Culling cockerels

[FunClucks]

I use the medium soup selection on my automatic pressure cooker and it comes out soft. I don't use the canning selection.

I'm not going to comment on your particular machine, because I'm not familiar with it, but pressure cooking basically is canning without the mason jar. There may be a difference in amount of pressure used, but the end effect is the same as far as tenderness of the food is concerned. I think if you have a lower pressure you cook for slightly longer time. It's been a while, but I love home canned chicken. The consistency of slow cooked soup chicken in a fraction of the time.

 

[3KillerBs]

A little direction on the label would have gone a long way for me - I would've read it and followed it. I just had no idea what I'd purchased or why it was less expensive per pound than the standard broiler chicken next to it in the display case.

I guess it was assumed that "everyone knows" what a stew hen is -- but people aren't taught traditional cooking anymore.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So at what age would a hen be most tender? Is it the same?

It is similar but not the same for the boys versus the girls. When the hormones of puberty hit the boys the meat starts getting tougher and more flavorful at a decent rate. That process will continue the rest of their lives but will slow down. An old rooster is tough and can have a lot of flavor.

The girls get tougher and develop flavor the older they get but it is much slower than the boys. A nine month old pullet should be more tender and not have as strong a flavor as a 5 month old cockerel.

I have not cooked enough hens and roosters of various ages to make a good comparison of various ages. I have cooked several 3 year old hens and roosters about 1-1/2 years old. The hens are more tender and have less flavor. That does not mean the hens would be considered tender or are flavorless, just less than a rooster half her age.

So if you use them for layers then have to cull and they are old they have to be slow cooked?

The only exception I'm aware of is pressure cooking. With that exception they need to be cooked not only slowly but moist.

I guess it was assumed that "everyone knows" what a stew hen is -- but people aren't taught traditional cooking anymore.

I have thoughts of this matter every time I see Molpet's cooking chart. My mother would have had no problems at all following those ages or even exceeding them because she grew up with traditional cooking methods. When she fried chicken she used lard, not some namby pamby oil or spray, and lots of it. She kept it covered to keep moisture in along with stopping it from splattering. Her chicken and dumplings were true comfort food and were used to stretch a hen to feed a large family. Most people don't use those unhealthy methods anymore. Most of the recipes you find are written with the Cornish X you get from the store in mind, not our chickens.

 

[RubySue]

My SO is Filipino and ended up making adobo out of the EE. Definitely more meat than the BL. I thought he put it in the pressure cooker but only ended up cooking it for 45 in a pan with his vinegar concoction and like he normally does, it was very tender I was surprised. So, we made good use and I know where my chicken came from

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I know it's already happened, I just want to say I'm proud of you, OP. While obviously every bird wants to live forever, I do not think there is much more a bird can ask for than a good, healthy and safe life with a quick and useful end. You made sure that it was quick and as comfortable as it could be and I'm sure the bird wouldn't ask for more in that end.

 

[RubySue]

I know it's already happened, I just want to say I'm proud of you, OP. While obviously every bird wants to live forever, I do not think there is much more a bird can ask for than a good, healthy and safe life with a quick and useful end. You made sure that it was quick and as comfortable as it could be and I'm sure the bird wouldn't ask for more in that end.

Thanks very kind of you to take the time to post this. It means a-lot and definitely helps.

 

[Molpet]

vinegar concoction

That would help tenderize

 

[MandyMusshafen]

We're going to make our older cockerels into dog food. Doggies like chicken too!

That's our plan with the extra cockrels we can't rehome also!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

That's our plan with the extra cockrels we can't rehome also!

That's also what I do with my older, less palatable birds. I pressure can the broth for our use though, because of the flavor, and I finely shred the meat for the dogs. I mix it with nutritional yeast, cooked brown rice (no salt), and coconut oil, and form it into little meat balls and flash freeze it. They then get a meatball in with their breakfast every morning till it's gone. I've never had any complaints from them about it.

 

[Morrigan]

That's also what I do with my older, less palatable birds. I pressure can the broth for our use though, because of the flavor, and I finely shred the meat for the dogs. I mix it with nutritional yeast, cooked brown rice (no salt), and coconut oil, and form it into little meat balls and flash freeze it. They then get a meatball in with their breakfast every morning till it's gone. I've never had any complaints from them about it.

Those are some lucky dogs. I pressure can older birds as well, but that's people food at my house.

We had a 2 year old rooster that made the best gumbo imaginable a couple of years ago.