Aging

For best results, we recommend that you age your heritage chicken for 24 hours in the refrigerator after it has thawed. This will improve the texture of the bird.

Baking

We suggest baking your heritage chicken in a covered pot (a dutch oven or le creuset is perfect for this) at about 325 F for 30 minutes per pound. Do not removing the cover during the cooking process as they do not need basting and the skin will brown nicely. If you really want to guarantee juicy, fall off the bones, deliciousness, we recommend baking at 180 F for 8-12 hours.

We highly recommend adding 1 or 2 cups liquid to the pan (water, broth, wine, apple cider, beer, etc). Be sure elevate the chicken on a bed of onions, root vegetables, fruit, or a mix of all three. Also note that the pan should be tightly covered so the moisture won't escape.

Slow Cooker

If your slow cooker has a setting that is below 200 F, it will work for stewing your heritage chicken. Feel free to follow whatever slow cooker recipe you have except be sure to keep the temperature under 200 F (we recommend 180 F). You should allow it to cook for 6-8 hours.

Sous Vide

This works best with a cut-up chicken. Please note that sharp bones could be an issue here so deboning your chicken might be the way to go. We recommend that you set the temperature to 180 F and cook for 6-8 hours.

Broth

Heritage chicken will make the richest broth. We recommend using necks or bones and skin, but you can use the whole chicken too. You can freeze the bones, skin and onions from when you cook a chicken, saving the "soup parts" until there is enough to do a larger batch.

We add 1 quart of water to 1 lb of bones or necks. You may want to add 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 lg onion, two lb carrots, and 2 lb celery stalks to add depth and richness to the broth. For best results, simmer (do not boil) for 6-8 hours.