Heck yeah! I think any home grown chicken tastes 100% better than that watery muchy chicken from the grocery! If they are older, just be sure to crock pot or pressure cooker them. UUmmmmm, yummmmmmy!
I figured anything would be better than store bought. After seeing food inc. I dont think I can buy anything store bought. Trying to go back to knowing where my food came from as much as possible. I am so tired of those roosters trying to flog me when I go in there to get eggs LOL. I have 3 roosters and 6 hens. I am going to keep the one nice rooster, but the rhode island reds gotta go!!! I will make sure to crock pot them. Should I crock pot them because they are though? They are only 6 months old, they shouldnt be that though are they?
EXACTLY!!! Food, Inc is an eye opener, isn't it? That is exactly how I feel, too. I have read that all the Heritage chicken (slow growers) should be cooked a long time and slow (low temp). This also works for older chickens. Yes, it is to assure that the meat will not be tough. The meat does taste different. It has texture and is firm, not watery and limp and melt in your mouth, like store bought. It is more, "chewy," I guess is the word. It is very good.
So whats different about heritage chicken? Everything! The size and shape of the pieces of meat is remarkable; the drumsticks are nearly as long as that of a small turkey. The texture is firmer. Its similar to tender beef you can cut it with a fork, but you cant mash it like industrially raised chicken.
By the way, cooking heritage chicken requires different methods to make it turn out right. In brief, you have to cook it more slowly, at lower temperatures and with more moisture.
Its more flavorful, even to an untrained, dull palate (such as mine). The meat, regardless of which dish it was used in, tasted great. But the flavor of the broth was dramatic. Ive tried to make chicken broth from industrial chicken without adding commercial bouillon, but it always ends up flat. The broth from the heritage chicken was wonderful, and I confirmed it was not fixed up with bouillon.
Quote from
http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf This is an excellent read!
The traditional fryer age is up to about 20 weeks old with the bird usually not weighing more than 4 pounds.
At this age cockerels have had a lot more exercise and have developed wonderful flavor, but should still be
tender enough to cook by dry heat methods - though to cook evenly they usually have to be jointed. Egg breed
cockerels are reputed to be excellent fryers, and at that age range may be as meaty relative to their smaller bone
size as the cockerels of heavier breeds. Fried chicken is really worth the mess and calories, at least occasionally,
with home raised fryers.
The roasting age range specified for historic pure breeds is from 5 months to about one year, but most
traditional roasters will be butchered between 6 and 9 months. This age range is expected to have much richer
flavor. General purpose breed roasters can be baked uncovered in the oven at moderate temperatures. But open
pan baking requires frequent basting. I find it easiest to get consistently great results throughout the wide
roaster age range by using an old graniteware chicken roaster that has a tight fitting lid. This type of dark
enameled roasting pan was designed to retain moisture and brown the bird without taking the cover off. (Good
browning may not happen in a roasting pan with cover made of shiny metal.) If the cockerel is over 10 months
old, I'll usually put in a cup of water. Baked at about 325 degrees Fahrenheit (F) for about 30 minutes to the
pound, without removing the cover, they do not need basting and the skin browns nicely. The breast should still
be moist and not overcooked when the legs and thighs are tender; if that doesn't happen, try a lower temperature
and more minutes to the pound. It also helps to cook the bird with the breast down.
General purpose breed cockerels are usually from 4 to 6 lbs carcass weight at roaster age. Historic meat
breed cockerels should surpass the weight of general purpose breed cockerels at some point in the roaster age
range, and their flavor should be equally wonderful. While I believe egg breed cockerels should make fine small
roasters, they may require moist heat cooking at an earlier age range since they reach maturity significantly
younger than the heavier breeds.
Hens and roosters butchered at older than one year, classified as fowl, make very fine eating also. This
class was perhaps the most commonly eaten and least seasonal type until the mid-20th century. But today
mature fowl is rarely available, unless you keep your own flock or know a farmer who does. It is essential to
use moisture and low temperatures in cooking hens and roosters over 1 year old.
It will take hours longer to cook fowl, but the meat is richly flavored and was esteemed for sandwiches,
chicken salad, pot pie and all recipes calling for cooked chicken meat. Fowl will become just as tender as
younger chickens as long as it is kept moist and the meat temperature is kept low, preferably below 180 F. If the
meat temperature goes above 180 F, the protein fibers toughen so that even if it is cooked long enough to fall
apart, the individual fibers remain tough. When stewing, the water should not be allowed to boil, but should be
kept at a simmer temperature, 180 F or less. Fowl can also be steam-baked with 1 or 2 cups water added to the
pan; the pan should be tightly covered so the moisture won't escape, with the oven temperature at 300-325 F.
Whether stewed or steam-baked, the breast meat of fowl will be best (especially good for sandwiches) if it is
removed as soon as it is done, which may be a couple of hours before the dark meat is done. I allow at least 3
hours to cook a 3 1/2 to 4 lb hen.
Some prefer the electric slow cooker for stewing chickens. The only slow cooker I've tried allowed the
meat temperature to get too high, 200 F or higher. Perhaps others have better slow cookers.
