- Oct 11, 2012
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I processed the first of our CX flock on Saturday. There were five roosters in the group of nine. Each weighed seven pounds and were seven weeks old.
The processing went very well. I made a killing cone and it worked perfectly. I kept the five roos calm in a large crate covered with a blanket. I removed the feed the night before. I cut the artery and vein in the neck, just below the jawline and bled the birds out. The scald water was kept right at 150° and 30 seconds of dunking was perfect. I plucked them by hand, which only took about 5 minutes or so per bird. From there it was straight to the cleaning table. After watching several videos and reading many articles ahead of time, I was pretty confident. The gutting went perfectly, taking only about 10 minutes or less per bird. Once gutted the birds were rinsed and went straight into a large cooler filled with ice water. Later that evening, I rinsed the birds again and replaced the ice water.
I only processed one bird at a time.
Here is where the problems showed up.
1. After chilling for four hours I cut one bird up, there was a slimy material between the thigh and body. This isn't the normal connective tissue I would have expected. Imagine seperating a large egg and dumping the egg white in there. That was the volume and consistancy; like egg whites. I cut up a second, and it had the same thing. Is this normal?
2. Yesterday, I grilled one of the cut up birds after aging for 48 hours. Some parts of the bird had a pretty strong, gamey taste. The wings were the worst, followed by the legs, thighs, and breast, with the breast having very little of the gamey taste. Is this the taste that people call chickeny? Because it sure didn't taste like chicken.
I noticed after processing that the birds had a strong smell to them. The taste is like that smell.
Did I do something wrong somewhere?
The processing went very well. I made a killing cone and it worked perfectly. I kept the five roos calm in a large crate covered with a blanket. I removed the feed the night before. I cut the artery and vein in the neck, just below the jawline and bled the birds out. The scald water was kept right at 150° and 30 seconds of dunking was perfect. I plucked them by hand, which only took about 5 minutes or so per bird. From there it was straight to the cleaning table. After watching several videos and reading many articles ahead of time, I was pretty confident. The gutting went perfectly, taking only about 10 minutes or less per bird. Once gutted the birds were rinsed and went straight into a large cooler filled with ice water. Later that evening, I rinsed the birds again and replaced the ice water.
I only processed one bird at a time.
Here is where the problems showed up.
1. After chilling for four hours I cut one bird up, there was a slimy material between the thigh and body. This isn't the normal connective tissue I would have expected. Imagine seperating a large egg and dumping the egg white in there. That was the volume and consistancy; like egg whites. I cut up a second, and it had the same thing. Is this normal?
2. Yesterday, I grilled one of the cut up birds after aging for 48 hours. Some parts of the bird had a pretty strong, gamey taste. The wings were the worst, followed by the legs, thighs, and breast, with the breast having very little of the gamey taste. Is this the taste that people call chickeny? Because it sure didn't taste like chicken.
I noticed after processing that the birds had a strong smell to them. The taste is like that smell.
Did I do something wrong somewhere?
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