Tough meat!

[ChickenCanoe]

It's way cheaper to buy from the store but those you raise get a much better life and you know what they ate.
I can buy organic free range roasters from Whole Foods Market cheaper than I can raise them but it's not always about the cost.
Hatching my own or buying straight run, half of them get a pretty good life before the end rather than dying as day-olds.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Yes, you can rest the birds after they are thawed. I always freeze mine straight away because I don't have enough refrigerator space to rest an entire batch all at once. My birds come out just fine.

If you raise and handle the birds perfectly, the meat will still be more firm. The chickens from the store are injected with about 10% water, which tends to make them mushy. Your home raised birds won't be injected with water. They will be more firm, but they will not be tough if they are rested until rigor passes (unless they are old birds)

You can't raise them cheaper than the chickens on sale at the market. I can raise them for about the regular grocery store price, but the local Safeway had a very good brand of chicken on sale for 79 cents a pound a couple of weeks ago. I can't raise them for that. I can't even come close to that.

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:
Also, the chicken that comes from "the store" is already probably weeks old when you buy it, which may have something to do with it. It's not necessarily a sign of quality to have mushy meat! The firm texture of home-grown chicken should be a badge of pride to you.

Really makes you wonder how they can sell them so cheap, eh? Part of it probably has to do with low-quality feed made from subsidized grain, cramped living conditions, mechanization, and the economy of scale, but the rest I'd rather not think about too hard... Personally, I won't touch the stuff with a ten foot pole... It's just wrong, in sooo many ways...

Actually, I prefer dual purpose myself--much more flavor development and better texture. But home-grown cornish x, especially freerange, is still light-years better than the "supermarket" stuff...

 

[jdywntr]

Its just bulk. Raising huge amounts of birds on the smallest space possible equals more dollars.

On the other hand, I was looking for Muscovy recipes (since I will be processing my first for Thanksgiving) and I found CRAZY prices online for "exotic" Muscovy meat. Upwards of $20 a pound for breast meat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really? $70 for a 10lb processed drake + $37 for 2 day shipping? REALLY????

 

[JenniferNgo]

Quote:
Wow! Wow! Wow!! That's insane

 

[cackleberrycoop]

We do pressure can our chicken meat within hours of slaughter and it comes out very nice and tender - no need to let it rest when it is processed that way. But, as everyone else has said, it has to rest before being prepared any other way.
Yum, yum!

 

[Bossroo]

When I buy 10 tons of grain at a time for my horses, I make a savings of 40-50% than buying by a 50 lb bag. Similar savings on alfalfa hay as I buy 100 tons/ year. If one has proper storage facilities, one enjoys volume discounts since the wholesaler only has to deal with one buyer vs. many buyers for the same amount of feed therefore they have a huge amount of storage, labor and handling costs savings. The large commercial operations enjoy even larger savings as they buy much larger volumes. So Yes, they can supply the same or even better quality feed to their chickens than the average backyard operation can hope to and at a much better price break. Therefore they can sell their chickens for a far lesser price at the grocery store and make a decent profit ( as well as the grocer) than what the average backyard operation can hope to achieve.

 

[quesodano]

Lotsa info to read in various university papers


Freezing a carcase before it completes the rigor cycle will result in ..thaw rigor.. toughest meat around. Bringing a carcase down to temp to fast is known as... Cold Shortening. Its all metabolic and chemical reactions that occur after death to the muscle.

Google>>> turning muscle into meat...cold shortening...thaw rigor