So we ate our first chicken........ ewww

[CoopDelisle]

Jerryn, Glad to hear it. I don't have a problem with cooking up a happy, healthy, (most likely MEAN rooster like our last ones), I just never thought that it may taste gamey till I read these threads. I remember hearing some people say they hated lamb for the same reason, and I had never eaten it until I went to a friend's house for dinner. He cooked a leg of lamb, and I took a bite, and then another and another.... I thought it was wonderful! Of course, it may have helped that his French father brought us some of his homemade Merlot to go with it! I am actually looking forward to trying my first home-grown chicken!

Coop

 

[chickenjen]

Jerry, thanks for the post. I have not processed a chicken yet and was wondering about the term "running around like a chicken with its head cut off". You clarified that they don't stop moving immediately. Now I can prepare myself for that part. That is going to be the hardest part for me... doin' the chop...

 

[cowdogcadillac]

Kill it , pluck it,clean it and crock pot it with potatoes,onion,carrots and season well and it falls off the bone delicious. 48 hours in the fridge?Brining it? these are the same people who say wild hog is gamey. Killed hundreds of wild pigs and the were all tastey not gamey. Enjoy culling those roosters.

 

[bibliophile birds]

darkmatter- your lobotomy method is called pithing, most commonly used in high schools all over the country when dissecting frogs. like you said, the heart is still beating, so the kids get to witness the circulation in action. i've read that pithing chickens is really effective. was it easy to get right the first few times?

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Thanks for sharing your butchering and cleaning method, sound as good as any, and better than some.

On cooking, 350 for 3 hours roasting would be too much. 350 would be too much. Another member suggested 275 to 300ish for about 2.5 - 3 hours, which I agree with. Cooking a middle aged to older bird at a normal cooking temp seldom turns out well. A few tell me they have all tender birds, no matter how old they are, and say they don't do anything special, but that's never worked for me.

Any old beast or bird will eventually get tender in the crock pot, especially if you cook on low. It may take 12-24 hours, but it'll happen. And they'll be very tasty. Mine only get buried under a stone in the garden if they die of old age without my help.

I strongly believe in giving thanks to/for any animal you kill for food. I always do it.

Quote:
Have you ever cooked any older birds? If the bird has been free-ranged, like mine, and you cook at normal cooking temps just until you reach the safe temp on the thermometer, there's a high probability the bird will be very tough.

Have you ever cooked a bird with the oil glands intact, so that you know firsthand whether it makes a difference? It certainly won't hurt to remove them, and I usually do, they're not anything most people would chose to eat. But it really isn't a big deal if you forget. On a duck, I couldn't say, I haven't yet butchered a duck, so I don't know.

I respect your training at culinary school, but it's not unusual for a mistaken belief to be common, and this thing about the oil glands is one, as far as tainting the meat goes. That said, the chefs are mainly teaching how to cook to please even the fussiest of clientele in high dollar restaurants, and in that setting, you definitely would remove the oil glands, just as you would take care to remove pin feathers. It wouldn't do to have customers getting upset or grossed when they encounter something they aren't familiar with. So I can see why they would stress the importance of removing the oil glands, even if they know it's not really anything harmful.

I don't cook by either by time or the temperature of the meat. I cook it until it's tender, and if I'm roasting it, until it's tender and the skin is well browned, and has achieved that shift into the marvelous aroma that develops when caramelization occurs. I like 275-300F for this, in a clay chicken cooker. The older the bird, the lower the temp.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
No, it isn't true. Free range chickens have the same white meat parts as confined chickens. They just have happier lives.

But if you don't want to eat chicken, don't eat it. The world will go on. It's your choice, eat what you want, and be happy!

If reading about it makes you ill, stop reading about it! It's ok. Read something else!

Everybody has to do what right for them. It's ok not to do this. Finding your own path is what it's all about.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Pithing----So that's what it's called. I learned my chicken stuff in BC (before computers), all my relatives used the head chop or neck wringing till the head pulled off. When I read of the brain stick technique, I tried it and now wouldn't do it any other way. Since I had never seen it done, I had to guessimate at it the first time----there is no mistake when you do it right. I hold the chicken head firmly with my left hand and use my other hand with the sharp strong narrow blade to insert at the top (roof) of the mouth, The chicken goes stiff and the feathers stand out. The chicken hangs there quietly while I then slit the throat and it bleeds out. I proceed with the rest of the scald and butcher as normal.
The knife I use is a strong carbon steel paring knife that I ground down to a narrow blade (doesn't bend sideways), I scrape the back of the cranium with a straight cut through the roof of the mouth. It's very quick and no mess or blood splatter like when a chicken has it's head cut off.

 

[WisconsinGardenChick]

Quote:
I have wondered about that. When I got my first baby chicks, I fed them Agrimaster chick starter. To me, that stuff stank! As soon as it ran out, I put them on Organic Pride. When I opened the bag, it smelled wonderful, like something I could eat. I don't raise meat birds at the moment, but when I do I plan to put them on quality feed and see whether that makes a difference. I do know their eggs are tasty - no unpleasant gaminess there at all.

(FWIW, they also get greens daily and a chance to forage for bugs.)