can you cook a rooster

[vinniepoch]

hi, we have a rooster who is going to a chicken butchering class because he is mean to the hens when he does his rooster thing. anyway, i have heard from a few people that roosters are too tough to eat. any ideas or recipies? thanks, vinnie

 

[marymac]

Grind em up.

 

[Gonzo]

Don't freeze it right away... Let it age in the fridge for at least 24 hours. It gets the rigormortis out. you can always cooks it in the crockpot.. that will make it tender.

 

[Kim_NC]

Yep, grinding or crockpot will work. Anything slow cooked too. For example, we like to make Coq Au Vin or Chicken Piccata with rooster or older hens.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

How old is this guy? I raise mixed-breed & standard-breed roosters for the table & butcher them at 20-24 weeks old. Any earlier & they're just not meaty enough to justify butchering. They're always tasty & tender the ways I make them. I'll either roast them slowly, often in an oven bag or covered with some broth & veggies in the pan, or slowly simmer them in herbed water and pick the meat when it melts off the bones & use it later in other dishes. I let my birds rest in the refrigerator 2-3 days before cooking. I hope your bird comes out good for you!

 

[pringle]

Quote:
Lol what do you mean that they are old or that they are just roos?Pretty much all the birds we get from the grocerie stores are roos.Just make a nice stew out of him pressure cooker or crock pot.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Yes you can cook a rooster of any age and you don't have to grind them up. Here's a link to an ALBC page that tells how to prepare in detail.

http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
Actually, I think most of the chickens sold at the grocery store are 8-week-old Cornish Crosses (Cornish X Rock), bred to grow big & meaty in a very short time. I doubt that they're sorted by sex, just size. The larger ones will probably be male, the smaller ones female. But at that age they probably aren't even aware of what they are themselves.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Quote:
Good read, thank you.
Growing up we never had a really old hen or Roo, we had stew and it was the best. Nothing like an older bird for flavor.