Proper aging

[noahsark]

Hi,
I am new at this.. My friend and I got 20 black javas and they are about 110 days old now. They have had free range of my pasture. She culled the largest 8 last week. After cleaning them they put them in ice water and later sealed and froze. She kept one to eat that night and said it was really chewy. Three days later I took mine out in the morning and ate the following night.It was my first time ever eating home grown chickens. I baked it in a roasting pan at 325. The flavor was good, but the skin was rubbery and thick, (gross) and the meat was chewy, stringy. Ive since read that after kill, they need to sit out for three days in the refrigerator, to "rest" .. Is it true you can freeze immediatly, the let defrost and then rest for 3 days?
Im not sure how with 20 chickens each time we can find room to let reast in the fridge?Im nervous to eat again, as i really want to stick with this, but want to find away to enjoy..
Thanks

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

the most common idea is to let the bird(s) rest 24-48 hours before freezing. I don't have the room for that so I freeze right away, and then let sit in the frig for a day or so before cooking. I've never had "chewy" tough chicken so I guess it's working.

what I've been told is that the idea is to let the rigor go out of the carcass, so I've always made sure mine were nice and wiggly before cooking.

 

[terri9630]

Weve done it both ways and I've never noticed a difference. If we only do a few birds then we let them sit in the frig but if we do alot we freeze first.

 

[noahsark]

when you put them directly in the freezer, at which point do you "age" them? Some one said after they defrost, (which is 2 days in fridge) then let rest in fridge and additional 3 days or untill the legs are not stiff..Can you leave a chicken in the fridge that long...
Going to have to figure out away to do this so that they are not chewy like that, it kind of creeps me out. i hope the aging thing is where we went wrong.

 

[blueskylen]

i have done cornish cross for 3 years now - this is the first year that we aged them in the frig for 2 days. i think that it certainly made a difference in their texture - way more tender thank chewy. i don't know about aging after thawing, but that would probably work as well. some say to have them submerged in water for the aging period, but i just put mine in open gallon baggies and set them upright in the frig.

 

[terri9630]

I leave mine in their vacuume sealed bags and put them in the frig for a few days. When you pick them up they should be "loose", not stiff. I have had them in there for up to a week with no problems. No telling how long a chicken has been at a store or how many times the ones in the frig have been frozen/thawed.

 

[noahsark]

Terri
I was wondering if you could proceed to vaccuum seal them, and then lput in fridge..after the few days you freeze them? No chewyness?