rocks were just tough!

[ccm352]

what does letting it "rest" do for it? How do you do it? Do you put it in anything like a bag otherwise I see them drying out in the fridge? Sorry. Im a newbie and have 3 meat birds that are about 3 weeks old. I plan on taking them out around 8 weeks or so

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Quote:
If you cook a fresh killed chicken too early, you cook it during the rigor mortis process and the meat and skin are extremely tough because it is a natural process that occurs for the first 24 hours after death...

 

[Totalcolour]

I agree with BigDaddy'sGirl - it's the rigor problem. I let mine "rest" for a minimum of 24 hours before freezing, or 48 before cooking if it's a fresh kill.

Also, meat birds, typically cornish/rock crosses, are butchered very early for really tender meat; 8-10 weeks; if you read 8 months, it was probably a typo somewhere. Raising birds to 8 months is not very good tender-wise, nor very economical!

One thing though, I have cooked some older birds in a water bath (sous-vide) and you can almost always guarantee the end result will be tasty and tender. If you don't have a sous-vide or water bath, cook very slowly in the oven, 180 f, yup, that low. Use a covered dish; tight fitting lid, and some liquid in the bottom. It will take several hours, but you can get reasonable results.

Most folk don't know about sous-vide; you can Google it. I use it for MOST of my cooking now, especially home grown ducks, geese and chickens. And it really is that good!

 

[ccm352]

ok.. so when they "rest" in the fridge for 2 days what do you put them in? just a big bag of some sort?

 

[Totalcolour]

I have a dedicated fridge for farm meat. I put the birds (or rabbits) on a rack in a shallow tray and let them be exposed to the air. [Wash them first, pat dry and let rest.] The air chilling is better for meat (the better farms use cold air chilling instead or water) since it doesn't absorb extra water. After they have "rested", I either cook them, or vacuum seal them and put them in the freezer.

 

[twister]

after processing a meat bird, pat it dry, put it in the fridge in a ziploc ( no water) for at least 24 hrs...even better if you leave it there for about 3 days...then cook it. Brining it will help prior to cooking it. google "brine" on foodnetwork for great recipes.

I agree also that the bird may have been a bit too old, but your most likely culprit to having a tough dinner was due to the "resting" stage being omitted.


hope this helps.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I rest my meat birds individually wrapped in plastic grocery sacks. I put it head(less) end in one corner of the bottom of the bag, and pull the sides up to the end of the drumsticks. Then I twist the ends of the bag & its handles into a sort of cord that can be wrapped around the drumsticks and tied closed. I make sure the bag doesn't have holes, I look for the thicker plastic bags (Target has nice quality ones). They all are set in a pan or tray in the refrigerator, because some juice always leaks out anyway.

I too think that resting is the key to avoiding tough chicken, that and cooking them slowly with low heat and adding something for moisture. The older the bird the slower & lower the cooking method. I butcher my standard & mixed-breed roos starting at 18 weeks, usually more like 22-24 weeks, and sometimes I've been given birds to butcher that are even older. I've never met a chicken that is too old to eat, and never had a tough one at my table.

 

[Erica]

To add to the thread: I've had good results by confining the rooster in a smaller cage for the last week to 10 days. This only works with quiet tame roosters, which don't mind confinement. It's a good way to get the very best out of a bird that might otherwise be inedible (apart from relaxing it prior to slow cooking, as others have said).

I like my birds to have full lives so I must admit I don't often confine one in a cage for 10 days... But if the cage is on fresh grass daily and the bird has air, company and good food, it's no more cruel than confining spare roosters between breeding seasons. As long as he can walk around, see other birds and not be stressed it's a good way to make the most of his meat and therefore his individual life.

Another important factor is that the kill should be very swift and low stress for the bird. I handle my birds a lot to keep them calm. A stressed bird will always be a lot tougher, no matter how the meat is handled.

There are lots of ways to keep the meat from becoming too tough.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I feeze mine before resting. So my method is to take out on Wednesday the bird that will be cooked for Sunday dinner (chicken night in my house) that's four days defrosting/resting in the frig. I just put the frezzer bag with chicken in it in a bowl. It's always perfect come Sunday.

 

[ccm352]

thanks for the info!