Ideas for cooking 9 month old hen?

[aart]

Chewy, but not so chewy that we didn't enjoy eating it.

I call that 'toothsome'.
Most homegrown birds, other than the young(~8wo) CX, have a more toothsome texture than grocery birds.

 

[3KillerBs]

Chewy, but not so chewy that we didn't enjoy eating it.

I'm old enough to remember chicken that you had to chew.

I don't like the mushy texture of super-tender meat.

 

[Morrigan]

I call that 'toothsome'.
Most homegrown birds, other than the young(~8wo) CX, have a more toothsome texture than grocery birds.

I like "toothsome" as a description.

I'm old enough to remember chicken that you had to chew.

Yes! Meat is something to be chewed.

Since I started breeding and raising my heritage and broiler heritage crossed, I've really grown to appreciate the extra flavor and texture of older and more naturally raised chickens. On a texture scale, the slow roasted 9 month old pullet was about the equivalent to 15 week old grilled cockerel. In both cases that's was still within the acceptable range of chewiness, but just starting to bump against the upper limit.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I hit the upper limit on one of my birds earlier this week. Tried pan frying a 4.5# live weight pullet whose age I mistook for somewhat younger than it was. Great flavor. Technically, it was moist. But it was closer to moist, well flavored beef jerky (minus the fat) than toothsome, well flavored chicken...

Lets just say, I'm going to be much more careful of my fryers in the future!

 

[3KillerBs]

I hit the upper limit on one of my birds earlier this week. Tried pan frying a 4.5# live weight pullet whose age I mistook for somewhat younger than it was. Great flavor. Technically, it was moist. But it was closer to moist, well flavored beef jerky (minus the fat) than toothsome, well flavored chicken...

Lets just say, I'm going to be much more careful of my fryers in the future!

Oops.

If you didn't bread it you can salvage any left-overs in the stock pot.

 

[aart]

I hit the upper limit on one of my birds earlier this week. Tried pan frying a 4.5# live weight pullet whose age I mistook for somewhat younger than it was. Great flavor. Technically, it was moist. But it was closer to moist, well flavored beef jerky (minus the fat) than toothsome, well flavored chicken...

Lets just say, I'm going to be much more careful of my fryers in the future!

How old and what breed?
Did you rest cleaned carcass?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Oops.

If you didn't bread it you can salvage any left-overs in the stock pot.

I did actually. We ate it, the bones, plus the carcass of two others, made chicken broth. We added onion, garlic, the last of the bumper ginger crop from 2021, and some wontons, a bit of soy, some bok choy, carrots, scallion from the garden...

It was a LOT Better than the fried chicken.

 

[3KillerBs]

We added onion, garlic, the last of the bumper ginger crop from 2021, and some wontons, a bit of soy, some bok choy, carrots, scallion from the garden

I'd have loved to join you for dinner!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

How old and what breed?
Did you rest cleaned carcass?

"Mutt".

At this point, I'd guess 25 or 29 weeks. (I edited the post to fix)

Not long enough. We had her the evening of the 3rd, so three full days in the chill chest, plus some hours.

I knew this was a mistake when I did it, but I had a craving, see...

 

[Morrigan]

I had a similar thing happen. We saved the wings off of some 1+ year old culls that we were turning into sausage. Somehow, instead of the wings going into the "for stock" bag, then went into the "for eating" section of the freezer. A couple months ago we decided to grill up some wings for dinner. Talk about rubber chicken! When I checked the date on the wing bag against my farm notes I recognized my mistake. We powered thru that night as best as we could and then made stock with the rest.