New Cooking Tips from an Old Bird

[U_Stormcrow]

Ok, these aren't new, but it is a catchy title, no?

Place for some of us with experience dealing with old birds at table to share with those wondering what to do culinarily with their older dual purpose birds, whose tenderness might be less than expected and shose flavor is somewhat more than expected.

PLEASE feel free to jump in with techniques, recipes, tips. I plan to bookmark this and link to it when the questions inevitably come up in this and other forums.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Tip Number 1: Take a rest. A long rest.

Any bird you process will benefit from aging. Every bird you get at the supermarket has been aged. Your older, dual purpose birds just take longer.

I rest my birds a minimum of three days before cooking. Yes, its possible to go straight from the stump to the pot. Plenty of people who process faster than I (pretty much every cook of chicken before the 1920s) could do so - but I can't. and if processing multiple birds in a day, few others can either.

You must start cooking either before rigor sets in, or after rigor has passed. In theory, rigor can pass in as little as 24 hours. I have not found that to be the case. I like 72 hours, it works reliably for me.

What's the point???

When the chicken takes its last, almost all biological process stop. But a few get well and truly started when the oxygen flow to the muscles ends. The most well known of those is "rigor mortis' a stiffening of the carcass as muscles bunch up. With time, enzymes already present in the animal will cause those muscles to relax again, breaking down long protein chains into something less rubbery, more tender (actually chewable). Aging provides the time needed to allow that process to happen. One of the most common mistakes in those new to processing chickens for their own consumption is not aging (or not aging long enough).

Are their precautions you should take?
Yes. For hygiene and potential disease control, it is better to age under refrigeration, even though it slows the process. One of the reasons I like 72 hours is because my fridge is very cold - almost freezing at the back wall. 48 hours doesn't reliably do it for. You can age open air - many cultures (particulary those without ready refrigeration) still do so. How to do so safely? Ask them.

Other things to consider?
Yup. There are two basic techniques in aging. Wet Aging and Dry Aging. Each has its benefits and disadvantages.

Wet aging involves a liquid of some sort and some fashion of preservative(s) (salt, sugar, prague powder, herbs with antimicrobial properties, acids, etc). If you suddenly find yourself without power and refrigeration, this is a great method to use - the liquid prevents oxygen contact with the bird, while the preservative(s) inhibit the development of unwanted bacteria - things that contribute to off flavors, intenstinal infortitude, or worse. Also, if you remember your chemistry, those cells want to seek equilibrium - the water inside them just like the water outside them. Over time, water inside the chicken's body will move out into the liquid, and water in the liquid will move in (bringing flavor with it) until they reach equilibrium. We call this process marinading or brining, most commonly.

What are the downsides? Ever had a bag of raw poultry juice leak in your fridge?? Now add more liquid... Ever eat a piece of chicken with flabby, rubbery skin? Yep, common consequence of wet aging. Limited fridge space? This will take more of it. And your liquid should be cold - as cold as the fridge - so your fridge doesn't have to work harder to try and cool the liquid and your just processed bird. It takes a lot of energy to cool a given mass of water. There is also some chemistry involved - how much of what to add to how much water, relative to how much bird. Get it wrong, and your bird can be underseasoned or highly salty. Hopefully, other posters will help that.

What about dry aging?
If you have the space, and the airflow, this is what many, likely most, of us do. Its also done by fine restaurants everywhere. Dry aging reduces moisture content as it evaporates off, intensifying flavors. It allows for nice crisp skin while cooking (think Pekin duck, hanging in the shop window).

Downsides?
Because there is direct air contact, anything in your air has opportunity to colonize your bird. That's increased risk *controllable with reasonable precautions*. If there is some funky, off odor in your fridge, there will be some funky, off odor in your aged poultry. The reverse is also true - don't age your freshly processed bird next to an open stick of butter.

Also, dry aging provides no opportunity to impart flavors (i.e. marinading or brining). Remember cutting into a Thanksgiving turkey when that outer bite of breast meat was just full of flavor and the inside bite, up against the breast bone tasted completely unseasoned? Yup. With small birds, this isn't an issue. If you are using them for soup, stock, sausage? Not an issue. Baked, roasted, or other dry heat methods? Yep. Missed opportunity.

Which one is for you?
Depends on how you are going to eventually prepare it. There is no one right answer, only options and tradeoffs.

Other benefits of aging?
Just one. If you age the bird before moving to the freezer, your freezer doesn't have to work nearly as hard to get things frozen - and the faster they freeze, the less damage is done to the cell walls, resulting in moister meat when it defrosts (ice crystals rupture cell walls, causing their liquid content to drain out during cooking. Disappointing eats.

Can you freeze first, then Age?
Sure can, but see the comment above about freezing as quickly as possible, and far far above about aging time being affected by temperature. If your frozen bird is still an ice cube after 24 hours in the fridge, aging hasn't started yet. The bigger the bird, the more of an issue this will be for you. **HINT** Wet aging - adding anon frozen, flavorful liquid - will speed this process along and impart flavor at the same time. Win/Win. Its also a way to take some "insurance out" against the meat getting too dry if you plan on smoking it - but guarantees the skin will be like worn shoe leather.

Hope that helps!!!!

(Can you rest too long?)
In theory, yes. Just like you can leave cheese or milk in the fridge too long. I don't go over a week. That's not too long in an otherwise clean fridge. How long is too long? Don't know, hope to never find out.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and a quick tip (technique)

Old Bird? Check
Sous Vide? Check

Time and Temperature? 144* F. Three Days. Very tender. Maybe not spectacular moisture, but definitely not dry.

Just throw the bird in a vaccuum bag, toss in the water bath, weight to the bottom and walk away.

Can it be improved on? Yes.
Think "confit". Toss part of a stick of butter into the cavity and whatever flavors strike you. Flavors carried best by fat (seeds, spices rather than herbs) do very well here. Careful with rosemary. Yes, its an herb, but its an herb that resembles pine sap, and does very well in oil. Use sparingly. Many "Spanish" flavors do well here. North African flavors also. and because old bird is flavorful bird, you can "go bold" without fear that the final product will result in an unidentifiable protein.

When cooked, that fatty, flavorful liquid now full of rendered chicken connective tissues, moisture from the bird, etc can be used to make a lovely gravy or as seasoning liquid for cooking rice, etc. Make your roux first, very heavy on the flour (at least 2:1), then whisk this in. It has too much water to try and make a roux with as the starting oil, and too much fat to use the typical 1:1 ratio of flour to fat.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

General Guidance.

The age of the bird is a good indicator of what methods won't work well for preparation. "Fryer", "Roaster" and "Capon/Stewing Hen" are indicators of age, not necessarily weight.

Young birds haven't had time to exercise. Their flavor is milder, the meat more tender. You don't need to deal with tough, well developed tendons and other connective tissues.

Rapid, dry heat methods are favored here. Frying, Grilling and Baking primarily. Because the heat is intense, its easy to overcook. Methods that provide for uniform cooking size (i.e. pre-portioning breast tenders, spatchcocking a whole bird for roasting, or simply preparing just wings or just legs) are a cook's friend. If you can't do that, control the time (watch a good pan fried chicken video) - thighs then legs then breasts then wings is the order into the heat.

Adolescent birds get more flavor, more toughness. You need a little time, and a more gentle heat, to allow them to cook through and some of the connective tissues to break down. Frying is pretty much out (lower temps and longer time allow the oil to overwhelm the moisutre content, resulting in greasy final products), baking/roasting still works, grilling favors much smaller chunks of meat to reduce needed time (and because precutting across thegrain provides the illusion of tenderness).

Adult, you need much longer for those connective tissues to break down, real risk of the bird drying out. Dry heat methods are almost entirely out. Moist heat is your friend. Braising. Soups and Stocks. You can smoke. low and slow, if you pre-brine.

Older? Absent specialized equipment (sous vide, second post), your best bets are stocks or mechanical tenderization - chop into tiny bits and mix with other things like a wonton suffing, a stir fry (use the baking soda tenderization trick), or grinding into sausage. Remember that chicken fat isn't hard at room temperature like cattle fat or pig fat - it will quckly render out while cooking your sausage, leaving a mealy texture. Edible, not good eats. You want to sub in a different fat for what you get from the chicken when making sausage, and use rendered chicken fat for making schmaltz.

What ages fall into which category? That's in part up to you and the way you were brought up, your expectations of tenderness. Some of it is breed dependent as well. Ealry developing breeds toughen at younger ages. Leaner-tending breeds have less fat to provide both tenderness and moisture.

For me and my flock, "young" is under 6-8 weeks. I don't fry my birds, I don't take them that early. Adolescent is somewhere around 12-16 weeks (the girls a little longer than the boys). Adult is around a half year to 8 months. Everything else is "Older".

 

[U_Stormcrow]

"Go to" Seasoning Mix

1 Part (teaspoon, tablespoon, cap full - as long as its the same cap, "palm", etc) Each:

Coriander
Cumin
Turmeric
Garlic Powder
Oregano (dried)
Salt
Cracked Black Pepper*

***Fine if you are making in advance for storage - this keeps well. If you are making it for immediate use and cracking your own peppercorms from a grinder (and you should!), peppercorns have a lot more flavor than the sawdust you get from a preground pepper, suggest you cut it to 1/3 or 1/4th of whatever your measure is, first time you try this. Can always add more later.

Final note - this is deliberately under salted. When I sous vide, it needs less salt than if I am making a stock, a soup, or baking. In almost all cases, I add more salt - but I add less salt when sous vide than when baking, and much less than when making soup. Sometimes Garlic Salt, sometimes Lowry's Salt, sometimes "Cajun" Salt - but I find the combination above makes a good base flavor for many poultry dishes.

Take a tablespoon of "Go To", add one teaspoon each of Paprika, Onion Powder, Dark Chili Powder (ground chilis, not "chili seaoning mix"), and it looks a lot like Adobo. (Turmeric isn't often found in adobo, if at all, but it mostly disappears under the other flavors)

Add a teaspoon of the "go to" mix to a 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika, a (heaping) teaspoon of cumin, and a tablespoon of chili powder and you are most of the way to taco seasoning. Add dried ground chipotle pepper to taste (start with a heavy pinch) and you are there. Don't have ground chipotle? Crushed red pepper flake is an ok substitute.

 

[Molpet]

I have had a need to dispatch old birds I couldn't process that day. I had read about hanging intact birds to age them.
https://honest-food.net/on-hanging-pheasants-2/
I put the drained of blood when dispatched bird in cold refrigerator, in a bag.... And thought about it 5 days later. It was out of rigor so I scaled, threw in the plucker and gutted . Worked out great and tender. I have done it several other times and up to 7 days. I have rested a plucked and gutted turkey for 10 days with great results.

 

[fuzzi]

Interesting and informative thread, thanks!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Interesting and informative thread, thanks!

I'm hoping others will jump in with tips and tricks of their own. I'm going to type up one of my brine recipes, eventually.

 

[Sally PB]

I'm going to type up one of my brine recipes, eventually.

I'll be watching for that.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

Lots of valuable information! Thank you