Today was "test" day for deciding whether or not to butcher the rest of the roosters. These roosters are reaching 6 months old, so we had questions as to their "eatability". After he was completely cleaned from the other day, I let him sit in the fridge, covered for 2 days. I had read that was a good idea to allow some proteins to relax, which makes the meat more tender. I took off the legs, thighs and wings. Which all looked excellent as far as size. But the breast development definitely did not match up to the store bought chickens. To give you an idea, if you take a half breast from the store bought chicken and butterfly it in half, that is about what I was looking at after I removed a half breast from the carcass. In all, probably the whole breast equalled one half from the store. I took the breast filets (skinless), drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and sauteed them so we could make a true assesment of taste and texture. I probably sauteed a little to long, but over all it had a MUCH better taste then that of store bought. We all noticed the freshness, you could even say a cleaner taste than anything we have ever had before. The texture was slightly dry, but definitely not tough. I believe the dryness was due to my slightly overcooking. I put the carcass, thighs, legs and wings in a stock pot to make chicken broth to try some soup tonight. The house smells heavenly as I type! I think it is safe to say this was a complete success from start to finish and we are feeling a little proud of ourselves! Katie deserves a massive pat on the back for raising this awesome rooster from a day old chick, being so mature and understanding throughout the whole process! She actually tested the first bite! We love ya Sweetie, you're such an extraordinary person!
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