anyone have any recipes for some OLD chickens?

[vash]

i'm gonna dispatch my flock..(remember my axe thread ?)

coq au vin..sure..

what else? chicken and dumplings?

what are you farmer-types doing with your non-egg producing birds?

[Seahawk]

My favorite Old Laying Hen Recipe (passed down over generations):

Remove head
Gut
Remove wings
Put everything above, along with the remaining body, in a crab pot
Place crab pot in Potomac
Catch crabs
Eat crabs

Plucking an old hen simply isn't worth the effort or mess. It isn't easy and the results are stringy and chewriffic.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Vice turning the old dear into crabs (good advice for people near the coast):

Remove head once bird is asleep or hang bird upside down in a sleeping sling to allow bird to relax before killing, slice into skin and remove skin with feathers, gut, cut off feet unless you like to eat them. Bet those old girls do not have much fat.

You are left with meat and bones without skin and the fat can be removed.

Leave in refrigerator, covered, for three or four days. This allows the meat to relax.

Slow cook in a crockpot! Low and slow after allowing meat to relax is the key.

How old are they? We have four year olds that are still going strong laying eggs and raising young. Of course, they do one or the other... Anyone need an egg hatcher????

[Bill Douglas]

Chop up with an axe, boil for three hours then eat the axe head.

[vash]

my birds are 4..and they quit laying. just free loading of the idiot (me) running the hen country club.

i am planning on putting my backyard back..sod, drought resistant plants, veggie garden. my free ranging birds are like roundup!

[vash]

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

Leave in refrigerator, covered, for three or four days. This allows the meat to relax.

?

great tip!! thanks.

as far as them tasting like crap..i gotta try it. if they suck, i put them into a crab trap..hahah..seahawk.

[Burnin' oil]

Originally Posted by vash

great tip!! thanks.

as far as them tasting like crap..i gotta try it. if they suck, i put them into a crab trap..hahah..seahawk.

If they don't suck, I know where you can pick up a few more. We could even turn it into some kind of hunt.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Burnin' oil

If they don't suck, I know where you can pick up a few more. We could even turn it into some kind of hunt.

As an aside, I have a meeting in Stockton on the 15th of November.

How about I buy you and Vash dinner on the 14th?

Old Hen is on me.

[vash]

hey..i might be around..

err..maybe i might be in the texas pan handle. grr.

old speckled hen? let's keep in touch...love to meet you.

[syncroid]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

My favorite Old Laying Hen Recipe (passed down over generations):

Remove head
Gut
Remove wings
Put everything above, along with the remaining body, in a crab pot
Place crab pot in Potomac
Catch crabs
Eat crabs

Plucking an old hen simply isn't worth the effort or mess. It isn't easy and the results are stringy and chewriffic.

Haha! Paul, I like the way you think.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by vash

hey..i might be around..

err..maybe i might be in the texas pan handle. grr.

old speckled hen? let's keep in touch...love to meet you.

No worries. I'll be there regardless.

Stockton by the Bay or the Texas Panhandle: Definition of a toss up

[Burnin' oil]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

As an aside, I have a meeting in Stockton on the 15th of November.

How about I buy you and Vash dinner on the 14th?

Old Hen is on me.

I am down with that. I start a trial on the 14th in Modesto but will have time to run up to Stockton for dinner.

[vash]

aww..getting better.

let me check my calendar. come to think of it..i am not sure my brother even invited me to texas.

[gtc]

Archery practice? Or is that too inhumane?

[aigel]

First you make chicken broth / soup by boiling the living daylight out of them. (2-3 h or 1h in a pressure cooker). You have made clear broth, I am sure.

You eat the broth or store for future use. I like it as noodle soup or with matzo balls.

The meat you let cool, skin and debone. Then cut into small cubes and use the meat to make fricassee. (This basically is a cream sauce with mushrooms and whatever vegetables you'd like to eat). You make the sauce using some of the broth. It is great over rice.

I use the same recipe for wild Turkey (using the dark meat).

Let me know if you need more information. The broth from an older chicken is far superior to that of a younger animal. If you were local, I'd be happy to take these off your hands. Enjoy.

Georg

[Hard-Deck]

Perfect, it's what I do on Puget Sound to catch dungeness

My favorite Old Laying Hen Recipe (passed down over generations):



Remove head

Gut

Remove wings

Put everything above, along with the remaining body, in a crab pot

Place crab pot in Potomac

Catch crabs

Eat crabs



Plucking an old hen simply isn't worth the effort or mess. It isn't easy and the results are stringy and chewriffic.

[Mark Henry]

I agree...not worth the bother.
I just dispatch them and dump them in the back 40 for the coyotes, coons or what ever.

I have a couple that may need doing soon...I think they keep laying out of fear

[Cajundaddy]

Crab bait! Seahawk I laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes.

My grandmother would say those birds were "soup quality" and a fine broth they would become.

[svandamme]

So at what point does a hen turn to old to cook?

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by svandamme

So at what point does a hen turn to old to cook?

We raise layers and meat birds.
Layers are for eggs they have no value as meat, large operations will sell them for dog food.

When we did our first one it was obvious the were scrawny, fatty and tough. A layer stops laying at over 2 years old. IMHO not even worth it for chicken stock, a meat bird carcase is better.
A meat bird is bred for its meat, they get slaughtered at only 2 months while the meat is sweet and tender.