Rubbery legs on your cornish X?

[Bossroo]

Another thaught... how long ago did you freeze them? What type of wraping did you freeze them in? It could be a touch of freezer burn or dehyration due to time and too thin of a plastic baggie. We age the birds for about 3 days wrapped in a thick walled freezer baggie, then wrap them in a waxed butcher paper, then freeze. My wife then defrosts the bird inside the freezer baggie and / or puts a marinade into the baggie while the bird is still frozen. This prevents too much air dehydration while defrosting if you don't remove the bird from it's freezer baggie. After the bird is fully thawed out, she cooks it or I BBQ it. Nice and moist and tender, YUMM !!!

 

[eggbuster]

Quote:
The only time any meat item, not just chicken, is roasted at such a high temp. is to sear in the juices. After 10-15 min. the temp should be lowered to around 300 and the meat slowly finished to the desired temp. 375 cooks the meat too quickly, dries out the breast and shrinks up the meat. Sear at 400F and lower temp to 275-300 for chicken, 325 for whole stuffed turkey. Use an oven thermometer since many stove ovens are not properly calibrated and may be higher or lower then expected. The enamel roasting pans are good or just cover lightly (not sealed ) with foil after searing. Take note of all the other advice about aging chicken and then adjust your oven temp. and try again. A DP chicken will still have texture but it should not be like chewing a rubber band.

 

[Talihofarms]

I agree with eggbuster.
I would like to add, when roasting a whole bird is to ...add onions,lemon and whatever else you want in the cavity.
I like to make a chive butter and put it between the skin with the breast side up. Never had a dry bird when cooked this way.







just my.02

 

[washxc]

Thanks egg buster and taliho for the advice on roasting, I think we generally roast at lower temperatures for a couple of hours. Do you guys have any advice for taking a couple legs and thighs out and cooking them? How long and at what temperature? The roasters are coming out alright, it's the pieces that I'm having trouble getting to cook well.

 

[eggbuster]

Place skin side up in an uncovered (cover skinless chicken) shallow baking dish/cake pan just big enough to hold the pieces not crammed tight and add a 1/4 inch of water, some seasoning of whatever suits your fancy and if you want a bit of gravy, add a mirepoix (onions,carrots, celery all medium chopped for this purpose). Roast at 325 till juices run clear. Won't dry out as easy because of the water. To make gravy blend the juices/veggies and use a flour/cream or milk mix to thicken or cheat and use powdered turkey gravy mix to thicken if you aren't a purist.

This is a very simple recipe for those learning to cook or not wanting anything fancy but quick and still edible. Rosemary and thyme are good poultry herbs but use anything you like.
30 min to an hour is usually sufficient cooking time for pieces but check near the bone to be sure. If using skinless chicken a lot of flavour will be missing from the broth so be a little more creative with ingredients to pep it up if you find it bland. This is also one of those things that can be done in a toaster oven if you have one.

 

[Talihofarms]

Another good one is "No peak Chicken" you can find a recipie on line.
Has Rice and Cream of Shroom soup. Grandma used to make it with the old hens and roosters.


Good every time. Cooks low and slow.






Good Luck

 

[machodoc]

The original posting was on my mind last night as I was cooking some chicken to put into a big batch of Brunswick stew. I intentionally pulled a leg out when it wasn't quite cooked enough, and it was truly "rubbery."

I don't claim to be a great cook, but here are some other things that I thought that I'd throw into this conversation.

One tool that I really like to use for cooking chicken is a cast iron Dutch Oven. You can find them, reasonably priced, even at places like WalMart. If you put your chicken into one of these things, then put a cup or so of water at the bottom (you can add flavorings or veggies to the liquid ... like boullion ... if spell check will let me find a way to spell it that it approves of). Put the top all the way on it and put the thing into your oven. Cook the chicken for half the time required for its weight (see otherr postings) and then reach in and take the top off and cook it for the rest of the time. That gives me moist meat, properly cooked, without it drying. Taking the top off for half the time also helps to brown the skin. I'm a huge fan of cast iron, BTW. Once you learn how use it and to care for it, and you take care of it properly, it's fast to clean up and can be virtually stick-free. Grandma knew what she was doing, and she didn't have any teflon potentially releasing chemicals for your family to breathe in.

Piercing the chicken to see if the juices are clear is absolutely a good way to tell when it's cooked, but it also releases some of the juices. Another "trick" is to grab the end of a drumstick (with a cloth ... it's hot) and gently try to twist the bone. If the bone twists free easily, the chicken is going to be cooked properly and it doesn't release any of the juices in the breast meat.

Also, make sure that when you take your chicken out of the oven you let it rest for 10-15 minutes. If you cut into meat when it's fresh out of the oven, the juices are going to flow out of it and add to it being dry.

 

[washxc]

Thanks for indulging in my culinary mistakes machodoc. It actually makes me feel good to know that undercooking the legs is indeed most likely the problem that makes them rubbery. On a better note, I breaded some tenders and baked them yesterday and they actually came out pretty good.