Cooking Older Chickens

[Davy Crockett]

I didn't realize how soon chickens become stringy and tough.

I guess I should have butchered them younger but didn't for various reasons.
Anyhow, these are tough old birds.

Any suggestions on what to make with them?

I had thought of putting them in the slow cooker, stripping the meat off and making soup, possibly chicken and dumplings.
Not sure if this would work.

Thank you

[Homesteader]

Pressure cooker or slow cooker

Older birds actualy make best soup. They have more flavor.

[Alder]

Best answer I've found is to pressure can them. Second best is to pressure cook them. Crockpot is third, but iffy. Whatever you do, make sure to let the dressed birds sit in the fridge for 24-48 hours for the meat to "relax". Unless you are cooking a freshly butchered bird literally minutes after you kill them, the wait period helps a lot.

I was just splitting up, culling and moving 13 week old "overstock" banty roosters this morning. I put them in the pen with the old layers who will go to chicken heaven later this fall. Figure that the roosters can't get into too much trouble living with hens 4x their size. And a few more weeks to put some meat on won't hurt. Was chuckling, thinking about stuffing a whole banty each into a quart jar. Something to gross the kids out with, anyway...;)

[Liberty]

How old is "too old"?

[Davy Crockett]

Thanks, everyone, for your input
These are approx 1 year old slow whites.
They were butchered a month or so ago and were frozen whole.

I did google and saw some slow cooker crockpot recipes for tough chicken.

[Summerthyme]

Oh YEAH. Pretty much anything beyond 5-6 months is not going to be cooked according to any of the usual modern American chicken recipes.

I usually make soup stock with the whole carcass (cut up into halves or quarters to fit more in to the kettle), with onions, celery and a carrot or two for flavor.

Once the meat is almost falling off the bones (usually overnight), I strain the broth, and then pick the meat.

Then you can use it for almost any recipe that calls for cooked chicken- pot pies, casseroles, etc. Or you can use some of the broth, make gravy and have chicken and gravy on biscuits or mashed potatoes.

A lot of ours gets cut up and put back into the soup (with lots of fresh vegetables- discard the "flavoring" veggies you used- you don't need more than a couple onions and the butt end of the celery bunch for flavor, and they get really mushy) and then canned for winter eating.

Summerthyme

[Meemur]

I usually make soup stock with the whole carcass (cut up into halves or quarters to fit more in to the kettle), with onions, celery and a carrot or two for flavor.

Me, too, plus I add up to 1/4 cup of a decent white wine (red if that's all I have), if I have any. The alcohol boils off, but it leaves a nice note for "adult" soups that are savored rather than gulped.

When it gets cooler and produce prices get high, I begin dinner with a bowl of homemade soup, rather than salad.

I also use tough chicken chopped up finely in stir fry dishes. Toss in a few nuts, and generally no one notices.

[Faroe]

Just butchered a year old banty roo this morning. We liked the little guy, but he was consistently mean to a new comer hen (the rescued Vivian, from another thread), and she is one our few good layers.

Maybe I actually dulled the knife when I gave it a quick preliminary sharpening, but I couldn't believe how hard he was to get apart. Even the skin was tough to cut. I actually had an easier time with the nearly full grown mucsovy drake I butchered next (re-sharpened knife, however).