How long to let your roosters set before eating??

[GhostRider65]

We butchered 4 of our roo's yesterday morning they are cleaned and setting in the fridge in a plastic bag......when can we eat them??
I also heard they are best soaked in salt water for at least 24 hours? is this true? and why would you do that? I do soak fish in salt water over night because otherwise they have a yucky fishy taste, is that why they do it with chickens, or is there something I missed?

 

[Saltysteele]

we do not brine, it is not necessary, but some like it that way

as long as they've cooled for a day, you should be good to go

 

[booker81]

It more depends on the age of them - if they are under 8 weeks, a day or two is good, the older they are, the longer they should rest. I like to go up to 4-5 days for roos that are over a year old.

Salt water or a brine solution for 24 hours is a tenderizing thing, not as much for taking away bad flavor. It's a personal preference

I like to brine things that I plan to cook for a long time on low heat, seems to help keep it from drying out.

 

[GhostRider65]

Ok I see now, I think I will try it with the next batch and see what ways seems to work best for the way I cook things. TY all.
Isn't 4 or 5 days rather long, won't they spoil, I know a couple tim,es I have bought chicken and forgot to separate the large pack for a few days to freeze and they were bad BAD stinking by 4 days. Is it because the chicken from the store is old to begin with? or sick like some seem to think? TY again Kim

 

[booker81]

Your store chicken has already been "resting" for a couple days by the time you get it in the meat bin at the store. I've had some of mine stuck in the fridge for 5 or 6 days, maybe it was a week (I suck with times), and there was no smell at all. I run with the "smell test" any time I'm dealing with meat - if there is a funk to it, it's in the trash. Never have an issue with home butchered birds

I think others have gone easily over a week as well, as long as it's been washed up and is clean.

 

[lampshadeee69]

Whenever i knock off a chicken i like em fresh off the choping block. Then again, i usually make soup so marinade or brine isnt necessary. I always found the best way to deal with a leghorn rooster was to get him to a ripe old age, then boil him up in a nice chicken stock with his entire body minus the entrails. (Liver, gizzard, and heart are NOT entrails; they are yummy.) Then after about 2 hours the meat is nice and tender and the skin turns a nice golden brown. Throw him in the rotisserie and brown the skin, then you've got an amazing meal! Now im hungry...

 

[Saltysteele]

you can get away with eating them right away if you are using a slow cooker, or soup.

if you try to roast it, rotisserie it or fry it, stretch out your jaw first.

rigor mortis sets in VERY quickly in chickens. while humans its several hours, with birds it's almost immediately. when we buchered the rest of our last week, the birds that we put in the tub of water at the onset of our session were already seizing up by the time we finished (about 45 minutes to an hour).

i rotissieried one the same day i processed it a couple months ago (about 4-1/2 hours later), and it was like eating a shoe sole. literally, it would come off the breast in slabs, and was VERY hard to chew. i was chewing, but it seemed like i was just squeezing it, and when i opened my jaw it would just rebound to its original shape.

the finger was the only thing "eatable," and it was somewhat chewy, too.

all the chickens we've done over the years, and we'd never tried eating one the same day. i had intended before we started, to eat one, but by the time we finished processing them, i had had enough of chickens. i did anyway, because my wife wanted one (she was not there)

i agree with the above poster who said your bird has already been "resting" for several days before you got it at the grocery store. still though, in my experience (in no way saying anyone else is wrong, this is just MY experience) overnight to 24 hours is all that is needed. the bird has rested by that point, and you're just dehydrating it past that point. this is just MY experience, and experience from a butcher who has been doing it for 40 years. that's not saying anyone else is wrong, just saying i don't believe any longer is necessary.

i will say, though, anyone telling your a chickens "cures" like beef, is not correct. it may taste differently, but that is not because bacteria is working in a "good" way