Cooked my first rooster

[BatonRougeChick]

Well, I did it. My rooster Roux made the best gumbo I've ever cooked. I hatched 18 of his babies, so I have more roosters on the way, so it was time to let him go. I cut his throat to let him bleed, but I found out my knives are not sharp enough. It was hard to do and I'm scared that he suffered more than I planned. Before the next one I WILL invest in a better knife. Or a hatchet and a tree stump. Other than that, the whole process went relatively smoothly. Friends have told me how hard it is to pull the feathers and how bad the smell is when you dunk him in the water, but I didn't have that experience. My water must have been just the right temp because his feathers came off like they were stuck in butter. Gutting him was hard but again, that is because I discovered I don't have a single "sharp" knife in my kitchen. I think it will be much quicker once I get better knives. What kind of knives do you use to clean your chickens? I am on a mission to find good ones. Anyway, tomorrow is our gumbo Cookoff at work and the name of my entry is "Roux-ster Gumbo". I made my own stock with his back, neck and wings, and the rest of the meat is in the gumbo. The dark meat is VERY dark. It is a dark purple after cooking. I hope this is normal. It is delicious. I intend to win.

Me with Roux

 

[BatonRougeChick]

Ready to be de-feathered

Soaking in ice water

Resting in the fridge for 24 hours

Cut up and skinned

Browning

making stock

Gumbo

 

[Rubbertoe]

My first time "retiring" some roosters was just last year, but I doubt I'll ever forget it. Even with a sharp knife it seemed like they suffered too long. Helps me to think about how well they were taken care of; sheltered, fed, free roaming, yada yada.

Next time I'll try an axe. I've heard you can drive two nails into the chopping block. You put their neck between the nails to help hold their neck still and keep your fingers out of the way.

 

[blucoondawg]

Go to a sporting goods store or bait shop and buy a decent fillet knife they are very sharp and can easily be resharpened with a cheap sharpener some even come with one. Use this knife only for killing chickens and it will stay sharp for a long time. Also it helps keep a good edge if you take care to not cut through a lot of feathers only cut the skin and down into the blood vessels. For actually cutting up the carcass any decently sharp butcher knife set will do. You can try the Axe method to, having the nails in a block of wood to help stretch the neck is a must but you have to use caution to hit the neck dead center with the Axe or you may hit it off center and only cut half the neck and then you have a flopping half dead bird you have to deal with. I have went to the slit throat method since the birds don't flop everywhere and make a mess. It seems more peaceful to me It only takes a short time for them to lose consciousness from blood loss and I don't believe the cut to the throat really causes much pain as I have cut myself with a sharp knife many times and didn't even know it.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Good job on your first rooster. Everything looks so good. Rooster gumbo is soooooooooooo good.

I am right down the road from Denham Springs. I"m in Opelousas.

If you haven't already, please visit the Louisiana thread. A great bunch of peeps over there. Stop in and say hi.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/160883/louisiana-la-yers-peeps

I hope you win the cook off. Please keep us posted.

 

[donrae]

Nice job!

Just a note--if you're going to skin the meat, don't bother to pluck! Just bleed him out, then skin. That's how we do most of our birds--only pluck a few that will be whole roasters. Saves a ton of time and mess.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Nice job!

Just a note--if you're going to skin the meat, don't bother to pluck! Just bleed him out, then skin. That's how we do most of our birds--only pluck a few that will be whole roasters. Saves a ton of time and mess. 

That's what I did with a few of my broilers. I just skinned t hem. So much easier.

 

[Aacre]

Wow! Great job! I have been butchering my own chickens for a couple of years now- just extra roosters once in a while, and I ALWAYS forget to buy a sharper set of knives! I catch myself cursing myself for not remembering.. I've never butchered a chicken by slitting the neck. It seems like they don't die as fast because they are bleeding out. Just a personal theory of mine- but I just lop the head off because to me, it's quick and the chicken is more scared than anything else, and only for a few seconds. I really do prefer the ax/hatchet method. I also skin my chickens, but I'd love to find the right way to properly pluck a chicken! Sounds like you have it down pat!

 

[akelley]

The only knife I use is a Wusthof paring knife. I mostly use kitchen shears to process. Actually, the paring kenif I use came with my kitchen shears...

I do have to sharpen the blades after every processing session, as they get dull quickly with this kind of work. We have a 3 stage electric sharpener that I use for all our knives; it puts an amazing edge on almost anything.

DH uses the hatchet and tree stump method and it worked well for us; that might be the way to go if slicing the neck didn't work well.

Congrats on your first processing session! I've done 6 roos now, and it really does get easier and faster!

 

[oldrooster]

The only knife I use is a Wusthof paring knife. I mostly use kitchen shears to process. Actually, the paring kenif I use came with my kitchen shears...

I do have to sharpen the blades after every processing session, as they get dull quickly with this kind of work. We have a 3 stage electric sharpener that I use for all our knives; it puts an amazing edge on almost anything.

DH uses the hatchet and tree stump method and it worked well for us; that might be the way to go if slicing the neck didn't work well.

Congrats on your first processing session! I've done 6 roos now, and it really does get easier and faster!

I wonder has anyone used ceramic knives? they are supposed to better than steel