The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Clive on June 04, 2013, 09:18:42 pm

Title: Hanging poultry
Post by: Clive on June 04, 2013, 09:18:42 pm

Probably been asked before but i couldnt find an answer.
I understand that chickens will be more tender and tastier with hanging but we dont have anywhere that stays cool during hot summer days. I didnt dare hang our last batch longer than overnight as the forecast was for hot weather.  Wondered if a couple of days in the fridge after cleaning the birds would have the same tenderising effect?
Do you folks all hang birds? What is your solution to hot summer days?

Thanks

Clive

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: graham-j on June 05, 2013, 09:45:24 am

Hi,resting on a plate will have a similar effect for tenderizing the flesh,but will make no change to the flavor,you need the guts in for that.
In my opinion the best thing to do is get an old fridge from somewhere like pre loved,you can get them for as little as £5 on there.Take out all the shelves etc and fix a couple of lengths of wooden down inside at the top to hang the birds off.You can hang up to 3 birds (large cockerels) at a time in there.
I like to hang mine for 4 to 6 days with the guts in,I have hung them up to nine days without any problems.

Graham.

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: OhLaLa on June 05, 2013, 11:07:55 am

graham-j, do you bleed them?
 :farmer:   :chook:
 

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: graham-j on June 05, 2013, 12:30:46 pm

Hi,yes I do.

Graham.

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: chrismahon on June 05, 2013, 01:21:29 pm

Never hung ours. Killed, plucked and gutted within three hours. Then either into the freezer or rested on a plate in the fridge for 2 or 3 days. We've had birds go off hung in our cellar for just a day. I think it may have been due to worms, but I don't know and I have no need to experiment now.

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: Fowlman on June 05, 2013, 03:34:09 pm

Same as chris kill, pluck, gut and rest in fridge for 2/3 days has worked for me for many years.

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: Fowlman on June 05, 2013, 03:43:32 pm

One of the reasons everything was hung was because fridges either didnt exist or were scarce.

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: taz08 on June 05, 2013, 04:08:34 pm

is the a good web page on how go gut,, all the 1s i have seen usless

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: plumseverywhere on June 05, 2013, 05:47:58 pm

There's some good youtube clips about how to do it. The farmer where I bought my ducks and pheasants taught me. It involved pushing the legs out as far as they'd go and skinning which was fine if you only wanted the breasts.
I now pluck, gut and cook instead.  innards are good for baiting fox traps (apparently...)

Title: Re: Hanging poultry
Post by: Dan on June 05, 2013, 08:02:07 pm

Quote from: taz08 on June 05, 2013, 04:08:34 pm

is the a good web page on how go gut,, all the 1s i have seen usless

I learned from here:

http://butcherachicken.blogspot.co.uk/ (http://butcherachicken.blogspot.co.uk/)

It's the best I've found online and even I can now clean a chicken well enough in a few minutes.  :D