Hubby killed and butchered one of our roos today...

[badwolf7914]

I went out today and saw that My golden roo was having a death match with one of my New Hampshire red roos called Gimpy. Gimpy was always more aggressive. He'd go after people as they walked through the yard. I had to usher Gimpy out of the coop somy golden one could settle down. I don't know what Gimpy did to rile him up so bad. My roosters have always gotten along well. My hubby went out and killed Gimpy. Then he plucked him and butchered him up. Everybody is calm in the coop now and I have dinner in a few days. I've heard stories about cockfights going until one dies so we had to put a stop to it. Out of the 4 we had, little Mr. Aggressive had to go.

 

[booker81]

Read the threads in here - Gimpy should make a tasty dinner for sure!

A good roo is a good roo to keep. A bad roo makes a good dinner star!

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I butchered and cleaned two nasty roos yesterday! Yumm! I like slow cooking them in the crockpot with some water. Makes an awesome stock, and if you don't want soup, take everything out, pick out the bones, and you have a BIG pile of shredded chicken!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I too butcher all meanies!

 

[badwolf7914]

I was thinking Chicken and Dumplings... I need boiling directions for him. All I found so far is oven directions. I heard that an 11 month old cooks different than the store ones. Hubby decided to cut the breast meat off and the thigh and leg section. He freaked out about not having gloves and going after the insides. I told him my great grandmother would pull the inside out and he was done after plucking. He'd had enough for his first one. we've got one more that may eventually become dinner. We want to keep the gold roo and the nicest NH Red Roo.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I don't bother plucking mine, I skin them, and yep, just pull all the insides out.

 

[booker81]

Don't boil, simmer. In all honesty, the bones of the carcass give a LOT of flavor to the stock, and give a place to anchor the meat so it doesn't get too compact. But, you can try with another chicken later on!!

Put the meat in a good sized pot with a stalk of celery chopped in two, an onion quartered (try to leave a layer of the "Brown" paper skin on for more flavor and color), a carrot cleaned off and chopped in half and either some peppercorns if you have them, or about a Tbs of coarse ground pepper. Put in about a quart of water or two. I don't usually salt my broth. SIMMER, say medium low or low depending on your stove, for a few hours - two minimum, the longer the better. Don't let it get to a boil. After a few hours, remove the meat, and then strain the broth out. If you'd like, you can let it sit in a large jug and skim the fat (don't throw it away!!!! Use it instead of butter for things that use butter - like mashed potatoes! Yum!!).

Wipe the big pot down, and then add chopped up celery, carrots, and onion (without the skin!), and shred and add the chicken. Add the broth back in-but save two cups on the side. Season with pepper and salt and maybe some poultry seasoning. Bring that to a simmer, and cook until the carrots are tender.

In a big bowl, mix together 6 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp poultry seasoning, and 1 tsp salt. Add in 1 cup of some sort of "fat" - butter, or if you have enough (I collect all mine), a cup of the reserved chicken fat that rendered. Mix that in til crumbly. Add two eggs and the two cups of stock, and mix it all together to a dough. Now here, your can go two ways. My husband likes "fluffy" dumplings, so I just take the dough, and spoon glops into the soup, and then cover. It's done when you can stick a fork in the dough and its clean, no stickies.

Other folks like the little chewy dumpling bits, so in that case, you will have to roll your dough out on a floured surface, knead for a bit, and then roll it about 1/4" thick. Use a pizza cutter to cut little 1" dough squares. Take a spatula and dump the little squares into the soup. They are done when they aren't sticky anymore (just fish one out and taste it

That's how my chicken and dumplings usually goes. Whenever I do a big processing, and I'm to the point all the meat is rested, I pretty much always make this out of one of the chickens - the rest go in the freezer. I love it and DH loves it

 

[nelgkel]

Quote:
we just butchered ours this morning and he is in the pressure cooker..going to make chicken and dumplings for dinner! Ours was 6 months old.

 

[badwolf7914]

why do they suggest aging it in the fridge a few days...

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Letting the chicken "rest" in the refrigerator for a day or two allows the rigor mortis to pass & the meat isn't tough or chewy. I agree that a nice long soak in simmering broth allows even the meanest rooster to turn out nice. Booker81, THANK YOU for that great recipe for Chicken & Dumplings, I'm going to follow it exactly and make a company dinner for my houseguest. I often will simmer up the roosters I butcher, quartering them and placing them in 2 different pots, one for white & one for dark meat. Then I pull out the meat, discard the bones, and freeze the meat in packets for later use. The stock is reduced and used again too.