Help....culled rubber roos

[mstricer]

Can Someone help us to help our dead roos to relax and not look, feel and taste like rubber.
Really need to get this right before I waste money growing up 25 colored rangers rubber chickens.
I long for my chickens to be yummy and good and most of importance tenderness.
I read on store bought chicken they inject with a broth. What is that about and do any of you do this with your birds. Please help me to help them full fill their end of the bargin.

 

[ChooksChick]

I suggest you brine them.

There are various methods, but essentially, salt makes the cell walls permeable so the meat draws in more water, plumping and tenderizing.

You can use spices when you to this, to season and make different styles. You can also just use salt-water to make it ready to cook 'however' when you thaw them.

We make a big batch of salt water and soak a bird overnight prior to use, letting it thaw in the seasoned brine.

ETA- boil the salt and spices in just a couple of cups of water and then dilute to get your soaking liquid- some recipes tell you to put the whole amount of water in to boil, but then you have to wait for a gallon or more to cool from a boil!!

 

[Bossroo]

I hear tell that Jay Leno is looking for an opening act for tonight.

 

[fasbendera]

Killing cones and bleeding not chopping the heads off. I think our birds are less stressed since we starting doing it this way. The non-meat birds we butcher are a different texture than the meaties. Cook them slow or what I prefer to do is boil them and make a chicken stew or a soup with dumplings. (The kids prefer the stew because it is more like gravy and not a broth). Like any tougher meat cook low and long would be my other suggestoins.

 

[Crickett]

Make sure that you completely bleed out the bird. Did you let it rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours, before freezing? You can also rest it a bit longer, up to 48 hours. You can brine it as well. If you have an injector, (looks like a big syringe) you can use that to inject broth into the meatier parts. If you don't skin it, but rather pluck, the skin helps hold in the natural juices. You can also take a bit of bacon and wrap it in that when cooking, if you want. If all else fails, slower cooking helps A LOT! A crockpot can be your best friend!

 

[Winsor Woods]

I let mine soak in iced brine for 24 hours and then rest in the fridge for another 48 hours at least. I wouldn't even think of eating them before that. As the carcass rests, the natural break down of body tissue is what tenderizes the meat. I think brining is great too for making sure the meat is nice and moist when you are done cooking.
Dan

 

[jaku]

Well, that depends on a few things. You said "roos," which sounds like you're butchering some birds that have been running around for awhile and you're sick of crowing and chasing you- these will NEVER be tender, no matter what you do. Sorry, but if you don't need a lot of stock or soup, feed them to the dogs or burn barrel.

Now, as for your colored rangers, you'll be butchering them at 12 weeks, so you won't have a tenderness problem. ANY home grown bird is going to be firmer than its storebought counterpart, so keep that in mind, but you don't need to do anything special to these birds to avoid rubber. You don't need to "brine" your birds unless you want a salty, brined flavor that comes with a full cup of salt per gallon of water.

After butchering, I throw my birds in salted ice water for 24 hours then bag them, leaving them in the fridge another 24 hours before I freeze or eat. I put a couple of cups of salt in a 35 gallon container of ice water, which is NOT a brine, but will help a bit with breaking down the tissues and keeping the water colder.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Well they won't be tender fryers or broilers, but as far as never being tender no matter what you do, nonsense. If you pressure cook, pressure can, or cook them slow in the crock pot, and wait long enough, (that can be anywhere from 6 hours to overnight, depending on the bird) they will get tender, and be delicious. I do it all the time. So do a lot of other people, and I don't waste all that delicious meat on mere soup, either.

Those tough old DP birds make wonderful enchiladas, tacos, BBQ sandwiches, etc.

Your color rangers should be tender anyway, though, as long as you don't let them wait past 12 weeks, or not too far past anyway, to butcher.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
I have to disagree with you, jaku, and agree with Dancingbear. Most of my meat birds are standard or mixed-breed roos, butchered at 18-24 weeks old, been running around before that, crowing, & getting on my nerves for a while. I do many of the things recommended here, slicing & bleeding out well, soaking in ice water for a day, resting in the frige for another 2 days, cooking slowly at a low temperature. And they've always been tasty & tender.

I like to make my meat go far, especially after all the toil & effort needed to get it to the table, so I usually simmer it slowly over low heat until the meat just falls off the bones. Then I separate it & freeze in packets of cooked dark & white meat. It's used in a variety of dishes like chili, pasta salad, mixed with rice & veg, etc. Once in a while, if I get an especially plump bird, I'll roast it with some veggies in an oven bag.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I have to disagree with you, jaku, and agree with Dancingbear. Most of my meat birds are standard or mixed-breed roos, butchered at 18-24 weeks old, been running around before that, crowing, & getting on my nerves for a while. I do many of the things recommended here, slicing & bleeding out well, soaking in ice water for a day, resting in the frige for another 2 days, cooking slowly at a low temperature. And they've always been tasty & tender.

I like to make my meat go far, especially after all the toil & effort needed to get it to the table, so I usually simmer it slowly over low heat until the meat just falls off the bones. Then I separate it & freeze in packets of cooked dark & white meat. It's used in a variety of dishes like chili, pasta salad, mixed with rice & veg, etc. Once in a while, if I get an especially plump bird, I'll roast it with some veggies in an oven bag.

Oh, absolutely- I guess I wasn't very clear in my post. I was referring to the situation I had last weekend when I processed some birds for my cousin. She brought up a couple of 2+ year old roos with huge spurs and that had bred several times. I didn't see much sense processing those, but I agree completely with you on the 18-24 week olds.