butchering my first chicken and i could hardly eat it....

[lolis1984]

so i finally butchered one of my first roos (well my husband did) and while i really didn't have an issue with it, it felt weird to eat him. i plucked him and skinned and everything else and i was okay. i tried to be clinical about it but i still couldn't eat it comfortably. has anyone else ever experienced this?

 

[andorraclaim]

My first cull for meat was an Ameracuana Roo and he tasted far to gamey for me. The white meat seemed fine enough but I couldn't touch the dark. My fiance (who wasn't around for the cull or cleaning) said it was great. The second time, a Sex Links, it tasted fine.

I found out later that Ameracuana's can be a little gamey. But I imagine the taste, coupled with it being my first cull, probably made it seem off more than it might have been. It could be breed or psychological but probably both. What was he?

 

[lolis1984]

he was an easter egger. a jerk too. he pecked and attacked me everytime i went into the coop. i'm not sure what gamey tastes like but the little pieces i did eat were chewy

 

[estpr13]

Yes, and I think if ever I loose that bit of apprehension I will have lost part of my humanity. I try to respect the life of the chicken by making it as quick and as painless as possible. Even if it is a stinkin evil back floggin roo.

Once it dies, its personality and the essence which made it alive leaves and it becomes food. To not make it food disrespects its life.

Also, the better I learn to cook the easier it is to process them.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
There are tons of posts about cooking older, tougher birds. Once they're older than about 14 weeks, (some say 20) they are no longer fryers or broilers. Crock pot for much older birds, a slow roasting is fine for the borderline ones.

If you do a site search for "cooking older birds" or something similar, you should find a lot of suggestions.

I don't know what people mean by "gamey" either. I think it often means "meat that tastes like real meat, not the bland supermarket version".

I've never tasted a chicken that had a bad flavor. I've cooked many a tough old bird, many breeds. They all taste like chicken. Older birds are more flavorful and have richer broth.

 

[greyfields]

Do the deed, then leave it a few days in the fridge. Once it's firmed up and dryer, it'll look more like "meat" to you than a living thing it once was. Most people get over this eventually.

 

[menageriemama]

Quote:
Yes. And it gets easier every time you do it. Now, I could eat a bird the same day that I process it- except that I age them at least a day or two in the fridge for tenderness

What you are feeling is normal. If it is hard for you, freeze it/them. A couple of weeks later and you will be ready for consumption

 

[Rufflemyfeathers]

Back in the 1980's when I raised 200 chickens for eggs and to eat, I chased then with an ax never done it before and I choped there heads off and had my hot water and dipped in and then plucked and cleaned close to 200 of them..I could not eat chicken for a very long time..

 

[jaku]

Perfectly normal- I butchered my last batch two weeks ago and haven't eaten chicken since. I will, of course, but it takes a couple of weeks for me to start thinking of them as food, when I've only known them being gross alive, then butchering them, which is even grosser. Next time freeze your bird and eat it later. Heck, I even felt a little odd the first time I picked up warm, freshly laid eggs and ate them.

 

[cherig22]

i plucked him and skinned and everything else and i was okay

If you were going to skin him, why bother with plucking? I thought that was a main point of skinning, so as to save the chore of plucking.

Cheri​