I'm doing something wrong.

[Smiles Jr.]

I thought about putting this in the 'Gardening With Animals' section but this has nothing to do with gardening. Just food.

I have processed animals for the dinner table for many years. Being an avid hunter in my younger days I learned to process many different kinds of wildlife. Growing up in a rural area I was exposed to domestic animal prep since I was 2. But somehow I have either forgot how or my chickens are bionic. Last spring, after a hawk attack, I cleaned and cut up one of my layers. Just this past Saturday I culled one of my 16 week old roosters. Both chickens turned out terrible after frying them up just like we always do. The meat was tough and inedible (but the dogs liked it). Momma and I have thought about my procedure over and over again and we come up empty handed every time as to what I'm doing wrong.

This is how I do it:
1. Hang chicken up side down by it's feet.
2. Using a very sharp knife I cut on both sides of the neck and allow the chicken to bleed for 5 minutes or so.
3. Dip bird in hot water to loosen the feathers.
4. Hand pluck.
5. Remove the trachea connection at the base of the neck to release the crop and the gizzard.
6. Open the bird's belly and insert my hand to carefully remove all internals and lungs.
7. Cut around the vent and the tail gland and remove intestines without cutting into any internals.
8. Either cut the chicken up for frying or leave it whole for roasting.

Both chickens sat in salty ice water for about an hour after the cleaning. One went into the 'frige and was fried two days later. One went immediately to the grill to be slow cooked on the rotisserie.

I'm puzzled. Could it be rigor mortise? If it is, why have I not encountered this before? Any thoughts or advice?

 

[lesa]

It has been my understanding (and experience) that if you want a chicken for roasting or frying- it needs to be a meatie. The dual-purpose and layers are tough. They work wonderfully in soups and any recipe that calls for long cooking times.... I skin mine and use them for broth- and soup. I don't think the toughness you experienced had anything to do with the way you butchered them.

 

[so lucky]

Well, I have never processed an animal so I certainly can't critique your technique, but I wonder if their diet would have anything to do with the tenderness of the meat?

 

[catjac1975]

If you raise meat birds the outcome will be much more successful. Cornish cross rocks can't be beat. They are fast growing sweet meat and tender. We hatched some Lavender Orpingtons and had 13 roosters. We had them slaughtered knowing they might not be very good. They had to be skinned or the soup turned a terrible color. This was a lot of work. The breasts were just barely edible after simmering in a pressure cooker and cut up very small. The soup is good but not worth it in the end. I just could not justify killing the poor birds and not eating them. I don't think it was your processing-just the breed.

 

[hoodat]

Sounds to me as though the birds were just too old for frying. They are only suitable for frying when young. BTW don't use too much salt in the water they soak in. It will draw the moisture out of the meat.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

What we were told by an "expert" is that the way they turn out (tough/tender) is a direct result of age, muscle development and heat.

The older the bird, the more muscle structure has developed. The tighter = tougher the meat will be.

Then, if you cook it by stewing, roasting, or frying the same bird you will get three different results.

He explained that the higher the heat is, it will cause the muscle to tighten more quickly in the cooking process. So if you have a bird that already has a tight muscle from age or genetics, and then it is cooked with high heat it will be tougher. It may be that the breed of chicken has a tight muscle.

Your process sounds very similar to how we butcher or birds. I really don't think anything in your process caused the toughness.

 

[Jared77]

I'm a Paramedic and a hunter who eats everything I've harvested so I've dealt with this on may levels.

It was rigor. It hadn't quite left the body yet.

Rigor happens when there is an interruption (death) in the exchange of chemicals that allow muscles to move and relax. Bacteria break down the built up chemicals by secreting enzymes and rigor passes. Your bodies are full of bacteria so don't be alarmed by this (for the other folks reading along here). One example is the bacteria in our digestive tracts that help aid in digestion. Not all bacteria are bad.

Its a natural process and all animal based protein goes through this be it meat chickens, dual purpose chickens, any breed of fowl, pork, fish, venison, beef, rabbits, zebras, lions whales, etc you name it, if it has muscle tissues in order for it to be broken down (be it by another animal, human or just decomposed) that organism is going to experience it. Its just part of the circle of life and biochemistry.

This is how I do it:
1. Hang chicken up side down by it's feet.
2. Using a very sharp knife I cut on both sides of the neck and allow the chicken to bleed for 5 minutes or so.
3. Dip bird in hot water to loosen the feathers.
4. Hand pluck.
5. Remove the trachea connection at the base of the neck to release the crop and the gizzard.
6. Open the bird's belly and insert my hand to carefully remove all internals and lungs.
7. Cut around the vent and the tail gland and remove intestines without cutting into any internals.
8. Either cut the chicken up for frying or leave it whole for roasting.

All good.

Both chickens sat in salty ice water for about an hour after the cleaning. One went into the 'frige and was fried two days later. One went immediately to the grill to be slow cooked on the rotisserie.

This is where I think you messed up and Ill explain why.

1) Salt water freezes at a lower temperature than regular water. The higher the salt content the lower the temperature can go before freezing. So I bet your water that you put your birds in was REALLY cold.

I think and this is just my .02 cents on it, was the cold water that you soaked them in slowed the release of rigor. Because rigor is released by bacteria, the cold can and does inhibit the growth of bacteria, which slowed the release of rigor.

So think about it you went from a live temp to processed, hot water to loosen the feathers, then into VERY cold water, then back to a pretty hot environment with the rotisserie. Those big swings in temperature I think would have made the meat rubbery.

Next time process right away, and put it right on the grill. The faster you can get them plucked and onto the grill I think the better you would have been. No delays. Get it clean, rinsed and get it on the rotisserie. No water bath. Don't pass go, don't collect 200 dollars I can't make any promises on that but if you wanted a fresh one that's how I'd do it. I may even go with a more moist type of cooking like a beer can, or a covered roasting pan with stock and mirepoix in the bottom of the pan with maybe some apple chunks and low and slow like you did.

Far as the fridge birds go, Id have left them another day or 2 just to be on the safe side and I bet it would have come out fine. If you wanted to brine do it AFTER the resting period. You may get away with instead of 4 days doing 3 days in the fridge and a 4th in brine but again you'll have to experiment and see what works best for you. You could do both at the same time but as I said above your delaying the process of enzyme breakdown which means they need more time before edible. If they are well bled out they won't need to sit in the salt water bath. Inverting them and bleeding them like you did should be enough.

As far as dual purpose birds go, they are fine to eat. Since they take longer to get to size yes the meat is more toned so it will have a slightly different texture. Plus they are more active than CX so again that changes texture. Plus the CX are 8 weeks old typically so your really eating the veal of poultry. Sorry to put it that way but that's really what it is. Yes its economical, but its also very young chicken. That's why the meat is so bland compared to older birds, and even dual purpose birds. It just hasn't had time to really develop. You have to be aware of how you cook them once they get past a certain age with regards to poultry but that's true regardless of what breed or type of fowl or they will get tough. Usually 20 weeks is a safe cut off if you want them on the grill. After that many folks suggest they'll do better roasted. However I've had birds right off the grill at 16-18 weeks meat was very good and the flavor was 2nd to none.

A meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat is your best friend when roasting. Once up to temp pull em out and pass the other fixin's cause its time to eat.

I hope this helps and I was clear on my explanations. I skipped over a lot of the really technical stuff but that's the 101 of what's going on.

 

[Jared77]

Cat what color was the skin on your Lav. Orps?

 

[ninnymary]

Wow Jared, that explanation was very impressive! Even though I will probably never process a bird, I really enjoyed reading your post and learning from it. You explained everything so well. You have a wealth of experience and enjoy helping others with it.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

Yeah, what Jared said. . . . (great job, Jared!)

When I read the first post my immediate thought was that the chicken hadn't enough time to pass through rigor mortis. I've never eaten a butchered fowl on the same day it was processed, but plan enough ahead to leave it in the fridge for a good long 2-3 days.

Love, Smart Red