Pressure cooker or slow cooker for 2yr old rooster?

[Life is Good!]

I'm looking for input - Roaster will be the main course for a guest in our home on Monday night.

Roaster needed to go. He was a good rooster, but it was time....he was defensive of his girls to me. Which means, it's time for him to go. He's a nearly 2yo Black Java. Became about a 4#8oz carcass.

So he went. Was dispatched. Is resting in fridge.

I'm looking for your opinions on the best way to turn him into a meal.

I'm thinking chicken and dumplings - which in my recipe means pre-cooked meat, add frozen veggies and sauce and cook for 20min in 350 oven, dumplings on the side (more biscuits than dumplings).

Which leads the question - best method to cook him so he's not stiff as a brick!

Pressure cooker?

Slow cooker on low?

Something else?

Looking for input, as he's the guest to our guest on Monday night. THANK YOU!

 

[aafairchild]

slow cooker with some tomatoes for a few hours and the meat should be like butter.

Happy eating.

 

[Arielle]

I found resting in the refrig did a lot to help with tenderizing as well. 2 days for my turkeys. BUt I don't always have room so then resort to a low slow oven for roasting.

I cook a lot and using farm raised fowl is still new to me. I suspect a source of moisture is important, so not roasting in this case. And Ihaven't tried my canned chickens yet to know how well it tenderizes the meat. THe discussion on the meat canning thread is that it does tenderize the meat.

SO I'm not very helpful here. . . . . sorry. I like the flavor of roasted, so I roast long and slow then stew my birds.

GOod luck, I"m sure he will taset great.

 

[ePressureCooker]

If you want your chicken turned into chicken and dumplings, I'd say pressure cooker. Pressure cooking will not only make him nice and tender, but cook him in chicken broth in advance, thereby making the broth even tastier and more delicious. Pressure cooking also gelatinizes the resultant stock in a way you can't get with a slow cooker (gelatin = improved flavor). Refrigerate the stock overnight to separate the broth and the fat, use the stock for the gravy, and you can reserve the chicken fat to make your dumplings with, so you get even more delicious chicken flavor.

 

[Arielle]

If you want your chicken turned into chicken and dumplings, I'd say pressure cooker. Pressure cooking will not only make him nice and tender, but cook him in chicken broth in advance, thereby making the broth even tastier and more delicious. Pressure cooking also gelatinizes the resultant stock in a way you can't get with a slow cooker (gelatin = improved flavor). Refrigerate the stock overnight to separate the broth and the fat, use the stock for the gravy, and you can reserve the chicken fat to make your dumplings with, so you get even more delicious chicken flavor.

love your user name!! Welcome to BYC!!

We have a thread on canning meat if you are interested.

 

[ePressureCooker]

Thanks, I've never actually canned anything (no room for the jars) but my sister does, and she has four laying hens, so I thought I would point her here, if she isn't reading this forum already. . .

BTW, regarding you finding resting meat in the fridge helps with tenderizing it, I've actually run across some information on that in the course of research. Apparently, it has something to do with rigor mortis, and the changes that occur in the animal flesh once its been slaughtered, so you were absolutely correct in your observation of this. Apparently, in most slaughterhouses the animal is processed and packaged as soon as it is slaughtered, which makes for less tender meat, whereas traditionally, meat would have been hung for a day or two (can't remember how long) to let the natural post-mortem processes relax / tenderize the meat. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I saw this, or I'd provide a link for your info. I've been wracking my brains trying to remember, but its just not coming to me -- if I do remember, I'll post the link...

Aha! Of course, just as I was about to post, I suddenly remembered where I had read about this:

http://womenworld.org/family/key-te...teins-in-fish-and-meat-begin-to-denature.aspx

(first 2 - 3 paragraphs)

 

[Arielle]

Thanks, I've never actually canned anything (no room for the jars) but my sister does, and she has four laying hens, so I thought I would point her here, if she isn't reading this forum already. . .

BTW, regarding you finding resting meat in the fridge helps with tenderizing it, I've actually run across some information on that in the course of research. Apparently, it has something to do with rigor mortis, and the changes that occur in the animal flesh once its been slaughtered, so you were absolutely correct in your observation of this. Apparently, in most slaughterhouses the animal is processed and packaged as soon as it is slaughtered, which makes for less tender meat, whereas traditionally, meat would have been hung for a day or two (can't remember how long) to let the natural post-mortem processes relax / tenderize the meat. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I saw this, or I'd provide a link for your info. I've been wracking my brains trying to remember, but its just not coming to me -- if I do remember, I'll post the link...

Aha! Of course, just as I was about to post, I suddenly remembered where I had read about this:

http://womenworld.org/family/key-te...teins-in-fish-and-meat-begin-to-denature.aspx

(first 2 - 3 paragraphs)

worth reading the whole article!! Thanks for the link.