Ideas for cooking 9 month old hen?

[iwltfum]

9 months? I would say you can cook it anyway you like as long as its rested for a day or two. Certainly still young enough to be grilled or deep fried in parts.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm having very good results with a crock pot. Four day rest in the fridge to wet age. Often in seasoned yogurt or buttermilk (highly acidic marinades, like a cuban mojo, should be avoided, they leave a mealy texture, or the marinade time should be greatly shortened). Throw the bird in, add aromatics, a bit of liquid at the bottom (less than an inch, more than a quarter - you are adding moisture to ensure the bird doesn't burn to the bottom and help convey flavor). Lid. Three hours on high. Three hours on low. Reduce to keep warm and prepare your side dishes.

More often than not, I'll take the meat off the carcass as I remove it from the crock pot.

and, especially for cockerels, a little less important with hens, the stronger flavor of the bird stands up nicely to heavy spice. Same with free rangers. - doro wat, curries, berbere, etc. Even shredded chicken tacos.

 

[Morrigan]

I've decided to go the slow, covered roast method. I'm going to cut into pieces, give a quick sear to brown up the skin, before putting them in the dutch oven with herbs, onions, etc. I'm giving a 4 day rest which means that I won't be doing the cooking until Tuesday. I'll report back as to the outcome..

Bake covered at 250 Fahrenheit for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. When finished gently remove with a slotted spoon.

What is the average weight of the birds you are cooking? This my first time trying this technique and you can't go by modern cookbooks in trying to figure out an appropriate cook time.

Thanks, all for your responses.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What is the average weight of the birds you are cooking?

I don't have a clue. I've never bothered to weigh them because that is not important to me. There are only two of us and I can get two meals out of a small pullet. If I cook a large cockerel that just means I have chicken for a lunch or two. I'm not going to change anything because of weight.

 

[STACEYH]

5 lbs about 2 1/2

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My birds have typically been 4# to 5.5# live weight, so that's a carcass yield of about 2 3/4# to just about 4#.

The good news with these low/slow cooking methods, unlike searing or baking, is that the weights don't much matter. Its not sous vide, where the weights are almost entirely unimportant beyond a minimum cook time, but its close. How close? I use the same three hours high, three hours low in the crockpot whether I'm doing one bird or two...

 

[Morrigan]

All very helpful. My pullet dressed out at little over 3 lbs, so it looks like and where around the 2+ hour range would be good.

 

[STACEYH]

All very helpful. My pullet dressed out at little over 3 lbs, so it looks like and where around the 2+ hour range would be good.

I would check it around an hour and a half. You don't want to over cook it to much it will be bone dry.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I would check it around an hour and a half. You don't want to over cook it to much it will be bone dry.

That's why you use a slow but moist method. With my method they don't get dry.

 

[Morrigan]

Dinner is over. I ended up going a slightly different direction with the chicken, based on some slow roasting recipes I discovered, where you roast a bird uncovered for several hours at 275 to 300 degrees. My thinking for doing so, was that I didn't want to skin the chicken, and I worried that a stewed/covered dish would wind up hopelessly greasy with rubbery skin unless I did. That hen had a lot of fatty skin on her.

So, I made an herb rub with cracked fennel, pepper, marjoram, thyme and salt and rubbed it all over the hen. Put a quartered lemon, a halved head of garlic and fresh thyme in the cavity. Put the hen in a pan atop a layer of lemon slices to act as the "rack" Cooked for 3 hours at 280 degrees in a non-convection oven.

The verdict -- it was quite tasty. Truly excellent flavor with an acceptable, if slightly chewy texture. Chewy, but not so chewy that we didn't enjoy eating it. The best part was the lovely pan of drippings, which I turned into the most awesome gravy. The lemon, herbs and rich chicken flavor were really captured nicely in the gravy. It made way too much gravy for one meal, but I see some potatoes and gravy in our future breakfasts.

In short, I'm glad I tried something new.