Do broilers taste as good as good as dual purpose birds?

[Beekissed]

If one takes the time to educate oneself to the proper protocol to raise a particular animal instead of trying to put one in as a round peg into a square hole, one will find that the Cornish X is without a doubt the FINEST meat bird in all of chickendom. Time wise, meat yield wise, taste wise , and $$$$ wise .

X2!!!

 

[Beekissed]

So if you are looking for taste...DP. If you are looking for speed of raising and quick cooking (such as grilling vs crockpot) CX. Maybe raising a bit of both is the answer. I might give it a try. I am concerned the CX with all the eating will cost me more money than buying organic chicken at the grocery. I may have to attempt to force them to range to cut down the cost.

You really don't have to force them...their hunger will do that. Just don't offer continuous feeds and they will forage beautifully.

The reason CX don't have the flavor of the DP is due to the age at which they are processed. If you are raising CX for your own table there is no purpose in rushing their weight gains and trying to process them at an early age...contrary to all you might have heard, they are not a ticking time bomb just waiting to die. My sister had several for a couple of years(when she got them they were already several months old) on free range until her flocks were somewhat diminished this spring by fox predation.

It's all in how you raise them what flavor and quality of meat you will get....as Bossroo states, for the time, feed and effort they will yield WAY more meat than a DP. I processed 20 CX last time and placed over 100+ lbs of meat in the freezer and the jar with no more cost than it would have been to have 20 extra DPs in my flock. This year I'm even doing it cheaper than that.

You'd have to raise a heck of a lot of DP birds to get 100lbs of meat and you'd have to raise them several months.

 

[DanIndiana]

I don't dispute any of the Cornish X attributes, but I'm picking at the leg meat from a big, one year old Buff Orpington rooster that just spent 6 hours in a crockpot right now; and that super rich, flavorful dark meat is addictive, and is the one thing (probably the only thing) that a Cornish X could never match. No way.

 

[Oregon Blues]

There are too many factors to say that one is better than the other.

How hard do you like to chew? Does your family like dark meat or white meat? Do you prefer fried chicken or chicken and dumplings. What sort of housing and forage do you have? How much are you willing to pay to put chicken on the table?

I've not had problems with Cornish Cross and mine have all ranged just fine. Mine have all tasted really marvelous; nothing like store bought chicken. My family likes the white meat and we like our chicken fried or barbecued. So Cornish Cross works best for me.

I've also raised and butchered a batch of Leghorn roosters. They taste great. But you don't get much meat for your time and cost of raising them. I paid 5 cents apiece for mine. I had lots of excellent forage and bugs for them to cut back on feed costs. I'm glad I did it, but I wouldn't do it again. If for no other reason than I don't enjoy butchering. If I am going to gut and pluck, I'd rather get 5-6 pounds of good meat for my work than to get 1 1/2 pounds of meat for the same work.

However, just because I prefer Cornish Cross doesn't mean that other types of birds aren't delicious to eat. Lots if people are raising and eating other breeds and are quite happy with them.

 

[Beekissed]

Ah...but can you roll that DP in flour and fry it to have a meal on the table in short order or do you have to cook each bird 6 hours to make it palatable? I will agree that I like the flavor of the DP older chicken over the CX younger~any day~ but why not just raise the CX until they are older and meet that flavor vs. tenderness and quantity half way? If raised differently than the normal CX method, these CX have great potential to become more than they currently are when it comes to flavor and texture and they can live well past their 8 wks.

 

[gg706]

I see your points....I have never butchered before. I am CERTAIN it is NOT going to be an enjoyable experience. So it does make more sense to go through the same butcher process and get more meat in the freezer! When it comes time to butcher my wyandotte and orpington roos I am probably going to be shocked at how little meat I get, from the way it sounds.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes. And for the same effort. And they are prettier, so it seems a shame to ruin all that feathered finery. The CX are just Plain Jane and don't have that proud, sweeping tail and beautiful full wattles and perky comb. No speckles or bars, no shiny hackling....just plain, soft whiteness with huge orange feet.

 

[DanIndiana]

I do have both types going right now, but I must say the one thing I haven't done to the extent Beekissed has, is to try to REALLY extend the life of the Cornish X. I have to some degree, and have noticed a difference in the meat. I guess it is all about preference and cooking method. I guess I'm on both extremes. My two favorites are a full grown DP rooster cooked all day, and a 4 week old fried Cornish game hen. Ya just gotta love chicken! It's like pizza; they're all good.

 

[LilyD]

We had one batch of Cornish Cross go all the way to 12 weeks before processing and they were fine. The only issue that we had was one of the birds had developed tumors in the breast meat. We asked the vet what might have caused it and he said that they were tumors caused by pressure from the weight of the bird (it was about 15 pounds at that time). All the others were fine though and the meat tasted fine.

I do still prefer the DP birds but my goals are for a self sustainable flock to provide eggs meat and bug control. I don't want to buy birds each year. I would rather raise them myself. It's a personal choice and you have to decide which one you like best. I like the idea of trying both and seeing which you like better. Who knows you might like both and that's okay too.

 

[Eowyn2]

This doesn't really answer your question, because it doesn't say which bird out of *all* of them tastes best. But it is an interesting article about several heritage breeds and which taste best (in which applications) out of the ones they tested.

http://goodfoodrevolution.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/slow-food-heritage-breeds-chicken-tasting/