A very nice rooster meal, of a 2.5 year old fellow

I am almost too embarrassed to bring this post that I am going to bring here, here. This is about my 2.5 year old big buff Orpington rooster that we had processed, rested for 5 days in the fridge, frozen for about a week and then cooked yesterday, sigh. He was a nice size before cooking, 6.5 pounds, made some absolutely wonderful gravy, I figure about 2 cups of juice came from him, along with the 2 cups of added water at the beginning of cooking, the gravy was unbelievably fabulous. I would say after cooking, he was about ¾ the size of when uncooked.

Still wondering if I should be honest and eat crow, but will tell the tale as it is. I could tell a whomper of a tale and say that the big boy was wonderful, but such a lie...walk by my side as I recount my cooking of an old, old bird.

I have to set some scenarios firstly. This was a very mature male, his carcass after visiting the abattoir, to me was impressive. Nice, round, fully filled out. He has a son that has taken his place, which I think has surpassed his father’s size already at 25 weeks of age. There are four others that are growing out, they make replace this new fellow, all sons of the big boy. Only time will tell that tale. Be patient with me right now. I have a tale to tell, which may help others to not repeat what I have done, smiling that big smile.

I usually have the heritage males processed at about 24 weeks old. The weights to me are just fine, between generally 4-5 pounds, after processing. To me that is OK, and feeds nicely our family. I slow cook the bird of this age for approximately 2.5 hours at 250 degrees, and if the need, once lid is removed, crank oven to 350 for additional browning. We LOVE to eat skin and it needs to be brown and crispy. The birds are always cooked with about 1 cup of water.

I tried something new this time, which I don’t do, that might be the reason for the condition of the bird, but probably not. I oiled the bird with oil and then rubbed on a spice rub of garlic powder, salt, pepper and Hys seasoning salt, I love that Hys stuff and it is integral to my cooking most meat. I have not ever oiled a chicken and then rubbed the spice rub on it, but thought I would try, gotta make this dude the BEST ever! Then I put the boy into a nice dark roaster and drove that baby up to Daughter’s home, way up the mountain, oh so carefully, well, I thought it would be, but Husband sometimes drives rather odd, going around all the switchbacks, smiling. We were having a nice family dinner and I knew for surely, that this 6.5 pounder dude would feed nicely the eight of us. The 24 week olds do, why not this one?

And those young fellows we have cooked in the past are so tender, beautiful, and family loves them. And they are cooked just as I instruct youngest Daughter.

So yes, up the mountain, took bird with great care into the home. The plan was to come back about 4:00 to see if the rooster needed to be browned. I figured that if he was cooked for about 4 hours at 250 degrees, that for surely he would be tenderized and lovely, just as the others are, after 2.5 hours of cooking. He was somewhat bigger, so I thought a bit longer time would suffice. Walk with me, bear with me, I have a tale to tell, smiling again. Yes, I ramble, and a ramblin’ I shall go. Daughter said she would do that thing, it was nigh to noon, so bird was almost ready to go in. Oldest Daughter took two of her horses up to youngest Daughter’s place, and they went for a mountain ride. Her promise to be back by 4:00 to see if bird needed to be turned up to brown. Beautiful day for a mountain ride.

I also had readied some spaghetti squash, cooked, gutted and in a bowl, a pot of the homegrown potatoes for mashed potatoes, for the glorious gravy I knew would be made, the Caesar dressing, homemade, made from homemade mayonnaise, along with a jicima, love the salad with that in it, crunch and taste galore. Those all accompanied that bird, Daughter was performing the remainder of dinner, which was really not much, lucky gal, smiling.

Went home and merried around doing stuff. The day was beautiful. The skies blue and clear, warm, warm enough that I could work in the garden, finishing up clean up and planting garlic (that is another story), with a sweater and vest. Coulda done without the sweater, but then I am heat goddess, I love warmth, so wanted extra warmth.

OK, so all up for a visit to Daughter’s home before dinner. A nice drink and then the bird came out, how lovely. Not quite as big as it was before it was cooked, but nicely browned, so no need to crank the oven up. Rested and cooled the bird on the counter. We love the skin and I know that someone, I know who, will take a hunk of skin and crunch on it. Wait....Mum, what the heck, I can’t get this skin off. Oh, oh...Mum this skin is so thick I can’t pull it off. Oh rats...is this the beginning of something wicked this way comes? Is this bird nice? Oh, oh. OK, so no action begins. I had worries that I was not having the most wonderful bird on earth to feed my family and perhaps this is coming to pass. My turn.

My job when we have the chicken dinner at Daughter’s home is to prepare the meat. Guess I had best get on it, bird was cooled enough that my hands would not be torched from heat within. Looked at the bird, boy did it look beautiful. Took off the string that I always truss the birds with, when I freeze them after they have rested for 5 days in fridge after processing. I like to do this, it keeps the bird in a nice form for the freezer and the food saver system helps to make a compact meat.

Usually I do what we usually do when I am working a full bird, is cut off wings, cut off legs and then do the other part. Husband sharpened the knife so I could make the necessary cuts. Normally that is as far as the knife goes, well, except for carving breast meat. Knife sharp. Me at the counter in the centre of the kitchen sink area, the sitting area adjacent. When standing at this counter that is like an island attached to the wall, I can see people sitting at the small round table (the dining room is adjacent to that and has our old oak table that sits 8 comfortably in it, we gave it to oldest Daughter when we moved to the Okanagan, no longer needing a large, family table at our home). This table in the kitchen area is small, and only about 6 can fit around it comfortably, squished a little. Everyone was watching me. Drat. Don’t watch me, thankin’ me lucky stars no one can see my face and I can’t see theirs, unless I bend down and look that way, below the cupboard.

Ya’ll know I like to ramble when I tell a tale, right, well, keep walkin’ by my side, still have a great tale to complete, smiling again.

I take a wing and cut it off the bird, ya, a little difficult, but the knife was sharp. Cut off the other wing, onto the platter. Now take the leg and cut if off the bird, no so bad, a little tough, but got it off, then cut off the other leg, onto that platter. Oh boy, this skin is thick....I can tell that, how on earth can this skin be so thick? I ask you, does anyone know? Never seen skin this thick, seriously. Daughter asked me cut her off a hunk of skin, not a skin that you could rip off, as usually is the case. This required a very strong arm to cut this skin, so thick, yes, I would say tough as an old shoe sole. Geeze. Daughter declined, she said she didn’t want to eat it. Sigh...I think this is an indication of something bad. She is skin goddess, she loves the chicken skin. Oh well. Broke off and cut off the pieces that surround the breast. Tough as freakin’ tough could be.....darn. Ya, so my Son-in-Law is watching me, I can see the position that their bodies are in, and that is watching me. I duck down to look, everyone is watching me. Drat. I am feeling somewhat embarrassed. This man told me it looks like there is a rooster fight going on in the kitchen, on the counter where I was working. Drat. I think I am in for trouble making this bird good for the table. Oh well, no turning back now. Hard work. So now I have the breasts and bone in one piece that I am going to get off that hunk o’ bone. Tender and beautiful as can be, so lovely, and a good deal of it. Placed it on the platter, beside those freakin’ huge legs, still attached to the thighs. Now what? The breast is lovely and tender, I could tell that. But oh those legs, oh those wings, oh that skin, that is thick as thick can be, and TOUGH. Did I mention this bird had TOUGH skin? Why? Don’t get it, but OK, I understand. Took that thigh and leg and tried to cut them apart. Oh brother, oh brother oh brother. Nigh to impossible. So I took that entire leg, bent it and twisted it and it came apart, but I had to cut deep into the flesh to actually separate. The teasing that went on, I am sure my face was red as red could be, but no stopping me now. Youngest Daughter has had the birds I have grown on a good number of occasions, she loves them and she encouraged me. She tasted the breast meat and was very happy, she loved it, she said it tastes wonderful, and she does not lie. But she did mention, Mum, I think that this bird is too tough to eat the legs. Blah. She is right, I could tell that this bird was a tough old bird. Still don’t know why the breast was so tender. Maybe he was not cooked long enough. So anyways, we only ate chicken breast. Did I mention the gravy was to die for, yes, it was fabulous, as was everything else.

Now fortunately, in the freezer, Daughter had a small box of chicken breast. That was quickly brought out, thawed and then the other Son-in-Law put them on the bbq. Yes. The meal complete. Beautiful and tender heritage old rooster breast meat, breast meat from the store, and the meal was complete and it was so wonderful.

The rest of the bird. Thought I might take the legs and beat the crap out of them to tenderize at home, but then thought better of it. I need to do another experiment. I will do that today. I have two HUGE and massive legs to deal with. I am going to slow cook them for a couple of hours and see what happens. One is still intact, with the thigh and leg, the other, is detached. I also will slow cook the carcass and wings, we will see what comes of this further cooking.

Was I disappointed in the bird. Yes. Of course. Thankin’ my lucky stars that it was my understanding family. They have experienced how wonderful the younger roosters are, so they know, and they were advised of the age of this rooster, so they know that too. They also know that I had no clue how a bird this old would turn out. They did find out and now we know.

Had I cooked the bird a bit longer, maybe it would have been more tender. The breast was, it was just the running gear, and flapping gear, the legs and wings. We all know how much roosters flap their wings, they are always displaying who is boss by wing flapping. And they are always chasing girls, flapping their wings. Must make for some very strong muscles in those areas. But the skin!! The skin has never been thick before in my experience cooking our homegrown birds. What’s with that? No explanation, but boy, talk about tough skinned....

Ya, so I guess tomorrow I will add on to this story, about if a further slow cooking will tenderize the legs and wings. I don’t know.

I DO know, that forever more, if I have an old bird that will be soup material, would not bother with trying to make a table fowl.

This I do not quite get. I have slow cooked a couple of roosters before that were 1 year old and 1.5 years old and they turned out wonderful. Guess something happens in the 2nd year of life, and that is just plain and simply tough, that is what happens.

So that is my story, stickin’ to it, and caution to others that want to eat an old, old bird. Yes, the flavour is magnificent, but really, let’s call them a stewing fowl, not a table fowl, laughing now. Experiences, yes, these make the world go round and round and round. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

loved your tale Cynthia!   you do spin a good one!  good on you for telling on yourself!  great that you could laugh about it and it was family meal not some business clients you were trying to impress! 
I butchered 3 older roos last weekend and yeah I knew about that skin cos I couldn't pull it off....pulled and pulled but too difficult so I boned out the breasts and fed the rest to the wild bunch...I felt a little wasteful but not really. these boys had already paid for themselves.

What about brining those old guys?

What about saving them for the zombie apocalypse so they can be loaded into cannons and fired at the advancing mob of zombies?

Really, CynthiaM, at next coffee I am going to have to talk with you about self inflicted torture. There are no prizes in heaven for those who eat tough roosters. You don't get a better seat by the window because you made the most out of what Gordon gave you. Gordon gave us grain fed beef as a blessing. (ooh, she slams grass finished beef  )

What will we hear next? That you eat your recycling to make better use of the resources around you? GET OVER IT! I have had my experiences with tough, old roosters. THey are fed to the coyotes here. Why? Look at your teeth, look at coyote teeth and consider your boot leather bird. I tell you, I know what I'm talking about. I'm so damn smart I can hardly stand myself some days. But I admire and honour you for telling a tale that many would not have. We learn by reading other's experiences. Well, some of us do. If you had been paying attention to the Uno method of chicken keeping, you would have chopped his head and tossed him in the bush and had burgers for dinner. Hey! That's it! Grind him up into chicken burger. Freeze the patties...and load them into a cannon to shoot invading zombies!  

(how I love to pick on you, Small One)

ahh too bad..
our rooster too had the toughest skin on earth..and i totally refused to eat him because he was as tough as a sole of a shoe...
which reminds me of a story in a book by some comedian whos name escapes me...David ??
he tells the story of his mother being a pretty lousy cook and one night while they were trying to eat a steak she had cooked..the meat kept bending up around the knife....his father silently got up from the table with his plate and went downstairs. The family could hear the banging from where they sat and figured that he had just gone to eat his supper below..
but then up he comes, sits at the table with his legs crossed swinging his leg up and down just showing off his boot...which had the hunk of meat nailed to the bottom of it.....
His mother said something like...if you don't like my cooking-you could just say you weren't hungry...

Note to self: old roosters will make great dog food.

Sorry about your dinner Cynthia.  I always rub spices into skin with olive oil so don't think that was the problem.  I think he just had thick skin and well used legs and wings.  Maybe throw that meat in some broth for lunch or treat the pups    

We did up one rotten roo that hubby literally grabbed off a very unhappy protesting hen and turned him into dinner.  I rested him and planned to make soup but the legs even after a few days resting in the fridge and a few hours in my soup pot, were rubber! good grief couldn't pull the meat off those leg bones with pliers it was crazy!  The breast was fine though.  Now if I'm going to use a boy they get separated from the girls at least a week.

I personally would not have bothered with a fellow that old, but it was a good experiment for you.
I am surprised that the ones that are a year old and used for breeding are ok. I would not eat something that had been used for breeding. They get tough and have a different taste as far as I am concerned. But to each his own.
I will keep plodding along with my virgin, bachelor pen boys.

Delicious virgins.

I debone the old guys and grind them up and make sausage out of them. I just did a batch of sausage using a combination of old muscovies and roosters. Very tasty if I say so myself.

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Ain't no one got time for that......I just "uno" mine, I have meat birds for eating.... roos and spent layers get their heads spun off and into the compost they go.

I'm not good at throwing away anything, if I have time I'll do my best to get the goods on it some how.  Happily have enjoyed learning from your learning CynthiaM.  I might try to make stock from that tough old guy, or make him surrender in the pressure cooker.  But must confess, have yet to taste the difference between a bird who has done the wild thing and one that has not so that might have a bearing on my sense of thrift.   Had a grandfather who was the navigator in a Lancaster Bomber during the 2nd WW, he married a POW Lativan woman who escaped and there are stories of how he could not throw anything remotely useful away (food wise that is) -  probably how I came to have this inclination (blame the genes).  eg. old porridge went into Anzac cookies (one of NZ and Australia's food icons  -  will post the recipe when I can find it.  Old porridge was not a successful inclusion.  Better to up-cycle that treat to the chooks!

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That's good advice for me Tara.  I recently talked to a woman who has lots of bantams and she doesn't bother plucking.  Lot of work for small reward maybe.  We usually don't roast our chicken for a whole table bird unless special occasion so one large bird goes two meals if poss (we have two teenage boys, one 6'4" and other 5'10  -  sometimes there is just not enough protein on their plates!).  I was thinking I'd not bother to pluck and we often cut fat off too.  A sin to discard the skin I know CynthiaM but some of us are more sit-down-computer-programmers than trench-diggers and got to take that into account.   Often in the winter I'll put a bird into a roaster dish, seal with foil, herbs, lots of liquid (some of my mothers failed cherry wine is good), etc. and it cooks long and slow through the day in the wood fire oven  -  can be completely frozen at the start but by the end of the day there is something pretty darned nice waiting for the guy or gal who plowed the drive for an hour.  I divide it up before anyone gets a look at it if possible into two meals, make gravy, lots of veg and we're good.

Nice to meet another Latvian Tara :-).  My grandmother interestingly enough was very chicken orientated and one of her daughters designed a mosaic headstone for her grave that has chickens on it in honor of her connection with them.  Will ask if I can have a photograph so I can post it, would be in keeping with this forum.  She was a mighty woman (fairly short with solid build) with a temper like a rocket (scary  ).  Made the best borscht I have ever tasted from the carcass of a shop bought tegal chicken (tegal in NZ is a brand of commercial chook).  I was stunned.  Purdy coins  .  Think I like the older ones best, silver looks nice  .

Dang it all, getting NOTHING done this morning.   I'm off to remedy that.  Thanks for the advice Tara and thanks CynthiaM for opportunity to share and learn on your post.

2 years, 3 years, 4 years, or 5, it doesn't matter. We cook them all for the table. All it takes is the right knowledge and attention to detail.

1) harvest when rooster is at full weight, not when lean from molting. If maintained properly, they go through an annual cycle.

2) moist cook (covered) until meat pulls easily from bones. There is a sweet spot where the meat becomes very juicy and tender before turning dry and course. If you don't have time to pay attention to the details, use a crock pot that doesn't go over 190 degrees. A crock pot that goes 200 or above produces a bird with more course texture. Meat still falls from bones, but texture isn't as nice.

A tough bird means that the bird was not cooked properly. I don't blame the bird, I blame the cook. It's like blaming the hammer for the bent nail.

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Smiling. I like all the replies, and Omega Blue Farm's too. I did slow cook the legs yesterday, and the wings, all day, and I think that my crock pot remains below 190. We went for dinner at other Daughter's last night, so didn't get a chance to check that fellow's legs, but it is cooled (outside, colder than a fridge), I love winter for the cold factor, extra fridge, but will later. Still will have more results to post. Thanks for all the links, Tara, and advice from those that participated. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

yeah, when we use crock pot on the old ones, bird goes in in the morning and is done by dinner. roughly 8 hours.

I do the same as Omega. Any meat can be made tender with the right type and amount of cooking.

Another way to eat them is to put the whole bird in a crock pot with water overnight. You will have a great broth and you can peel the meat from the bones to make pulled chicken...just add your favorite bbq sauce and serve on a bun with a little slaw!