What do you do with the chicken after you have processed it?

[miss_thenorth]

Quote:
Tha sounds good. For the water temp, it should be hot enough that you can stick you finger in, but can't keep it in for more than a second or two. Definitely not boiling.

 

[silkiechicken]

At 6 months, do the slow cooking for sure. As for scalding, get the temp to about 150F. Too high and you risk cooking skin/meat = tough and cannot age due to immediate cross linking of fibers and denaturing of enzymes that would break down the meat. Lower, and you'll just have a big wet sloppy chicken.

I use 140 for 8 week old cornish x and 160 for year old + birds.

 

[Cason]

If you have a candy thermometer, just stick that in the water to check the temp.

 

[patandchickens]

You might try dry-plucking first. I know it varies from bird to bird, and I do not know how it varies with age, but on 6-8 wk CornishX and on a 16 wk old chantecler cockerel I found dry plucking to work quite well, except for the flight feathers on the wings and the big tail feathers.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Add dish soap to your scalding water so it penitrates the birds feathers better and you get an even scald generally in less time and the skin stays together better.

Or, just skin them, when slow cooking it's my fav way anyway, then the juices I don't have to skim befoer I make gravy, way less fat if the skin is off.

 

[NurseNettie]

I think you've joined the ranks of a very big club!

We did our first 5 roosters about 2 weeks ago. I dry plucked, which wasn't terrible-- however, getting used to the force I needed to use was tough, lol... I have a couple that I needed to skin. All of them are wingless-- because no matter what I did, I couldn't pluck or skin the wings. One looks pretty normal, except it has no wings ( but it does have skin). One has no wings, and only has skin on the drumsticks

Next time should be an improvement

 

[Farmer Kitty]

When I process I only slit their throats and then debrain (sticking the knife into the back of the throat and giving it a quarter turn)them. The debraining makes it easier to dry pluck. I always start with the wings because as the bird cools it gets harder and harder to do those big feathers. Once the wings are done I do the tail feathers and then start on the rest of the bird.

The cool down and let sit in fridge for a day or two. I either freeze them or can them.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I use a meat thermometer to gauge the temp of the scalding water, and use a tall stock pot so there's room to agitate the bird up & down while holding his legs, and get the water down through the feathers to his skin. When the water is really hot I don't have to hold the bird in for very long. And if I find the plucking is going too slowly I can always re-dip him to loosen his pores some more.

I'm going to try that tip of adding a little dish soap to the scalding water next time.

Many of the birds I butcher are extra mixed-breed roos that aren't best suited for roasting. With them I'll slow-simmer them with fresh herbs until their meat melts off the bones, then pick, separate, and freeze for later dishes. But I recently had a couple of Cornish Xs that I roasted (after allowing to rest in the refrigerator) who were dee-double-ee-LISH-ous!!!

I wish you great success as you learn to process & prepare your home-grown meat birds, and many many delectable meals!

 

[tackyrama]

Hi, We just did five and they're in the freezer now. I learned on BYC to let them "rest" in the fridge for a day and then brine them for a day. We just brined them for a day and then popped them in the freezer. Haven't tried one yet so can't speak for the results.

It makes sense to brine them (1 cup salt - 1 gal water). I understand the ones from the store are injected with a brine solution and are also rested. I found out a local restaraunt's recipe for their famous delicious chicken. They simply brine their chicken overnight . My wife and I have been eating their chicken since before we were married (38 yrs) and it is by far the best chicken around.

 

[bubbazmommy]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. We will try them. Except the hand picking b/c my hubby really wants to use the whizbang.