Anyone else find Sasso meat to be tough and stringy?

[MontanaChickDoc]

Last year I butchered 10 Cornish cross and this year I thought I would try Sasso broilers from Meyer hatchery and got 25. I butchered them at 14 and 16 weeks and so far have eaten 2 that got kind of torn up as I was learning to use my new plucker (which I highly recommend to anyone doing more than a couple birds a year - what a time saver!!), 1 bird from each group. The first I pressure cooked the whole bird in my Instant pot and made chicken pho soup. The meat was very stringy. The second I took the meat off the bone and made fried chicken nuggets, soaked in a milk wash for 30 minutes. The meat was rubbery. I butchered these the same way as the Cornish, carried upside down by the feet for a couple minutes to calm them, killing cone and slit the throat, bled out, plucked, cleaned and let rest in the fridge for a few days in vaccum sealed bags before eating (the rest I froze after their rest in the fridge). I am worried that the other 23 will be tough and stringy too, which would be disappointing after the prolonged time to raise them to butcher weight vs Cornish. I like that they are active forages and much more "healthy looking" than the Cornish which mostly just lay around. But I guess it's like veal, the more you move, the tougher the muscles? Anyone else raised and eaten this variety? Are other heritage type birds like rainbow rangers similar? With the cost of feed being what it is, I might just stick to Cornish cross even though they are kind of pathetic looking when they get all big and dumpy at 8-10 weeks.

 

[MrsEarthern]

I can't really answer your question because I have no experience with Sasso broilers, but I can tell you that most of the home raised birds I've eaten are "drier," (though not "stringy,") than store bought chicken, with the exception of a few very well spoiled pet birds. I think this may be why so many people assume you can't or shouldn't eat home raised chicken, but really you just cook it differently. Low & Slow is usually the way I go, and I have found my self-basting cast iron pan/lid does the trick.
I think free-ranging or penned on dry rations produces pretty much the same results. Birds with a varied diet high in protein/insects actually taste better, in my opinion, than birds raised solely on feed rations, regardless of roaming or being penned.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

All my meat birds are raised on pasture in addition to their regular ration. The Cornish don't forage much once they are over 6 weeks old but they will peck at the grass around them as they wait for their next meal. The Sassos were much more active. And it's not the taste, it's the texture of the meat I don't like.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You grow your Cornish out to 14-16 weeks? We usually have ours processed at 6 to 8 weeks. They're always sweet, tender and delicious and dress out at between 4 and 5#. Like you, we rest them in the fridge for three or four days before freezing and cook them slow in the crock pot. I do make them move by scattering a little scratch and meal worms in different spots in their pen twice a day, or they would sit like fat, lazy teenagers in one spot all day; this results in slightly more developed drumsticks than otherwise.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

No no the Cornish I did at 8-10 weeks. The Sassos I did at 14 and 16 because they are a slower growing heritage type bird. I was comparing the texture of the Sassos meat (not impressed so far) to that of the CX (yum)

 

[FunClucks]

I think you may have just processed the Sasso too late. I'd have looked at doing them around 12-14 weeks if the older birds are tough for you. When trying out a new breed, I like to process one or two earlier than expected and see how they do, and then the rest over the next however many days.

However, I do have a solution for the rest of the birds in your freezer. First, make sure they're really well rested in the fridge prior to cooking (all joints should move easily), then you can use a low acid marinade over night and cook something like Coq au Vin (there's a great recipe for using a heritage bird on this site, cooking methods are different for heritage so make sure you use the right techniques). Another, faster option, once you've got the bird well rested, is to pressure cook it. 20 min 15 lbs pressure, whole bird. I like to add no more than 1/3 water and some chicken soup veggies and bay leaf for an awesome broth (egg drop soup anyone?) and pea soup base (the veggies, just add cooked peas), if you want to use the chicken meat by itself. I feed the bones and anything we don't eat to the chickens, they eat the smaller bones and all soft tissue waste, and the bones are soft enough at this point I haven't seen an issue.

I've made "BBQ beef" sandwiches by mixing BBQ sauce with pressure cooked year old production red - super tasty and very similar flavor to pulled beef. You just have to let go of your expectations of what chicken should taste like. It doesn't have to be a sodium based marinade or solution, but do make sure you flavor your chicken with something regardless of cooking method (herbs are great), otherwise there can be off flavors from the processing. Every commercial chicken manufacturer puts flavored broth solution into their chickens for a reason.

 

[Kimmi4343]

I like raising Sassos.. the yellow fat is superb. I only raise to 12w and the last 3 week i keep them more confined to bulk them up. So I would say age and too much activity could be the culprit. Id also try shocking in an ice bath after processing. Throwing in a fridge doesnt bring the temp down quick enough for rigor. I like the sasso as meat bird option but can’t treat them like dual purpose. Could try soaking the rest of your chickens in milk to tenderize

 

[egghead@1265]

Interesting. Anyone else with the sasso ?

 

[egghead@1265]

Considering some but am concerned about the stringy comments