meat bird VS. dual purpose bird

[chick_magnet]

When eating DP bird and meat bird are the meat different? I like how DP bird meats are tough and hard to chew. I normally make soup and let the meat soften up a bit bit its still a bit chewy. Would meat bird taste the same way?
Thanks

 

[Winsor Woods]

If by 'meat bird' you mean cornish cross, then you'll have meat that is much more tender and not really chewy or rubbery. The older a bird is before processing, the tougher the meat, generally speaking. Cornish crosses are processed at 8 weeks, give or take, while DP birds are usually twice that age, so the DP meat will be a little more 'chewy.'

The other aspect that affects the texture of the meat is the aging process. If you like chewy meat, then cook the bird on the same day you process it. If you want a more tender meat, then age it in the fridge, or in a cooler with ice for 24-48 hours before eating/freezing.

Dan

 

[mstricer]

I tried doing that with a marans that was 24 wks old and it was still tough. He only weighed 41/2 lbs dressed. I will be be making dog and cat food out of our extra roos

 

[dancingbear]

chick_magnet, it's unusual for somebody to want tougher birds, but if that's your preference, I'd stick with DP's. They have better flavor. You can prepare a broiler-type, (the fast growing meat birds such as Cornish X) so that they'll be tougher, but no, they won't taste the same. They're pretty bland, compared to a DP. So you can get the texture, sort of, but not the taste. Unless you can keep them alive a lot longer, the older the get, the more the flavor of the meat develops.

mstricer, here's a link about heritage birds, how to cook them. You can have a tender bird, depending on how it's prepared. You can't cook them the same way you'd cook broilers, that's all. If you cook them overnight in the crockpot, on low, they're usually tender by morning, or if not, let them cook until they get tender.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This might be the link Dancingbear was talking about.

Cooking Heritage Chickens
http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

You can cook chickens of any age, but the older they are, the tougher the meat can be. You just have to adjust your cooking methods to the age of the bird and the desired results. The older they are, the slower and moister they need to be cooked.

 

[dancingbear]

Ridgerunner, yes that's it, thank you for supplying the link I forgot!