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Stew hen questions

7 years ago

I bought some "stew hens" from a local farm, 3 for $10. So I know they need long cooking. Yesterday I simmered one, first in the crockpot, then on the stove after an hour or two, after I saw that the crock wasn't big enough. Water to cover, aromatics, low simmer for total of eight hours. Cooled overnight, and thought I'd pick the chicken. I'd been intrigued by Vivian Howard's recipe for Scarlett's Chicken and Rice and thought it would be a good way to use the meat, as well as broth. So I pulled on a leg and it came right off and I thought, success! But the dark meat is not tender after all that time. Can I cook it again until the meat is tender, or will it be sawdust? Should I cut my losses and be happy with a good pot of broth?

Featured Answer

chloebud

7 years ago

mercurygirl, I'm really not sure but was curious and checked a few sites. This one mentions a minimum of 4 hours and max of 24...quite a difference! I hope someone here can answer your question. You should at least have a great pot of stock. :-)

http://www.brookfordfarm.com/blog/2016/4/15/how-to-cook-a-stewing-hen-and-why-you-should

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Comments (7)

annie1992
7 years ago
Cook it some more. I'd use the liquid/stock that you've already cooked it in if you are going to simmer it more.

Otherwise, drag out your cast iron dutch oven, add some aromatics and braise it. Low and slow, and it'll be tender eventually.

I usually can my old hens, the time in the pressure canner helps a lot.

Annie
mercurygirl thanked annie1992
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I have butchered my own and if you can come by them economically, it's a great thing to put on your pantry shelves, because it's a ready-made soup base, and great starter broth for chicken and noodles. I have only lost one jar of them over the years and I think it was a slow lid leak due to too much fat in the broth. I cool down the meat/broth after I simmer it off the bone and separate it, so that I can skim off the fat for that reason. You lose a little of the richness by doing it, but it's not safe to try to can fatty broths. I'd imagine the NCHFP has good directions. I usually try to keep some meat/broths on the pantry shelf to hedge against freezer failures when we lose power. Nothing is as exasperating as trying to salvage a freezer full of meat in an extended power outage. It's also a common practise when you home butcher unless you want to stock multiple freezers.
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mercurygirl
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks for the link and advice ladies. Simmering for another three hours and will see in the morning.
writersblock (9b/10a)
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
My Dominican friends would tell you there's no better remedy for just about everything than a very old hen, the older the better, stewed into soup with herbs from morning till night or even longer.
mercurygirl thanked writersblock (9b/10a)
mercurygirl
Original Author
7 years ago
Just to follow up, I did cook it longer. The carcass fell apart, but the meat was still a little chewy and pretty flavorless, so I pitched it. I do have some great broth, anyway. Thanks, all!
chloebud
7 years ago
Nice to have the good broth!
mercurygirl thanked chloebud
annie1992
7 years ago
Yes, it is nice to have good broth, but it's a shame about the chicken. I usually use carcasses and bones to make stock, not the entire bird, but after it cooks 24 hours or so, it's pretty flavorless. Any scraps make good pet food, as I make my own.

Grandma used to remove the meat from the stock, chop it pretty finely and make "chicken and biscuits", which was her version of chicken ala king, or she'd shop the meat, put it back into the broth and make dumplings. Although my husband is from Tennessee, he HATES chicken and dumplings, so that's out in my house, LOL.

It's always nice to have good stock on hand though, for a lot of things.

Annie
mercurygirl thanked annie1992

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