Books. It's the step before cramming and doesn't need cramming. Just a slatted crate with slatted floor. The trough goes outside the crate and filled with a thin gruel of the right ingredients. The birds eat only that for about 3 weeks(double check that time period). Then kill and eat.
Best,
Karen

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hatching season, for us anyhow, now draws to a close. Thought I was done, but OK, one more batch of Rocks going to the incubator. But the heat is coming and humidity changes and we need to break up the breeding pens.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Hatching season, for us anyhow, now draws to a close. Thought I was done, but OK, one more batch of Rocks going to the incubator. But the heat is coming and humidity changes and we need to break up the breeding pens.

I'm with ya....dang humidity down here is really rough on young birds. I did most of my hatching this season back in Dec!! One hatch before Christmas and 1 after....then a few "broody hatches"....still trying to get a Columbian looking group out of my "project" to rid brassiness in my males, but so far, ever chick has been black. Gonna try to set eggs 2 more weeks, then I'm done too!

Good luck

 

[cbnovick]

Hatching season, for us anyhow, now draws to a close. Thought I was done, but OK, one more batch of Rocks going to the incubator. But the heat is coming and humidity changes and we need to break up the breeding pens.

Yes, the heat is indeed coming...here in Scottsdale, AZ we are already in 90's-ville...nights are still dropping to low 70's...but that won't last long...soon the night temps won't go below 80's and average will be over 100F...ugh! I will tell ya that even as they say "...but it's a DRY HEAT." makes little difference it seems when it gets over 110F. Frequent water bucket changes and misting the birds down in deep shade is the only way to keep'em going. Alas, my hatching was done in Jan/Feb...so juveniles could be strong enough for what's about to ensue...I already miss hatching but know better...frustrating since traditionally in most parts this is 'the' hatching season and availability is prime.
Good luck and enjoy your last hatch!!
Cindy