Resting a Chicken

By Mrs. Canadian Renegade

When we decided to rescue the chickens from my friend we had no idea how many where roosters and how many were hens; we ended up with 16 chickens and a third of them ended up being roosters. Right away, we saw problems with the roosters being aggressive with each other. Before long, one rooster was culled and on the table later that week. At that time, I learned about needing to rest the chicken.

Mama Renegade suggested leaving the chicken in a cold brine for a few hours and then left to rest in cold water, in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours. The salt would help draw out any extra blood that remained in addition to tenderizing the meat. Typically, store bought chickens are only 8 weeks old or less so their meat is already tender. The older a chicken is, the tougher the meat. The resting time would also allow the rigor mortis to pass which also contributes to better meat quality. I, however, misheard the instructions and let the chicken rest in the brine for 12 hours and then in the pot and refrigerated for an addition 12 hours.

After the resting period, I slow cooked the chicken for maximum tenderness and it turned out rather well. The following day I used the bones to make stock then added in the remaining meat and vegetables for a hearty chicken soup. Matt went so far as to say it was the best chicken soup he'd ever had [insert applause] but I felt like it was missing something. Either way, resting the chicken seemed to be key.

The second rooster to leave the coop ended up being rehomed with @alexander farm and you can see how he's doing here. But, unfortunately, the coop was still unsettled and there was a lot of bullying happening from one rooster in particular.

Matt had been putting off culling this rooster because he needed to work on other projects and this inadvertently worked in our favor when we heard a neighbour had set up to cull seven of their own roosters and we managed to get ours in the line up (Not to brag, but we actually have the best neighbours).

This time, I did more research and prepared a brine specifically for the resting period. My pot was far too small for this particular bird so after grabbing a pot from the neighbour I set to work on the brine.

Chicken Brine

• 2.5 Gallons Water

• 3/4 C Kosher salt

• 1 Tbsp Black pepper (Though I would use peppercorns next time)

• 3 Bay leaves

• 3 oz Brown sugar

• 2 Large carrots, roughly chopped

• 2 Medium onions, roughly chopped

• 3 Large cloves garlic, smashed

The pot was much too large for my fridge. I ended up using very cold water for the brine and then storing in the cold storage room in the basement for 48 hours.

Culling extra roosters is never an enjoyable task and we do our best to honor the roosters by getting the most nutrition from them we can. After the brining period I managed to make two meals from the chicken; slow cooker chicken and chicken soup. Come back to the blog to see how those recipes turned out. Spoiler alter: They were delicious.