I was roasting a home-grown chicken (a young male) this evening and he said 'that's a mighty scrawny-looking bird" --- instead of just smiling and saying "flock you", I *again* went into the reasons why 'our birds' will never look like 'store-bought-chicken'. Dinner was delicious, but it brings up another question. Hubby and all the old-timer recipes, say they killed a chicken for Sunday lunch/dinner on Sunday morning and had it fried for lunch --- right away. I'd say it was wishful thinking, but Hubby swears he remembers his Grandma killing a chicken in the morning and frying it the same day. How does one do that? I've read of it before, but all our chicken needs to 'sit a couple of days' before it's ready to cook. What trick you think she had to get edible chicken right way?
I recall doing that too, but it was then breaded and fried in Lard, which knowing grandma included bacon grease and any other grease from anything else that had been cooked all week, just thinking about it makes my heart skip a beat, it was good but probably never tasted the chicken just the grease it was cooked in.
I remember that too. I think it was chilled in ice water for quite awhile. That may have made the difference. Jean
i sure wish i could help you. My grandmother had a chicken farm, and i was too young to remember. But my elder sister used to watch our grandpa cut off the head, watch the chicken run around for a while. She would help grandma pluck the feathers out and pull out the innards. i can't recall if she ever said how long till the bird was served. But i would think the earliest would be axe in the morning then chicken for dinner after sundown. Maybe we are all just so programmed by the store-bought chickens, and ease with which they are available. Maybe there's no trick to getting the chicken ready, but in our readjustment to real live food. Anyhow, that's my two-cents. ("flock you" i love that - must save that for future use).
Ok, I am really new at this so here's a dumb question. Why do you have to wait to cook the chicken? How long should you wait and how do you know when it is ready to be cooked? We are butchering our first bird this Saturday and I'm already a little nervous about it....
It is recommended that you let it age overnight to enhance its flavor. Sortof what they do with beef but not as critical according to others.
Another reason for aging is because if the proteins (actin and myosin) have not broken down yet by the enzymes found in the muscles, you'll have one tough rubbery bird!