please, help me with pressure cooker recipes of 12 week old HERITAGE chickens?or non- PC recipes for

[Natalijaasbj]

I want to try a 12 week old heritage chicken. I know how to cook and older birds. But wanted to try other method than slow cooking or coq a vin with younger birds. Please your ideas?
thank u in advance

 

[Arielle]

I have never cooked a bird in the pressure cooker. Always roasted and then boiled. I so know of others that do pressure cook, so I"m sure you will find your answers soon.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I have never cooked a bird in the pressure cooker. Always roasted and then boiled. I so know of others that do pressure cook, so I"m sure you will find your answers soon.

I cooked one in a pressure cooker recently, but it was just for chicken and dumplings.....

 

[Arielle]

How did you do it?? I think the OP would like to know the details.

 

[BCMaraniac]

How did you do it?? I think the OP would like to know the details.

I just put a whole chicken in a 6.5 quart pressure cooker, added about 1 1/2 quarts of water, salt and pepper, then brought up to pressure and cooked for about 45 minutes at 15 pounds. If it is an older rooster, you might want to cook 15-30 minutes longer. You could put carrots, onions, celery in it to make a richer stock. The chicken was tender. It was a rooster about 24-26 weeks.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I would definitely do this the next time with an older bird. THe last one I roasted up was a 9 m cornish cross and it was tough.

 

[Natalijaasbj]

What is this mysterious "chicken and dumplings" means anyway.?
It might be a silly question, forgive me I am from Russia, I know chicken and noodle soup, and many other soups. In fact Russians do lots of soups, but not sure about dumplings. Do they look like ravioli?

 

[ePressureCooker]

Natalijaasbj, you're right, chicken and dumplings is a kind of soup - the dumplings generally float on the surface of the soup. Its kind of like matzo ball soup, are you familiar with that? Or maybe seeing a recipe would give you a better idea:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/chicken-and-dumplings/

A 12 week old bird isn't old, you're right, but you can do it in the pressure cooker. It will just have less fat and less connective tissue than an older bird, so you have to be a little more careful about cooking it. First off, I would brine it (soak it in salt water) for at least 24 hours before cooking. Brining the chicken helps it retain moisture during the cooking process, and it seasons the meat. Then how long you cook it depends on the weight of the bird. For a 5 lb. bird (2.25 KG) I'd cook it 25 - 30 minutes on high pressure (15 PSI). A 4 lb. bird (1.75 KG) I'd do 20 - 25 minutes. And I'd use an instant read thermometer (in the bird's thigh, not touching the bone) to make sure the chicken has reached the proper temperature.

That's if you keep the chicken whole. If you cut it up into pieces, thigh meat takes 6 minutes under high pressure, breast meat should cook for 4 minutes under pressure. (Now that's just basic cooking, that doesn't braise the chicken, but such a young chicken probably isn't going to make the best braise, anyway.)

 

[BCMaraniac]

Natalijaasbj, you're right, chicken and dumplings is a kind of soup - the dumplings generally float on the surface of the soup. Its kind of like matzo ball soup, are you familiar with that? Or maybe seeing a recipe would give you a better idea:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/chicken-and-dumplings/

A 12 week old bird isn't old, you're right, but you can do it in the pressure cooker. It will just have less fat and less connective tissue than an older bird, so you have to be a little more careful about cooking it. First off, I would brine it (soak it in salt water) for at least 24 hours before cooking. Brining the chicken helps it retain moisture during the cooking process, and it seasons the meat. Then how long you cook it depends on the weight of the bird. For a 5 lb. bird (2.25 KG) I'd cook it 25 - 30 minutes on high pressure (15 PSI). A 4 lb. bird (1.75 KG) I'd do 20 - 25 minutes. And I'd use an instant read thermometer (in the bird's thigh, not touching the bone) to make sure the chicken has reached the proper temperature.

That's if you keep the chicken whole. If you cut it up into pieces, thigh meat takes 6 minutes under high pressure, breast meat should cook for 4 minutes under pressure. (Now that's just basic cooking, that doesn't braise the chicken, but such a young chicken probably isn't going to make the best braise, anyway.)

ePC.....after I read your post about pressure cooking birds, and the times.......my bird that I cooked for 45 minutes was a whole frozen bird, and a little over 4 pounds. I am getting so forgetful in my old age that I had forgotten.

I had gotten a new pressure cooker with one of those NuWave induction cooktops, and I wanted to try it and the cooktop out. UPS has delivered it late in the afternoon, and I wanted to see how quickly I could fix chicken and dumplings for supper that night.

 

[ePressureCooker]

I forgot to say, those times above are using natural pressure release. Don't force pressure release - it could actually toughen the meat. The chicken will continue to cook while it depressurizes, I believe Lorna Sass (the Julia Child of pressure cooking) says to consider every 4 minutes of depressurizing time equal to 1 minute of cooking under pressure.