Slow cooking questions

[Ridgerunner]

I never 'get' people saying skinning is easier. May be simpler, but man it's a workout for me. GF and I did her 9 roosters a couple weekends ago and I could sure feel it the next day.

It's "easier" for me since I don't have to fool with getting and keeping water hot. With my set-up that's a pain plus a bit of a fire hazard. My wife wants them skinless anyway.

If you are skinning baby Cornish X at 8 weeks or even relatively young pullets up to 7 or 8 months they're pretty easy to skin. But if cockerels hit close to five months that connective tissue makes it a good workout. A fully mature rooster, plan to cut a lot of that connective tissue.

 

[Mosey2003]

Right, I get the convenience, it's the effort lol. The wings are the very worst for me, and then getting the skin over the last bit of the drumstick.

 

[Ms Clucky]

I slow cooked gizzards in my crock pot with milk and butter. Oh my they were tender. Maybe try that with your whole chicken. It might be a little fatty with the skin still on it. Maybe boil it down with the skin and drain it after it's done, then slow cook in milk. I use the fat water for dumplings.

 

[bigz1983]

I have a 5 year old ISA Brown hen named "Beatrice" she stopped laying eggs last fall. She has been slowing down a lot. She has a hard time getting up the coop door ramp. She has a lot of weird looking poop stuck around her vent.
Do you think she would be ok to even slow cook

in her state? She looks sleepy all the time..

 

[S.A.W.]

I usually freeze mine for a couple days at least. However I'm sure its fine to cook right away. If you skin it you could wrap it with bacon to give it some fat so it doesn't dry out otherwise I would leave skin on. You can put 1 1/2 cups of water in, and it will make its own broth. I love to cook/bake!

I didn't know about the rigor mortis making them difficult to cook, but had an experience where my husband and I fried some broilers immediately after processing, like and hour or less. Some of the same bunch were frozen and the flavor in the frozen was not nearly as intense and delicious as the ones we fried right away. I found that interesting.

 

[S.A.W.]

I never 'get' people saying skinning is easier. May be simpler, but man it's a workout for me. GF and I did her 9 roosters a couple weekends ago and I could sure feel it the next day.

My husband and I decided to skin a bird to save having to scald and pluck. We have done plucking many times and after the skinning experience, I will probably never do it again. It is at least as hard and I think it is harder that plucking. It probably depends on experience, since we can pluck very fast.

 

[LilyD]

I prefer to pluck personally. We usually let the ones we freeze rest for about a day in the fridge while we brine it before cooking. This helps loosen the muscle tissue up a bit before cooking which makes it a better texture. The brining ahead of time (I use very little salt plus seasonings in water overnight) helps to ensure there is moisture in the meat that helps it stay super moist when cooking.