So, what do I do with it?
Nog and I decided to try roasted pullet for our New Year’s Eve dinner. I’m assuming that you just cook it the same as a chicken? With stuffing? Help?
pullet surprise
31 Sunday Dec 2006
Posted in christmas, food & drink, holidays
casa azahar 
I always wanted a Pulitzer prize 😉
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What the heckity heck is a pullet, anyway? I know a capon is a rooster which has been tampered with (ahem), but a pullet? Is it like a hen, maybe? Inquiring minds want to know…
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“A young domestic hen, usually one that is less than one year old”.
I was told by a student last week that he prefers pullet to chicken because the meat is ‘más fina’, so I thought I’d try it.
The other difference is that pullet costs twice as much as chicken so I hope it’s worth it.
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Lord, don’t burn it, then!
Actually, it should be quite lovely cooked quickly, as it’s young chicken. Roasting would be toughening, I should think. Broiling, on the other hand, may be just the ticket. Put the stuffing in a casserole, not the pullet, and serve on the side.
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Well, I’ve been googling for pullet recipes and found nothing interesting … then I decided to google for ‘pularda recetas’ in Spanish and got lots more option. Such as…
stuffed pullet and pullet with herbs.
I’ll probably just go with a bread stuffing and hope for the best.
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I would agree with spacecadette. Don’t cook it too long if its young. I’m having slow cooked coq au vin with an old free range bird. If it’s old cook long, if young, not too long cos all the flavour goes.
You could do a slow cooked vegy thing separaetly to go with it.
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Cook your pullet at a fairly low temperature. We have raised chickens for meat, and when you do that they are butchered quite young.
When we roast a chicken, in order to keep it from getting tough, it is important not to use too high a temperature. Generally, we set the oven at 275-300 degrees F. We have found that simple is better, also.
Wash the chicken. Rub the inside with salt, pepper and garlic. Rub the outside with olive oil. Cut a couple of lemons into chunks. Break a head of garlic into its requisite cloves, and bang on them a few times to break the skins and bruise them. Pick a couple of sprigs of rosemary. Stuff all that into the cavity of the bird and pop it into the oven. We have roasted them both in a roasting pan and also in a cast iron pot with a lid. The cast iron method the chicken does not brown much, but it tastes great anyway.The drippings make wonderful gravy.
When we are all done eating the bird, we take the entire carcass, lemons and all, and throw it into a pot with a couple of carrots, a stick of celery and an onion, and boil it until everything falls apart. Then we strain it and use the stock to make gravy or as a soup base or to cook rice.
Waste not, want not. . . I learned to do this from my mother. That way you are not always buying canned chicken stock. Any that is left over freezes very nicely. We use one pint sour cream containers to freeze stock in, then you can pop the blocks of stock out of the container and put them into plastic bags for long storage, and reuse your containers.
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Oh, of course if you are making stock, you cover all that stuff with water. . .
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I’ve never had pullet, but it does look like it’s best to treat it much like chicken. I tend to find that the nicer the meat, the less additional flavours you need. If it’s *that* good, you don’t want to drown the flavour in a sauce. Herbs and garlic sound like the best options.
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Thanks for all the suggestions … we’re just getting it together now. I’m going to make some bread stuffing and then surround the bird with veg and potatoes while it’s roasting.
Yes, it will be mostly garlic and a few herbs for seasoning. Mmmm…
And I will definitely use the carcass to make some fabulous soup tomorrow. As well as the leftover meat for a shepherd’s pie since we will also be roasting some pork ribs with the pullet (hey, it costs a lot to have the oven going … may as well make the most of it and have plenty of leftovers).
Wish us luck!!!
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Oh.My.Gawd.
It really is way much better than yer usual chicken. The meat is sooooo tender, also has much more flavour. I didn’t bother with gravy and it didn’t matter. Even the breast meat was melt-in-your-mouth moist … very nice! Wow!
Much too full to consider dessert but I’m still savouring my most recent ‘American Pie’ contest win … VICTORY IS MINE!
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Glad that it was good. We are having fish for dinner before we head out to a party where there will be undoubtedly way too many really good things to snack on and a sauna.
Happy New Year, all.
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I’m late on this – “Chicken” has become an annoying advertising misnomer. The life cycle of the common domesticated Hen (or Cock) is
Chicken – young baby
Pullet – grown, looks like a small hen – adolescent and, later, beginning to lay SMALL eggs
Hen (or, as we say in Australia “Chook”) full grown and becoming tougher by the month!
Yes about capons. Terminally tampered (Ouch)
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Glad it worked so well. In my neck of the woods, I don’t think I could find a pullet for love or money. It would take a specialty butcher to have those, and I’d probably have to order in advance, at that. Lotta bother for a bird. 🙂
Capons — ouch, indeed. Also a lot of effort, First, catch the rooster chick… (evilgrin)
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Forgot to mention, my Hopping John rocked!! I made it with rice, come cajun spices and a green salad on the side. My ex’s wife brought over some homemade wholewheat sourdough bread for me, that was to die for!!! All in all, lovely in the extreme.
I’m going to have to make HJ more than once a year, yes indeedy!! AND learn to bake — that wonderful bread with a great crumb, and very moist for wholewheat. YUMMO!
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