I think we have hit the magical sweet spot on cooking up cull cockerels! We had one of Luanne's cull Wyandotte cockerels last night for dinner, and the taste was simply awesome. First, we slaughtered five Wyandotte cockerels Sunday morning to make room for the new Silkies I had bought Saturday night at the local livestock auction. The carcasses rested in the back refrigerator for five days, then hubby mostly plucked one Thursday while I drove to an appointment, then he brined it (standard issue 1 cup salt to 8 cups water) until yesterday morning, when he put it into the offset smoker for a couple hours with cherry wood chunks for the smoke flavoring. Then we moved it to the big crockpot and let it go on low for another three hours. When hubby went to lift up the chicken after we decided it was done, both drumstick bones came right out and the meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender.
We just finished up the leftovers for lunch, and this was the fastest we have eaten an entire cockerel. My friend Lynn had a leg quarter last night when she came by to get ten guineas. I asked if she had supper yet, and when she said she hadn't I offered her some chicken.
"Home grown, too. Wyandotte."
"Oh, now you're talkin'!"
Lynn agreed with hubby that the brine was a little too strong, so when I put it into the last three carcasses I added 2-3 cups more water. Our plan is to smoke them, then cut them up for canning. We'll see how many end up in jars, as opposed to the crock pot. Maybe we'll get pictures this time. Maybe.
No comments:
Post a Comment