We use a turkey fryer type of gas burner and a big pot of water for dipping. The gas burner ring heats up very quickly; in the summer we use it to steam clams!
Depending on what you want to do with the goose after it's butchered, cutting off the wings works well. Some people cut the whole bird up and use the parts for different purposes.
One interesting bit of information I just read in the Backyard Poultry magazine was that after you butcher out chickens, and I imagine this works for geese and ducks as well, you shouldn't freeze them immediately but instead put them in a refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours. Letting them rest that length of time at a warmer temperature than in the freezer allows the meat to go through some changes, like pH, and tenderizes it. I was wondering why my meat was so tough!
I don't remember where I heard about geese as protectors for other poultry, but I think it works. Not 100%, but it does seem to make a significant difference.
Leslie
How Cold Is to Cold
Resting the meat first helps keep it from getting tough. We do the same w/ the rabbits(sorry to the bunny luvs!).
Two Thanksgivings ago we butchered our own turkeys that we bought when they were babies. Let me tell you, I won't raise turkeys for meat again. Pain in the you know what. They were huge. We first started raising them with the chickens when they were babies since we got them all together. Then once the turkeys got big we decided to separate them. We had four guys here to help with butchering them. And we did it in the winter time. One of the guys last night being my neighbor asked if the chicken we ate was one of my chickens. I was like NOT. I will admit, at least 2 of my chickens will be getting butchered. They keep wanting to destroy my eggs.
We always hang our deer for several days, and the meat is always really tender, even in an older animal, so that makes sense. How long do you rest the rabbits before you freeze them, and do you just use the refrigerator? We used to raise rabbits because our son was allergic to chicken, but I never cared that much for it and there seemed to be so little that was edible besides the hind legs. (Sorry, bunnyluvs!)
I have been trying to raise chickens that I can actually fry or roast, and I'm getting there, but currently I have roosters that are beyond 22 weeks old because my husband's been sick and we couldn't get to them, so I have no idea what they'll be like when we do get around to butchering them.
A friend in France shared her secret for juicy, tender poultry. It's a lot like the process of making a chicken kosher, but it's much simpler:
Pre-seasoning is easy. I prefer dry rubs to marinades for almost everything, because I find that the flavor is more intense. What I do is to pick whatever seasonings I'm going to use, however they MUST include salt, as that is essential to the functioning of the process. I rub it all over, both inside and out in the case of a whole chicken, then stick it in a plastic bag and pop it into the freezer. As it defrosts, it basically self-marinates. One of the things that's nice with the graniteware is that it doesn't have to be entirely defrosted before cooking. In fact, I think that part of what makes it so juicy is that it finishes defrosting as it cooks, so the steam actually helps to penetrate the flavors into the meat.
I've been trying that, too.
Leslie
Egg pecking chickens must go! Bad habit which they'll show others how to do.
Everyone around here raises them(turkeys) off the ground in wire cages. Our neighbor gave us two of his(already butchered!) and they were excellent. He raised the Broad Breasted Whites. He said he would help w/ the butchering-he does his own chickens, turkeys, pigs and steers. He won't take any payment so that will help in factoring in the costs.
I plan on only letting them get to around 20 pounds and if what I've read from the hatcheries should be around 20 weeks for hens and 16 weeks for toms.
Thought we would only get 6 in February/March and if all goes well, we'll order again in August/September.
Bourbon Reds mature at about that size, and win taste awards. I usderstand the single breasted breeds don't have the leg problems that double-breasted can have.
We leave the rabbits to rest for about 24 hours. You can also do a salted water soak before freezing them. This also helps tenderize them. I'll have to look up the correct salt/water combo and let you know.
We also leave the deer hanging for about 3 days also. We had some venison hamburg last night-so good!!
I've heard the same thing Jay. Minimum orders are higher and the costs per bird is about double though. Cost is the biggest determinator at the moment! Hopefully we don't regret it later down the line.
Interesting about letting the chickens rest in the frig. I have been thinking of butchering some cornish and i didn't know to let them rest.
No fear bunny person here and not offended i got a friend thats all he raises.
Ah, I totally respect the cost factor!
I was able to get my birds from the local feed store, so didn't have minimum order business. That changes EVERYTHING. =0)
Of course, if you can keep a breeding pair...
Just think of the foolishness we could get up to with the hatching dance!
LOL
Hey i forgot YES them egg eatin hens do go here i give mine away can't eat my bantys.
I think DH would kill me if I said I wanted to naturally raise them!lol! Although I think I could get into a good turkey strut and gooble on down during the hatching! lol. Kids already think their mom is abit nutty so they wouldn't think anything of it.
One of my turkey hens imprinted on me... rather embarrassing to be having a conversation with the hay man and the turkey is spreading herself out and making her little "I want you" peeps.
I'M NOT YOUR TYPE!!!
{{{blushing}}}
DH would be the one to gobble, the hens just make a sweet little peeping. Isn't there a dance from way back when called the Turkey Strut?
I remember a dance called "The Funky Chicken"
Not far enough back when.... I'm thinking 1910 or thereabouts.
Doing the Funky Chicken for a just hatched turklet would probably scare it back into the shell! LOL Gawd, that was a stupid dance.
This message was edited Jan 19, 2009 9:09 AM
That's just too funny sorry Jay! A little batting of turkey lashes. lol!
I remember Howard the Duck in the eighties. But did he dance?
Cut that out! I'm having flashbacks! LOL
You know, I never saw Howard the Duck. I did see Fritz the Cat. =0) Ah, my wild youth...
Jay
Oh you all are way too funny. I'm reading the last few posts and laughing my butt off. I just got in from having fun in the snow. DH said I could go out and snowplow with the four wheeler. Pretty fun when you don't have as much snow on the ground. I had 3 inches from late last night's snow to pick up. Yesterday he let me use the snowblower. He's trying to teach me how to use it the easy way. I want to be self sufficent (sp.) if something ever happens to him, ya know?
Are you pulling 180's?! heehee! Snow can be fun at times.
Sadly, I don't know Fritz but does Garfield count? Maybe he does a lasagna dance....
No 180's. Not with a snowplow on it. However going somewhat fast up the road will get the snow up and over the banks. And our banks are pretty up there. This week hopefully the snow will start melting. For the last few weeks we haven't had any snow melting. Soon I need to go out and clean off the roof with the snow rake. We can use a break from snow for a while.
There was a turkey something strut --wish I knew....Don't wanna remember Howard and Fritz (having been there--that dang Howard the Duck song is running thru my head)
I'd be interested in hearing about the salted water soak for the rabbits/chickens, but I have trouble finding a plastic bag that's both big enough and sturdy enough not to leak liquid, so the dry brining method I described above is what I've been using.
Gah! forgot with all the flashbacks how glad I was of the tenderizing info. --My chickens have not been quite as tender as they should have been and this may have been why. I have seen people use 5 gallon buckets as well as those black poly watering troughs. Depending on how much you have to process...
Sue,
I assure you, Fritz and Garfield are not in the same category at all.
Fritz the Cat had the rare distinction of being the first animated porno flick. I think it came out in '78?
Now I'm remembering.... we watched it at a drive-in in Des Moines, IA. How wierd is that? It was definitely X-rated, so I don't know how they pulled that one off.
The popcorn was the best part of that event. LOL
well i didn't remember that part....
Oh, okay - I was picturing each critter in its separate little brine bath. Never thought of doing it en masse. I may just stick with the dry rub when we get around to those Cuckoo Maran roosters. Sounds less messy. But thanks for the ideas!
Which, the popcorn? LOL
It was mostly the dialog that was off-color. We all actually got bored about 2/3 of the way through and left.
Shoot, compared with the commercials playing during the evening news, I'm sure it wasn't that bad....
Oh yeah, compared to now, it was nuthin. It's all relative and it was one of those college break-out moments.
I can't even stand many of the pop fiction books these days. I don't even want to know imaginary characters that well. ]:P
tooo true....
Ok that explains the image that came up when I googled Fritz the cat!!
Oh, now I'll have to go see...
Yup, that's him. Had no idea it was Bakshi that did that movie. From Crumb. Huh. Live and learn.
This message was edited Jan 19, 2009 5:42 PM
I can remember my grandmother watching soap operas back in the late '80s when she was living with us. She would just cluck her tongue and shake her head! If she could see them now!
Our local drive-in,long gone now, would only show a racey movie when they showed movies all night; instead of just the customary two shows. The drive-in has been closed for about 20 years now. They built a fancy golf course where it once stood. I'd rather have the drive-in!
We still have a drive-in, one of I think two in the state. It's great for families, and they show all the pop movies, so plenty of steamy scenes now. Like you need to see that 3 stories tall....
Maybe we should get back to tenderizing meat. LOL
one of my peahens froze last week :(
So sorry {{{Hugs}}}}
thanks
Can you imagine seeing Attack of the 50 Foot Woman on a 3 story screen?! Ok, back to the tenderizing...
For soaking the rabbit, we use an oversized stock pan-still looking for the salt to water ratio. Before freezing, rinse the salt water off the rabbit and pat dry. One reason to let the meat rest in the fridge before freezing is the muscles stiffen up after cooling and then they relax. So if you freeze while they are stiff the meat will be tough. The added salt water soak helps tenderize the meat.
I need to plug that info into my pea brain!!!