Dispatched our Roo Yesterday- Coq au Vin Tomorrow?

[sideWing]

I just had some roosters up for sale. They were still young. I was kind of sad to see them sell because I LOVE smoking chicken on the BBQ!

 

[wishingbee]

Thanks for the comments!

BBQ rooster sounds amazing. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should really start raising our own meat birds. I love our Faverolles, they are SO sweet and look like they'd be really tasty, too, much meatier than the Basque roo that we're eating tonight. I'm curious now. And honestly, I thought I'd be really weirded out about an animal in my care making the transition from living to dinner.

Speaking of which, dinner is on for tonight! I checked on him last night and rigor had passed, I could bend his limbs easily. While his flesh didn't feel tofu-soft like a fryer, it did feel more like beef- which, given its dark red color, wasn't a total surprise.

He's been marinating last night in a half & half mixture of wine and chicken broth. I've heard that wine does wonderful things in breaking down chewy tissue.

I found this awesome blog that detailed cooking actual, older rooster in wine (both in red & white!): http://ckenb.blogspot.com/2012/01/rooster-cooked-in-red-wine.html

I'll be following this technique. Let's hope it turns out!

 

[sideWing]

Let me know how it turns out wishingbee. I filed that under Rooster Recipe. I take great care of my animals and have done crazy things to make them comfortable and expensively safe, but i'm also a hunter and when it turns to food, it turns to food.