Well it said BE discriptive...
As to not hyjack yet another thread I wanted to know a bit more about the culling process..
As Granny said, she culls every two years..
My next question is.. proccessing.. not the kill, that I understand.. more of storage.. do you proccess then freeze whole or cut up) cook as you would a soup (or stew), could you braise for many hours in the oven...
Would marinating after thawing tenderize a tough old lady?
Old Gals In The Pot
Hi, Frans, we freeze both whole and cut up. You could also cook them and then freeze, depending on what you wanted to do with them. I have taken an old hen, stewed it, taken part of it and frozen it for future use, and used the rest for chicken and dumplings. I have used the frozen part in chicken salad, pot pie, and anything that might come to mind.
I suppose you could braise it in the oven. I don't know about marinating it, as I have never done that.
Hope this helps.
Granny
You can marinate an old hen for a week, but you still can't chew it without loooooong sloooooow cooking with moisture. (all day in the crock pot is pretty good). The flavor of an old chicken can't be beat though.
You are right, Jyl, we did cook an old rooster on top of the stove, but cooked half of it for five hours and it came out pretty good. And the flavor can't be beat. After doing that, I really didn't want to go back to store-bought chicken.
you could also put her in a pressure pan. That is what we do with our hens and wild rabbits. Meat comes out so tender it falls from the bone.
Sheila
That's right. Forgot about that. I must be getting feeble-minded in my old age.
brines work really well, so does wine. but old is old. my DH's homemade pot pie works best for meat past it's prime, AFTER the wine or brine. and with some pork mixed in
home grown tastes better when we don't compare it with store bought. after all, how could they possibly taste alike if they are raised differently???
tf,
I agree with the "don't compare".. That is my motto in this journey.
We had a luncheon last year at an Amish farm and had fresh fried chicken, roast beef among other things..
The chicken and roast tasted "funny" to me.. now.. isn't that odd, because as I have been doing my homework over the last few months, I learn that the farm we ate at does most of the chicken processing for this area.. so I have been eating their chicken for years!
Also, one of my favorite restaurants.. happens to be run by the same Amish family (didn't know that till recently either) so same chickens there too..
Funny what we think we like!
The chicken and roast may have been cooked different from what you were used to, also. Taking that into consideration, That could be why it tasted "funny".
Of course, I would't even try to compare home-grown chicken and store-bought. There is no comparison. Unfortunately, we sometimes go through enough chicken to actually run out of young birds for eating. Then, sad to say, we have to get store-bought. Especially when we have company. (I save the home-grown for ourselves haha)