# Crockpotting an old hen....any ideas?



## rmrc (Aug 20, 2009)

I know that I can make crock pot chicken soup from an old hen and it winds up not being tough and it's very tasty. There must be some recipes for making a "sink your teeth in" dinner with the old girls. I was hoping for a lemon chicken recipe or something with a little kick but with a freezer 1/2 full of the old girls I'm not too fussy!

Let me know what you know!


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

I'm not much on the taste of lemon chicken just to eat with side dishes, but I do like to use it sliced into chunks and made into a chicken salad. It's actually a lemon/herb roasted chicken from the Kroger deli, so I don't have that recipe, but here's the chicken salad recipe I use:

3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup coleslaw dressing (mix 1/2 cup salad dressing with 1/4 cup sugar or Splenda equalivent, and 2 tablespoons plain yogurt)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onion tops
1/2 cup seedless grapes
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Mix all and chill in a covered container before serving. I love to eat it on grilled sourdough bread.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

We eat a lot of old girls and they are tender, fall off the bone good.
I put them in a covered roasting pan with a cup of water in the bottom, some herbs, garlic etc.. and cook them low and slow. About 2508-275* all afternoon.
We do eat it as chicken, but mainly we like dishes made with chicken: chicken pot pie, hot adn spicy chicken over rice, chicken broccoli casserole etc..
I just pull the meat and bag it up for the freezer and use it as needed for recipes.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm.


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## sss3 (Jul 15, 2007)

Have a whole chicken that's been in freezer for a year. Is this going to be dry?


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

Sandra Spiess said:


> Have a whole chicken that's been in freezer for a year. Is this going to be dry?


As long as it doesn't smell like freezer burn, then it shouldn't be any different than any other. If in doubt, just add some broth or marinade it first.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Cook old meat as though it was wild game. Slow moist cooking, like Chickenesta wrote.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

I couldn't resist adding this story to your post. Hope you enjoy it. It's true! Wade

1shotwade 1shotwade is online now
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: southern hills of indiana
Posts: 265
short but true chicken story!
My wife used to work in a nursing home as an RN. Many old folks had noone so she would sign someone out over the weekend and take them out like a family would. One spring on the way home from church I tried making conversation with this old lady."Pretty spring day isn't it" "hep,reminds me of mud chicken" now i'm thinking she is a bit off but I had to ask"What is mud chicken?" "Well, this time of year we were very busy boiling down maple sap and it was a good time to thin out the chicken house. We would take them old hens that quit laying and chop their heads off.Then we would just through them down in a mud puddle and get them all coated with mud and throw them in the fire we used to boil down maple sap.Then in a couple hours we would take a rake and drag them out of the fire,let them cool some and when you could handle them just throw them down on a stump.Well,when they hit that stump that mud would break and take every feather off with it and you had some nice tender chicken to eat"
true story folks,hope you enjoyed it!


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

I agree with Chickenista. 

I also like to slow roast in a crockpot overnight old rabbits with 1/2 apple juice and 1/2 water
till that animal is swimming or 1/2 cranberry juice and 1/2 water until they fall off the bone. I know it's not an old hen, but it works for old rabbitseep:


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

Coca cola makes a fine "marinade" mixed with some diced garlic, black pepper, and Italian seasoning or poultry seasoning. It helps tenderize whatever meat you're cooking. I use it in place of water.


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