Letting chicken meat sit!

[blackvelvet]

tomorrow I am butchering some chickens. I am curious about how to let them sit. Do I put them in the bag and just let them sit in the fridge for 24 hours then freeze them or what?

 

[bigredfeather]

I let mine rest in the fridge for 3-4 days.

 

[blackvelvet]

Do i let them sit in salt water, or just put them in there. Sorry this is my first time!

 

[SpringChickens]

I always put mine in a cooler of salt water (iced, of course) for at least 24 hours. The brine helps tenderize the bird.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
I do not brine(salt water) mine. I'm sure it does tenderize the meat some and draw out some of the blood, but we have gotten used to and prefer the texture of our broilers.

 

[gmendoza]

3-7 days in the fridge is good enough to make sure your meat is tender.Especially if its an older chicken or whatever meat.

 

[terri9630]

If you don't have room to keep all the chickens in the frig at once you can freeze and then take out a few days before you cook it. They can rest before or after freezing. I usually take a chicken out on Monday and cook on Friday or Sat.

 

[Salt and Light]

Personally, I don't think chicken benefits from "aging" like red meat. Thus, all we do is overnight in fridge while vacuum sealed, then into the freezer the next morning.

 

[booker81]

Chicken isn't beef, but muscle enzymes are the same all around (for beef, pork, venison, and chicken).

Really young chicken (ie Cornish X processed at under 3 months old) don't really need to be made more tender - the muscles are new and barely used.

Older birds such as mature roosters and whatnot do benefit from aging, unless you prefer a lot of chew. I've found that for bids under 5 months, I don't need to age/rest more than a day, but 5-10 months do good with a couple days. The roos I processed that were a year and a half old, I let sit for 5 days. I just put them in a large baggie and put them in the fridge. Once done, off they head to the freezer.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
If you are processing cornish cross birds - who are done at a young age, like veal - there is no need to rest the bird.


If you are processing what I call "honest chickens" who get past the chick age (over 12 weeks), true muscle from running around and being an active bird, and some hormones - then just like red meat - the bird needs to rest and come out of rigor. No it does not need to age for a month like a steer - but 3 days up to 7 day are of benefit.

I have even left "fresh" meat in the fridge for 10 days (oops forgotten in the upstairs mini fridge) and it smelled as fresh as the day we put it up there. Ate it too!