We cooked the 9lb 16 week old meat bird.

[fasbendera]

I had posted a thread about the Meat bird we kept back from the 200 we butchered in August. I had questions about cooking. She dressed out at 9 lbs. and I roasted her just like a turkey and she was perfect. Not tough or dry. I did "age" her in the fridge for two days not on purpose but someone had suggested that and it worked out great. Next year we are going to leave a few more to let them get big and use as roasters. It fed eight of us with leftovers.
The only weird part was how small her gizzard was. The birds from the same batch we did in August had bigger gizzards than this one so I don't know if it was a defect and it didn't effect her growth or eating but I thought it would be bigger and it was small maybe pingpong ball size.

Just wanted to share with all the other meat bird enthusiasts on here.

 

[cassie]

Most of ours dress out in the 11 1/2 to 13 pound range. Like you I cook them like turkeys and I really like them better than turkey. Some we stuff and some we don't. I want to put one on the rotisserie but I haven't done it yet. I usually simmer the carcass for soup after we have got all the meat we can cut off. Also made chicken caccatiore (sp) once. Browned the cut up pieces in a skillet and then finished it in the oven.

I love those big roasters. Glad you had such sucess with yours. Can't get chickens like that in the store.

 

[Sam208]

do you leave the skin on to roast them? are do you skin them?

sam

 

[cassie]

I roast chickens with the skin on. I have never skinned a chicken in my life. Seems to me if you skinned it the meat would dry out during roasting.

 

[dancingbear]

I never skin them, unless for some reason the skin's totally mangled. The skin's one of the best parts!

I have gotten store bought turkeys with a big chunk of skin missing from the breast. The breast dried out when I cooked it.

 

[3KillerBs]

Quote:
We ate an 8.27lb grocery-store roaster today. Absolutely delicious simply roasted with herbs. Seems that homegrown ought to be even yummier.

 

[fasbendera]

I cleaned it just like a regular meat bird. Skin on and roasted it. I say turkey because I couldn't find any info in my cookbooks for as 9 lb. chicken. I used the cooking temp for a chicken but the time for a 9lb turkey.

 

[TipsyDog]

The more I read, the more I'm wanting to get meat chickens in the spring to try! How old was she to reach the 9lbs and what was the weight of the ones you processed in Aug?

 

[TedsFarms]

wow, a 9lb chicken....I may have to try chicken sometime.