Question about cornish rock taste and ... flavor?

[belibutn]

not like garlic or rosemary or anything like that

I was wondering if anyone else noticed a marked difference in taste with their birds if eaten on the day they were slaughtered or frozen that day, and then cooked later directly after thaw, or if they are left to age a few days or so before freezing or cooking?

We ate 1 bird the night of the kill, and it was great - but my wife said it smelled ... odd.

the others we ate had aged for at least 2 days in the fridge (we did this because of Storey's Guide said that we needed to wait for rigor mortis to fade so the meat would be more tender.

The other night we pulled the necks and backs out of the freezer (we froze them upon butchering the freshly killed birds) and put them in the crock pot for stock.

Again we were hit with that odd smell. We have come to think of it as the smell of death.

Has anyone else noticed this? Should we age everything before putting them in frozen storage? Also, we are wanting to harvest fat this next run for stock and sausage. Should be let that age as well?

 

[blue90292]

i let mine sit for a day and then put them in the freezer.

i've noticed with the chickens that they have a smell whereas before chicken didn't really smell. i've come to understand that because they are not chlorinated, you can actually smell the bird now. i've also noticed that the bird will deterioate (sp?) faster since they haven't been chlorinated.

 

[belibutn]

OK, that makes a LOT of sense. Thank you!

From now on, it all goes into the fridge for at least a day before the freezer.

 

[Salt and Light]

The 1st bird we ate was refrigerated for one day before cooking. Both my wife and I noticed "the smell". The next round of birds were refrigerated for a full 2 days. No smell...

 

[EllyMae]

I didn't realize there was a "smell". I'm not sure I could eat it...I am super sensitive to smell when it comes to food. But this was an educational post!

 

[silkiechicken]

I find my "fresh" birds have a stronger smell and flavor that store birds. But I usually attribute that to the birds not soaking in brine and not being 4% salt water. The last time I bought some chicken at the store, I swear that the "use by" date on the chicken was a full 10 days after the "packed" date. Maybe I read it wrong though....

 

[UncleHoot]

This is strange to me. I open up the bag from one of my home-grown chickens, and I don't smell anything. With chickens from the store, I do smell something, but I always attributed it to "that's just how chicken smells."

I always throw mine straight into the freezer, too. They seem plenty tender as they are.

 

[EllyMae]

The last chicken I bought from the grocery store spoiled before the "use by" date. It was so gross. I was going to cook it that evening(same day I bought it) and it smelled like rotten eggs. UGH. I haven't been in the mood to purchase chicken for a while.

 

[belibutn]

I probably wouldn't smell anything if the darned cornish rock crosses didn't disgust me so much.... Some times it was all I could do to carry the blasted things to the back porch for slaughter. regardless of that though, I still know they taste wonderful, so I will keep on doing it.

It might just be the way the birds are housed, or the breeds we are using. I doubt there would be that kind of smell if we were eating dual purpose birds, as we have noticed that our egg laying flock keep themselves very clean, and have no 'nasty bird' smell at all.

 

[blue90292]

mine wasn't really nasty...it was more an "intense" chicken smell. does that make sense??