Tough bird after pressure cooking. Where did I go wrong?

[FunClucks]

I processed an 8 month old Ginger Broiler rooster recently. I skinned him, and his carcass was too big to fit in a gallon ziplock bag, so I cut off the wings, legs, and neck, and rested the carcass in a fridge (laid out the wings/legs flat separate from the body of the bird) for 6-7 days. This bird had a lot of connective tissue and a large fat deposit in his abdomen when I went to gut him - it took me an extra hour to process him compared to 9 wk old CX (hard to get the skin off), and he was the same size, although proportioned differently (more meat in legs, less in breast, but still, huge breast). All the joints moved freely when I put it in the pressure cooker. I have a 16 quart Presto pressure cooker / canner, and the chicken carcass body on its side, with the legs and wings opposite filled the pressure cooker entirely half way up. Then I added 6 sticks of celery, a large bag of baby carrots, and 3 large onions. Covered with water until just less than 2/3 full (4-5 quarts of water) and cooked it at 15 lbs pressure for 12 minutes. When it was done, the humungous legs and larger than usual wings were perfect - tender, not too mushy, easy to eat and chew. However, the breast meat was chewy. Not as tough as rubber bands, but distinctly chewy. I'll probably try and chop it into small pieces for chicken soup or salad, but that won't make it any more tender or easy to chew.

Why wasn't the breast meat tender? Where did I go wrong?

 

[Molpet]

I processed an 8 month old Ginger Broiler rooster recently. I skinned him, and his carcass was too big to fit in a gallon ziplock bag, so I cut off the wings, legs, and neck, and rested the carcass in a fridge (laid out the wings/legs flat separate from the body of the bird) for 6-7 days. This bird had a lot of connective tissue and a large fat deposit in his abdomen when I went to gut him - it took me an extra hour to process him compared to 9 wk old CX (hard to get the skin off), and he was the same size, although proportioned differently (more meat in legs, less in breast, but still, huge breast). All the joints moved freely when I put it in the pressure cooker. I have a 16 quart Presto pressure cooker / canner, and the chicken carcass body on its side, with the legs and wings opposite filled the pressure cooker entirely half way up. Then I added 6 sticks of celery, a large bag of baby carrots, and 3 large onions. Covered with water until just less than 2/3 full (4-5 quarts of water) and cooked it at 15 lbs pressure for 12 minutes. When it was done, the humungous legs and larger than usual wings were perfect - tender, not too mushy, easy to eat and chew. However, the breast meat was chewy. Not as tough as rubber bands, but distinctly chewy. I'll probably try and chop it into small pieces for chicken soup or salad, but that won't make it any more tender or easy to chew.

Why wasn't the breast meat tender? Where did I go wrong?

I usually start at 20 min with a 10 minute natural release. I check and do another round until tender.
I did a 2 and half yrs rooster and it took 7 rounds , over 2 hrs of cooking and over an hour of release...was the best pulled chicken and broth. Worth the effort.

 

[nuthatched]

It breast meat could be overcooked
You have to part out Cornish since they have unnatural proportion.
White and dark meat are considered cooked at different temperatures, dark cooks much quicker.

 

[Acre4Me]

Hmmm…not sure. I have same pressure cooker that you do. I cooked 3 store bought chickens recently- About 14 lbs chicken, likely Cornish X bc bought at grocery (but did not have the 15% added water etc in it per the label). I cut apart the chicken, even cutting apart the breast into chunks. Leaving leg/thighs together. Added water, onion, celery, and carrots. The instructions indicated to place 15lb weight…heat up until weight is rocking (when it had reached proper pressure) and let it cook for 10 min at pressure. Then, let it release pressure on its own. Once pressure is gone, remove weight then open lid. The chicken was great. I suspect that the mass of your chicken might have had an impact. But could really have been the age of the rooster and it’s known that they are tougher. I wonder if adding any acidity would have helped…in the style of Coq au Vin where an old rooster gets cooked low/slow with wine.

 

[aart]

I processed an 8 month old Ginger Broiler rooster recently.

Have you eaten that age bird before?

They are nothing like the young(8wks) birds from the grocery.
Even home grown CX(slaughtered at ~8wks) are more toothsome than a grocery bird.

 

[FunClucks]

Have you eaten that age bird before?

They are nothing like the young(8wks) birds from the grocery.
Even home grown CX(slaughtered at ~8wks) are more toothsome than a grocery bird.

I ate a year old Production Red rooster that I processed the same way, but his breast was literally half the size, and all his meat was tender, if a little on the mushy side. His breast meat wasn't chewy, so I was surprised this ginger broiler was. Not sure if I should cook legs/wings separate from breast and cook the breast for longer, or if I should cut the breast up into narrower segments, and that would make it more tender at 12 minutes pressure cooking time? I've eaten a number of Ginger Broilers slow roasted in the oven after growing them out 3 months, and they've been a bit tougher than 9 wk old CX, but not enough that it bothered me.

 

[K0k0shka]

Breast meat just sucks, that's why I don't like cornish x. It overcooks way too easily and is dry and tasteless even when prepared well. How did you release the pressure? If I have meat in the pressure cooker - any kind of meat - I always let it release naturally all the way, not a fixed number of minutes. That helps a lot.

 

[FunClucks]

Breast meat just sucks, that's why I don't like cornish x. It overcooks way too easily and is dry and tasteless even when prepared well. How did you release the pressure? If I have meat in the pressure cooker - any kind of meat - I always let it release naturally all the way, not a fixed number of minutes. That helps a lot.

Yes, I just turned the stove off and let the pressure go down naturally. Took better part of an hour or two. It was 15 lbs pressure for 12 minutes, and then natural cooldown.

 

[K0k0shka]

Yes, I just turned the stove off and let the pressure go down naturally. Took better part of an hour or two. It was 15 lbs pressure for 12 minutes, and then natural cooldown.

Then it's just a combination of "backyard meat is tougher than store-bought" and "breast sucks in general" I bet it's more flavorful than the tender breasts from the store though, even if it takes a little more work to eat!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

This is really good to know! I have 8 Cornish X Rock cross chicks coming this Friday to put in the freezer in a few weeks. I can only fit about three at a time in the fridge after processing. At what age do y'all recommend I start butchering them, and how long should I keep them in the fridge before moving them to the freezer?