The adventure of local food can be a lovely rediscovery of seasonal eating, fresh veggies, tasty meats and friend and family. It can also be an opportunity to re-discover (or discover) the art of cooking.
By Wian and Lydia: click here for profile
We raise pastured poultry and soon realized that there is a big difference between cooking free-range chicken vs. conventional fryers. They are both chickens – yes – but they are worlds apart. In many cases their lives are completely different. They differ in many ways including: diet, level of exercise, exposure to the outdoors, age etc.
Free-range chickens are much more like wild fowl. Free-range meat is lean because the birds are able to exercise their muscles. They are also grown out for longer periods of time allowing for extra muscle build up. While this makes the meat very tasty it must be cooked right. Free-range chickens need a slower cooking time to yield the best results. Slow and low is the rule for these birds. We like to cook our birds for 3 hours at 350ºF.
We have also just discovered the wonders of a convection oven, which make the meat sublime.
For conventional chickens this type of cooking often makes them seem soggy or overdone. Conventional chickens have a shorter cooking time. If you cook your free- range birds the way you cook your conventional birds the meat will likely be dry and you will probably be disappointed.
Although we haven’t tried it yet we have heard that one of the best way to cook a free-range bird is by using a rotisserie. Yum!
Remember that cooking time may vary depending on the size of the bird. We have had birds range from 4-8 pounds. If you are not sure if your bird is done you can follow internal temperature guidelines (165ºF). Remember, if you are following a recipe book they often assume you are using small conventional fryer size birds so you will have to cook your free-range chicken longer.
The extra time is worth the wait!
Lydia Carpenter
Lydia and Wian are members of the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative. A grassroots organization working to create a sustainable local food system in Manitoba. Click here to get involved. Click here to buy food.
we’ve had a heck of time with the chickens (and one turkey) purchased through HMLFI — yes, they’ve come out dry, surprisingly. The chickens are about 7 or 8 pounds and the oven is heated at 450 and turned down immediately to (I believe) 350. I cook 15 minutes per pound. Still dry. Help.
Are you stuffing it with anything? We use fresh, sliced lemons, onion and garlic in ours that we raise and our meat is succulent, tasty and moist every time.
Hi Catherine – yes. I hear you.
We have several tricks for a moist roast chicken. Besides for watching your roasting time, cooking temp. and internal temperature there are few other things you can try. One of my recent faves is cooking breast side down.
We often use a cast iron pan, place our chicken in breast side down, and turn it breast side up for the last few minutes of cooking in order to brown the skin. Breast side down seems to allow the juices to flow into the pan.
In fact, we roasted a bird last night. It was about 5-6 lbs. We started it at 450F for 15 minutes. Then we set it down to 300F. We let it cook for 2.5 hours at 300F (uncovered the whole time). We cooked for about 30 minutes per pound. We didn’t baste it at all as we had decided to go for a walk… it turned out great.
Again, cooking time will vary so if you have a thermometer to check internal temp. that might help. 165F internal is what you want.
There are other things you can do. Personally I love butter. Putting butter under the skin can be a nice touch. Roasting with some veggies can help add some moisture to your cooking too.
If you want to contact me you can e-mail lydiacarpenter03@yahoo.ca
We can chat about it more if you’d like. I’m experimenting with some other techniques.
cheers
Lydia
Oh – I should add… I am no turkey expert. But I assume some similar principles apply.
My roasted chickens (also free range, organic etc.) are always fantastic. I cook at 350 maximum with a lid, rarely stuff them, and they are moist and succulent and nicely browned. They’re done when the drumstick twists easily.
Nancy
We raise and eat A LOT of free range chickens. We have never had a problem with dryness. I have had 2 people come and tell me that their chickens were dry, and it confuses me. When I cook chickens, all I ever do is place it in a roaster with about an inch of water and a huge onion, sprinkle it with sage and garlic powder, put on the lid and let it roast, covered, for about 2 hours (chickens are usually 6 or 7 pounds). I take the lid off only for the last 10 or 15 minutes, only if it needs a bit of browning. I usually stuff them as well with regular homemade bread stuffing. I also tell people to expect their chickens to have some muscle texture because they live outside, chase bugs, scratch vigorously and flap and run around. Also, they have fat that is yellowish-green in colour. I like this, because then I know that they have eaten green grass! This is a very good sign. (Older women brag about this as being the way an old fashioned farm chicken is supposed to be!)
Turkey tends to be a bit on the dry side. We cook it the same as chicken, but sometimes drape bacon over it, and we have tied duck to the top prior to putting it in the oven. Duck meat tends to be greasier. Butter also helps.
For both chicken and turkey, please keep in mind that they have not been injected with saline water to bulk them up before selling (like lots of factory chicken has been). There will not be a lot of fluid loss while cooking.
Hope this helps.
Lisa
Moistness is really all about fat that’s why deep fried turkey is so moist and overcooked chicken soup can be dry. The duck, butter, sausage, lard and bacon are all great inside and out the turkey.
You could also try a brine, which will tenderise the meat. 1 kosher salt to 16 water. So one cup to one gallon. Submerge turkey for atleast 12 hours in the fridge or with ice surrounding the container. Don’t leave it too long (20 hours maximum). When its done rinse it off and dry the turkey.
Although untested I recently heard about a grandma who does her wild turkey in a pillowcase (never to be used for pillows again). Cotton as it turns out is a nice weave for holding the fat to the bird for longer so there is less basting.