a muscle abnormality in the chicken
May 28, 2022 9:57 AM Subscribe
"Yeah, it is seriously putting me off chicken breast." Industrially farmed chicken affected by woody breast has a very different, stringy texture and is dismaying cooks and consumers. White striping and woody breast is associated with fast growing, heavier broiler chickens but research on its effects and poultry industry options remains ongoing.
I've encountered this once or twice in chicken bought from the local grocery. Not sure if there's a correlation, but I exclusively buy fresh value-pack/bulk pack from the butcher's counter, not the big-bag frozen. I just chalked it up to "huh, weird" but now at least I know there's a name for it. I have noticed that the chicken breasts have been getting bigger and bigger, like freakin' turkey sized almost. Single boneless skinless breasts at 1.25-1.5lbs each! Something's gotta give. As with thoroughburro, the decline in meat quality and practices, and ever-escalating prices are pushing us toward vegetarianism.
posted by xedrik at 10:30 AM on May 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by xedrik at 10:30 AM on May 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
I'd noticed this as a thing from time to time over the last couple of years, but I didn't realize it had a name. Another product of capitalism and factory farming, but I would place my bet that this is a problem they will figure out how to fix. Because it affects the bottom line, of course. The articles indicate that they're doing better filtering to detect it and route the woody ones to alternate uses where the texture doesn't matter, but I'm certain that they will invest effort in trying to breed it out. Of course, if breeding it out decreases yields enough that it's a net loss, then they won't use it. Echoes of the Fight Club automotive recall scene.
posted by notoriety public at 10:31 AM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by notoriety public at 10:31 AM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
Fun fact I recently learned: broiler chickens have been bred to put on weight as quickly as possible, and most break their own legs as there's insufficient bone growth to support the weight.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:37 AM on May 28, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 10:37 AM on May 28, 2022 [11 favorites]
Not as unsettling as “spaghetti meat”.
posted by etc passwd at 10:38 AM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by etc passwd at 10:38 AM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
My observation has been opposite, no rapid decline of meat available to the average consumer. In fact, much higher quality overall, probably historically so.
This isn't to say that poor quality meat doesn't exist. I have a feeling this will probably sort itself out. Unpalatable meat carries its own weaker incentive for farms to produce.
posted by 2N2222 at 10:40 AM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
This isn't to say that poor quality meat doesn't exist. I have a feeling this will probably sort itself out. Unpalatable meat carries its own weaker incentive for farms to produce.
posted by 2N2222 at 10:40 AM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
The articles indicate that they're doing better filtering to detect it and route the woody ones to alternate uses where the texture doesn't matter
SecretBurgers!
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:44 AM on May 28, 2022
SecretBurgers!
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:44 AM on May 28, 2022
Have you ever gone over a friend's house to eat and the food just ain't no good?
The macaroni's soggy, the peas are mushed, and the chicken tastes like wood?
posted by 7segment at 10:46 AM on May 28, 2022 [39 favorites]
The macaroni's soggy, the peas are mushed, and the chicken tastes like wood?
posted by 7segment at 10:46 AM on May 28, 2022 [39 favorites]
You're gonna tell 'em, Soylent Green stringy chicken breast is people!
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:26 AM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:26 AM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is also a manifestation of the weird 80s-era hang-on where dark meat chicken (by far the superior tasting chicken meat) was so thoroughly demonized for so long because of its higher fat content.
posted by tclark at 11:32 AM on May 28, 2022 [23 favorites]
posted by tclark at 11:32 AM on May 28, 2022 [23 favorites]
Huh, this definitely explains some really awful fast-food chicken sandwiches I've had lately. Good to know what to look out for I guess, tho less helpful for prepared food.
posted by Aleyn at 11:33 AM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Aleyn at 11:33 AM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
I was vegetarian for a long time, vegan for a couple of years and drifted back into eating meat a couple of times a week during the pandemic as kind of a treat. I'm pretty much getting back to being vegetarian and expect to trend back to substantially vegan cooking - somewhat because of the cost, although we could swing meat once or twice a week, but mostly because of stuff like this, with the combination of obviously intensified animal suffering and a grotesque production system. Like, I don't want to eat body horror, thank you very much.
This whole thing, it's just a horror planet now. I just feel like saying one big "no, not like this" to the entire world.
posted by Frowner at 12:19 PM on May 28, 2022 [35 favorites]
This whole thing, it's just a horror planet now. I just feel like saying one big "no, not like this" to the entire world.
posted by Frowner at 12:19 PM on May 28, 2022 [35 favorites]
Shouldn't this be a big sign that factory farming these unusually large-breasted chickens is a bad idea?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:22 PM on May 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:22 PM on May 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
Now, can we investigate why chicken breasts of today are now the same size as an entire chicken of ten years ago?
posted by Thorzdad at 12:33 PM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 12:33 PM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
Someone in the cooks thread bought a chicken breast with a tumor mass in it... how can that remotely be healthy. Gross.
posted by subdee at 12:36 PM on May 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by subdee at 12:36 PM on May 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
This is also a manifestation of the weird 80s-era hang-on where dark meat chicken (by far the superior tasting chicken meat) was so thoroughly demonized for so long because of its higher fat content.
I prefer dark meat, but every once in a while I’ll buy chicken breasts especially if they are on clearance because they expire that day/next day. On one of those rare occasions, I ran into this, and just assumed it was my cooking or the lack of fat (or both) since I usually cook thighs and legs.
Now that I know this is an issue, I’m just gonna stick to dark meat. It isn’t that far of a stretch to believe that the cut of chicken that comes off comparatively in the best of times dry would be more dry and woody under the wrong circumstances.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 12:52 PM on May 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
I prefer dark meat, but every once in a while I’ll buy chicken breasts especially if they are on clearance because they expire that day/next day. On one of those rare occasions, I ran into this, and just assumed it was my cooking or the lack of fat (or both) since I usually cook thighs and legs.
Now that I know this is an issue, I’m just gonna stick to dark meat. It isn’t that far of a stretch to believe that the cut of chicken that comes off comparatively in the best of times dry would be more dry and woody under the wrong circumstances.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 12:52 PM on May 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
This is oddly fact-free. I'm not saying there isn't poor quality chicken in the supply chain, there absolutely is. But reading through those links, I struggled to get any sense of how common (or rare) "woody" chicken is. I'm not even sure I understand what "woody" chicken is.
I was buying cheap bulk chicken breasts for most of the pandemic, but recently upgraded to higher quality product. The difference was very noticeable. So it's entirely possible I've had woody chicken but just thought of it as "cheap chicken that sucks."
Could this be the outcome of bad sorting by the processors? That lower quality chicken is getting into products it's not meant for?
posted by elwoodwiles at 12:54 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
I was buying cheap bulk chicken breasts for most of the pandemic, but recently upgraded to higher quality product. The difference was very noticeable. So it's entirely possible I've had woody chicken but just thought of it as "cheap chicken that sucks."
Could this be the outcome of bad sorting by the processors? That lower quality chicken is getting into products it's not meant for?
posted by elwoodwiles at 12:54 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
Shouldn't this be a big sign that factory farming these unusually large-breasted chickens is a bad idea?
So the market dictates. At this point, the breasts are so large that with the price of breast meat, the majority of the value of a chicken is in the breasts. Chicken are basically raised for their breasts and the rest is incidental.
Why people, at least in North America, seem to want chicken breast so badly even though it is dry, very easily overcooked, low on flavour and has a not particularly pleasant texture even when it isn't woody is beyond me. I get annoyed when I buy a whole bird and roast it because there's just so much breast meat to get through.
Other cultures, like China for example, don't have this strange belief that chicken breast is delicious.
posted by ssg at 12:59 PM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
So the market dictates. At this point, the breasts are so large that with the price of breast meat, the majority of the value of a chicken is in the breasts. Chicken are basically raised for their breasts and the rest is incidental.
Why people, at least in North America, seem to want chicken breast so badly even though it is dry, very easily overcooked, low on flavour and has a not particularly pleasant texture even when it isn't woody is beyond me. I get annoyed when I buy a whole bird and roast it because there's just so much breast meat to get through.
Other cultures, like China for example, don't have this strange belief that chicken breast is delicious.
posted by ssg at 12:59 PM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
Other cultures, like China for example, don't have this strange belief that chicken breast is delicious.
It's nowhere near the case that people get chicken breast because it's delicious. It's probably literally the worst-tasting meat of the chicken.
It's easy to breed for higher yields and lower in fat. Add those two things, and you get health-cult levels of belief that chicken white meat is far healthier when really the difference is negligible.
posted by tclark at 1:15 PM on May 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
It's nowhere near the case that people get chicken breast because it's delicious. It's probably literally the worst-tasting meat of the chicken.
It's easy to breed for higher yields and lower in fat. Add those two things, and you get health-cult levels of belief that chicken white meat is far healthier when really the difference is negligible.
posted by tclark at 1:15 PM on May 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
chicken breast, especially the big boneless skinless slabs you see in the stores, are also about as 'non-animal' looking as anything short of hamburger. No bones, no veins, no gristly bits. It's just an anonymous wedge of protein. So kids and other easily-squeamish people can just think of it as a food unit instead of a portion of muscle tisssue that was cut off a once-living animal.
posted by The otter lady at 1:18 PM on May 28, 2022 [41 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 1:18 PM on May 28, 2022 [41 favorites]
Do you have a choice in US supermarkets? Here, one of the biggest discount chains has a great free-range "forest-chicken" that is really good value for money, though it costs three times as much as industrial chicken and weighs less. It's not that you get more meat, contrariwise, but the meat you get is much more tasty, so less stretches longer. Also, because they are outdoors, foraging, the chickens are not very fat, and the fat there is is glorious for schmalz. You can still get the factory farmed chicken, but it seems more and more people are choosing the tasty version or the even more expensive organic birds, so the other chains are copying the concept.
If you don't have that choice, maybe it could be a big business for an entrepreneural MeFite.
posted by mumimor at 1:31 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you don't have that choice, maybe it could be a big business for an entrepreneural MeFite.
posted by mumimor at 1:31 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
This whole thing, it's just a horror planet now.
Sorry, no. This particular horror is a US thing. The rest of us have food standards.
I just feel like saying one big "no, not like this" to the entire world.
As a member of the world outside the US, I can assure you that that's been exactly the message I've been taking away from looking at the way the US operates for at least the last forty years.
posted by flabdablet at 1:38 PM on May 28, 2022 [23 favorites]
Sorry, no. This particular horror is a US thing. The rest of us have food standards.
I just feel like saying one big "no, not like this" to the entire world.
As a member of the world outside the US, I can assure you that that's been exactly the message I've been taking away from looking at the way the US operates for at least the last forty years.
posted by flabdablet at 1:38 PM on May 28, 2022 [23 favorites]
This is also a manifestation of the weird 80s-era hang-on where dark meat chicken (by far the superior tasting chicken meat) was so thoroughly demonized for so long because of its higher fat content.
Americans' preference for white meat dates back further than that. Food scientists have several hypotheses about why this might be true, and the poultry industry played up the (purported) health benefits of white meat to increase profits; but it doesn't seem likely that it just started in the '80s.
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:40 PM on May 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
Americans' preference for white meat dates back further than that. Food scientists have several hypotheses about why this might be true, and the poultry industry played up the (purported) health benefits of white meat to increase profits; but it doesn't seem likely that it just started in the '80s.
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:40 PM on May 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
(But yes, dark meat is in fact superior)
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:42 PM on May 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:42 PM on May 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
Reg'lar supermarket chickens have been bred and fed to grow from 2oz=50g at hatch to 4.5lb=2kg in 42 days having eaten 6.75lb=3kg of feed [feed conversion ratio 1.5]. imo chicken tastes better than soya beans, but that's a very low bar and not low enough to swallow the ethical issues of factory chicken. But at least you know where you are with cheap chicken; adding slogans like "organic", "free-range", "corn-fed" requires an additional level of skeptical enquiry about those words really mean . . . and I can't be arsed would rather eat mujadarra any / every day.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:47 PM on May 28, 2022
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:47 PM on May 28, 2022
This particular horror is a US thing. The rest of us have food standards
Not for long! Across the pond we've Taken Back Control and will be furiously importing your weirdly fibrous chicken very soon! apparently it's actually superior because of the free market, or something!
posted by ominous_paws at 2:05 PM on May 28, 2022 [16 favorites]
Not for long! Across the pond we've Taken Back Control and will be furiously importing your weirdly fibrous chicken very soon! apparently it's actually superior because of the free market, or something!
posted by ominous_paws at 2:05 PM on May 28, 2022 [16 favorites]
I should not have clicked on the spaghetti meat link above.. that is Cthulhu levels of horrific.
And I have eaten meat for multiple decades..
posted by Faintdreams at 2:39 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
And I have eaten meat for multiple decades..
posted by Faintdreams at 2:39 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
Someone in the cooks thread bought a chicken breast with a tumor mass in it... how can that remotely be healthy. Gross.
That's fascinating, subdee!
Because when the the immune system attacks the body's own tissues, it typically has a sclerotizing effect, and the immune system usually does attack cancerous and precancerous tissue.
So I think it's reasonable to guess that we've selected for large breasts in these chickens so rigorously that some of the usual genetic checks against unlimited growth in their breast muscle tissue have been eliminated, and the "woody" texture actually results from attacks by the immune system on that recognizably abnormal tissue.
I wonder how many chicken breasts are discarded after slaughter because of visible or palpable tumors. Ugh and double ugh!
posted by jamjam at 2:56 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
That's fascinating, subdee!
Because when the the immune system attacks the body's own tissues, it typically has a sclerotizing effect, and the immune system usually does attack cancerous and precancerous tissue.
So I think it's reasonable to guess that we've selected for large breasts in these chickens so rigorously that some of the usual genetic checks against unlimited growth in their breast muscle tissue have been eliminated, and the "woody" texture actually results from attacks by the immune system on that recognizably abnormal tissue.
I wonder how many chicken breasts are discarded after slaughter because of visible or palpable tumors. Ugh and double ugh!
posted by jamjam at 2:56 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
Do you have a choice in US supermarkets?
I have a choice between the cheapest, most industrially produced chicken and more expensive industrially produced chicken that isn't pumped full of "flavoring solution." I can also buy organic chicken, but this is also industrially produced chicken - just without antibiotics and maybe slightly better living conditions.
As far as I'm aware, there's no way to buy "free range chicken" in my town unless it's the right week at the farmer's market. That's not most weeks of the year.
Food quality in the US is generally appalling. If you live in the right area and have enough money, you can pay for better, but that's a big "if."
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:19 PM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
I have a choice between the cheapest, most industrially produced chicken and more expensive industrially produced chicken that isn't pumped full of "flavoring solution." I can also buy organic chicken, but this is also industrially produced chicken - just without antibiotics and maybe slightly better living conditions.
As far as I'm aware, there's no way to buy "free range chicken" in my town unless it's the right week at the farmer's market. That's not most weeks of the year.
Food quality in the US is generally appalling. If you live in the right area and have enough money, you can pay for better, but that's a big "if."
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:19 PM on May 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
I currently have some woody breast chicken tenders I'm trying to save from the garbage can by turning it into something where I don't really notice its texture. I made this post but I actually didn't dig too deep because I discovered that I'm squicked out by the term myopathy. I don't want to eat myopathic meat. From another Poultry World post:
Three well-defined, degenerative breast diseases of broiler chickens — woody breast, white striping and deep pectoral myopathy — are not associated with infectious or pathogenic agents, nor do they present a threat to food safety, according to a new report by the American Association of Avian Pathologists (AAAP).posted by spamandkimchi at 3:26 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
All three breast diseases have been seen in all breed crosses of broiler chickens as early as 2 weeks of age, with varying prevalence under a wide-range of slaughter weights, management, feeding and rearing systems. The exact cause or causes of these conditions have not yet been identified.
However, inadequate blood supply to the tissues — which may result from sudden exertion, overstretching and/or compression — as well as a lower rate of blood supply and a decline in metabolic waste-product removal (carbon dioxide and lactic acid) from the muscle fibres are “likely to be involved,” AAAP said.
The Whole Foods near me (also the non-WF natural grocery store) carries Mary's Free Range Chickens.
There are also two local food co-ops (run by volunteers, with limited pickup hours) that carry chickens from these folks.
A local free-range chicken is like twenty bucks, where a factory-farmed one from the big chain grocery store is around seven.
posted by box at 3:33 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
There are also two local food co-ops (run by volunteers, with limited pickup hours) that carry chickens from these folks.
A local free-range chicken is like twenty bucks, where a factory-farmed one from the big chain grocery store is around seven.
posted by box at 3:33 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
So it's entirely possible I've had woody chicken but just thought of it as "cheap chicken that sucks."
You would know if you’ve had it. It’s inedible. The texture is hugely different from a normal chicken breast and is, for me at least, deeply unsettling. It’s like some unholy combination of raw, overcooked and rotten.
posted by TurnKey at 4:00 PM on May 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
You would know if you’ve had it. It’s inedible. The texture is hugely different from a normal chicken breast and is, for me at least, deeply unsettling. It’s like some unholy combination of raw, overcooked and rotten.
posted by TurnKey at 4:00 PM on May 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
The most unsettling chicken experience I’ve had was finding green flesh inside a roast chicken. Like this but mine was a brighter colour, it looked like some avocado had somehow got into the chook.
posted by andraste at 4:08 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by andraste at 4:08 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
A local free-range chicken is like twenty bucks, where a factory-farmed one from the big chain grocery store is around seven.
This is probably very location dependent, but at my Kroger in the Pacific Northwest today, standard whole chickens from Foster Farms were on sale for over $2/lb, so each one was about $16.
posted by skycrashesdown at 4:25 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is probably very location dependent, but at my Kroger in the Pacific Northwest today, standard whole chickens from Foster Farms were on sale for over $2/lb, so each one was about $16.
posted by skycrashesdown at 4:25 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've found myself putting chicken at the bottom of the list of protein I want to eat. Unless a chef has some signature chicken dish that's an internationally award winning 11/10, I'm not interested. I certainly don't buy it as an ingredient. There are many more, much nicer vegetarian and vegan options I enjoy ahead of chicken. This is not a boycott, and not even me trying to be better for the environment, is just deciding something sucks and leaving it behind.
posted by krisjohn at 4:30 PM on May 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by krisjohn at 4:30 PM on May 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
The most unsettling chicken experience I’ve had was finding green flesh inside a roast chicken. Like this but mine was a brighter colour, it looked like some avocado had somehow got into the chook.
This thread is amazing!
Green tissue like that is a sign of copper concentration, and I was wondering whether lots of copper is added to chicken feed because tissue growth requires capillary beds, and the growth of capillary beds is dependent on a copper bearing enzyme. It turns out that lots of copper is added to chicken feed:
But I think it’s a problem if enough copper to turn flesh green can end up in your chicken.
posted by jamjam at 4:52 PM on May 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
This thread is amazing!
Green tissue like that is a sign of copper concentration, and I was wondering whether lots of copper is added to chicken feed because tissue growth requires capillary beds, and the growth of capillary beds is dependent on a copper bearing enzyme. It turns out that lots of copper is added to chicken feed:
Abstractbut apparently not merely to promote growth.
Copper is often added to poultry diets as an antimicrobial agent at doses greatly exceeding the nutritional requirement.
But I think it’s a problem if enough copper to turn flesh green can end up in your chicken.
posted by jamjam at 4:52 PM on May 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
I think I encountered this woody meat thing before, but I always assumed that it was because I overcooked or didn't cook the chicken properly. Maybe it was indeed my error that gave me the results, but now I'm wondering if it was just crappy meat.
posted by hippybear at 5:08 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 5:08 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
One of the articles mentions something fascinating - there are baseline reference chicken breeds, i.e. Standard Reference Chickens, like the Athens Random Bred, and the Athens Canadian Random Bred, that attempt to preserve 1950s style commercial meat chickens.
posted by zamboni at 5:26 PM on May 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 5:26 PM on May 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
I mostly get bone-in chicken thighs. if I need a single poultry breast to feed 2 -3 people, I'll get turkey. This does seem iconically American - yuge portion of poor quality.
I would be pleased if the safety and quality of food in the US was quite a bit better.
posted by theora55 at 5:49 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
I would be pleased if the safety and quality of food in the US was quite a bit better.
posted by theora55 at 5:49 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
People in the US aren't prepared to pay real wages to anyone who puts food into the system to begin with, so of course the quality is poor. Food like it was 30-40 years ago would cost like 5x what we pay today.
But then, I think back to the 70s and the rampant inflation which led to the creation of store brands and the white label-black print truly generic foods and stuff, to compete with name brands like Del Monte or Bird's Eye or whatever. We've been degrading our food to keep prices more or less outside of rising production costs for a generation at least.
posted by hippybear at 5:57 PM on May 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
But then, I think back to the 70s and the rampant inflation which led to the creation of store brands and the white label-black print truly generic foods and stuff, to compete with name brands like Del Monte or Bird's Eye or whatever. We've been degrading our food to keep prices more or less outside of rising production costs for a generation at least.
posted by hippybear at 5:57 PM on May 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
Do you have a choice in US supermarkets?
Generally, yes. At my local (not fancy, small, mostly for people in the neighborhood) grocery store, there are at least four levels of chicken for sale. The cheapest is in the frozen section. Then there are three levels of chicken in the refrigerated meat section: basic chicken with no claims on the packaging about quality or living conditions; free range pieces and whole chickens (this is usually what I get); and more expensive organic chicken.
The larger grocery store I go to sometimes has more options, but they basically fall into those kinds of categories. And the artisanal butcher store has local chickens, but at a considerable price.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:58 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
Generally, yes. At my local (not fancy, small, mostly for people in the neighborhood) grocery store, there are at least four levels of chicken for sale. The cheapest is in the frozen section. Then there are three levels of chicken in the refrigerated meat section: basic chicken with no claims on the packaging about quality or living conditions; free range pieces and whole chickens (this is usually what I get); and more expensive organic chicken.
The larger grocery store I go to sometimes has more options, but they basically fall into those kinds of categories. And the artisanal butcher store has local chickens, but at a considerable price.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:58 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
I always thought it was amazing how cheap food was in the US and somehow never made the connection to the corners they were cutting.
Although apparently it's been reported here as well, which is alarming.
posted by Merus at 6:04 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
Although apparently it's been reported here as well, which is alarming.
posted by Merus at 6:04 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
Just noticed that the OP is spamandkimchi. Eponstyrical!
posted by theora55 at 6:10 PM on May 28, 2022
posted by theora55 at 6:10 PM on May 28, 2022
It's nowhere near the case that people get chicken breast because it's delicious. It's probably literally the worst-tasting meat of the chicken.
And yet people regularly open their wallets to pay the higher price per pound of boneless skinless chicken breast when they could buy cheaper thighs or drumsticks (wings are more expensive per pound of actual meat, but aren't really used for the same purpose). Consequently, chickens have been bred to maximize breast meat production. If it was just about total weight, you'd expect breast meat would be sold at a discount because it is cheaper to produce more breast than other meat, but it isn't. People actually prefer the stuff and I don't think that's all about health. People just like bland food, I guess.
posted by ssg at 6:16 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
And yet people regularly open their wallets to pay the higher price per pound of boneless skinless chicken breast when they could buy cheaper thighs or drumsticks (wings are more expensive per pound of actual meat, but aren't really used for the same purpose). Consequently, chickens have been bred to maximize breast meat production. If it was just about total weight, you'd expect breast meat would be sold at a discount because it is cheaper to produce more breast than other meat, but it isn't. People actually prefer the stuff and I don't think that's all about health. People just like bland food, I guess.
posted by ssg at 6:16 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have a couple of options for chicken at my grocery store from Tyson/Perdue + the store processes whole chickens into parts & some organic/free-range brands. I got some woody chicken at some point between 2012 and 2019 (time is relative) and it was awful. Put me off chicken breasts for a while. The majority of my purchases are bone-in thighs now, as I learned how to debone if I need boneless in a pinch, though I also stock boneless skinless thighs for a few dishes and whole chickens. Thighs are the cheapest cut at the store, so shhh about it being tasty people, there's enough shortages as it is. All the "cheap" cuts of beef are expensive now, compared to before and including inflation once the blogs and magazines started trumpeting lower cost cuts.
Boneless skinless breasts are easy as they are ready to season and cook, but people cook them till they're drier than the Sahara and cover them with all sorts of sauces and toppings to hide the taste. Not to mention the casserole of the midcentury in which cut-up chicken breast was a big ingredient.
I'm researching keeping our own broilers and layers ala Polyface Farms and Joel Salatin, but his chicken tractor's going to require a bigger plot of land than I have currently (1 acre, rural area, dairy pasture across the road). My understanding is that I can butcher for home use or I can take them down to the local butcher shop for them to process if I want to share the chicken with other people not in the household/sell.
posted by tlwright at 6:42 PM on May 28, 2022
Boneless skinless breasts are easy as they are ready to season and cook, but people cook them till they're drier than the Sahara and cover them with all sorts of sauces and toppings to hide the taste. Not to mention the casserole of the midcentury in which cut-up chicken breast was a big ingredient.
I'm researching keeping our own broilers and layers ala Polyface Farms and Joel Salatin, but his chicken tractor's going to require a bigger plot of land than I have currently (1 acre, rural area, dairy pasture across the road). My understanding is that I can butcher for home use or I can take them down to the local butcher shop for them to process if I want to share the chicken with other people not in the household/sell.
posted by tlwright at 6:42 PM on May 28, 2022
Underpaying ag workers definitely doesn’t help, but it’s not recent. I bet some of this is a result of our increasing monopolies. Hardly any competition on quality, giant concerns optimizing for what giant concerns can do, and AIUI "cheap for consumers" is an adequate legal defense in the US.
I’ve seen reasoning that it’s amplifying a lot of other US problems, like having a few hypertrophic cities instead of thirty regional companies for each industry with their many headquarters keeping many small cities healthy.
posted by clew at 7:13 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’ve seen reasoning that it’s amplifying a lot of other US problems, like having a few hypertrophic cities instead of thirty regional companies for each industry with their many headquarters keeping many small cities healthy.
posted by clew at 7:13 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
Not to mention the casserole of the midcentury in which cut-up chicken breast was a big ingredient.
Oh lordy, I have like three of these I make all the time. I mean, I don't know. Green chile chicken enchilada casserole? I don't know if that's from the 1950s or whatever, but I won't stop making that.
(I do use thighs though.)
posted by hippybear at 7:22 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
Oh lordy, I have like three of these I make all the time. I mean, I don't know. Green chile chicken enchilada casserole? I don't know if that's from the 1950s or whatever, but I won't stop making that.
(I do use thighs though.)
posted by hippybear at 7:22 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
I went off chicken totally during pregnancy and the desire for it never really returned. Every now and again I’ll get a whole rotisserie chicken at the store but those are smaller and typically ok. Even so, I still get a little nauseated thinking of chicken, more so than other poultry for some reason. I have a friend who is pregnant at the moment and experiencing the same aversion. Maybe it’s just an aversion to overly woody chicken but it’s not like there’s enough adequate research into pregnancy health so we may never know….
posted by donut_princess at 7:51 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by donut_princess at 7:51 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
This particular horror is a US thing. The rest of us have food standards
A not small part of American diplomacy is the government demanding that other countries lower their food safety standards to allow American manufacturers access to their markets. The return of US beef to to Japanese markets took years and years of concerted State department pressure, but it’s back, like mad cow caused by factory farming practices and lax safety standards never happened.
If you live in a country with random price fluctuations in chicken, or random scarcity, check to see if there’s an avian flu outbreak in the states, they often coincide. Swine flu/foot in mouth, too. I wish we still lived in a country where things that happened in one nation didn’t have an impact on the daily life of those on the other side of the world, but that ship sailed a long time ago, flying whatever flag of convenience would allow it to skirt the most regulations.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:52 PM on May 28, 2022 [13 favorites]
A not small part of American diplomacy is the government demanding that other countries lower their food safety standards to allow American manufacturers access to their markets. The return of US beef to to Japanese markets took years and years of concerted State department pressure, but it’s back, like mad cow caused by factory farming practices and lax safety standards never happened.
If you live in a country with random price fluctuations in chicken, or random scarcity, check to see if there’s an avian flu outbreak in the states, they often coincide. Swine flu/foot in mouth, too. I wish we still lived in a country where things that happened in one nation didn’t have an impact on the daily life of those on the other side of the world, but that ship sailed a long time ago, flying whatever flag of convenience would allow it to skirt the most regulations.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:52 PM on May 28, 2022 [13 favorites]
I’m glad the woody breast issue is finally getting some attention. I’m one of those weirdos who actually likes eating boneless chicken breasts. The woody ones though, just.. gah, the texture is so offputting. It’s like biting into a rubbery dry sponge.
I have yet to come across this in the chicken breasts labeled air-chilled, which tend to be smaller. They of course cost a lot more money. So I’ve mostly stopped buying chicken breasts.
posted by wondermouse at 8:02 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
I have yet to come across this in the chicken breasts labeled air-chilled, which tend to be smaller. They of course cost a lot more money. So I’ve mostly stopped buying chicken breasts.
posted by wondermouse at 8:02 PM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
Copper is often added to poultry diets as an antimicrobial agent at doses greatly exceeding the nutritional requirement.
For the chicken or the human?
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:44 PM on May 28, 2022
For the chicken or the human?
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:44 PM on May 28, 2022
Ugh. Haven’t seen this yet in my chicken. I’ve been trying to recreate my favorite Chinese restaurant’s Chicken Curry for a while. I’m getting close. Haven’t noticed this yet. But buy organic, free range chicken. But, maybe I should stop. Disgusting.
posted by Windopaene at 10:00 PM on May 28, 2022
posted by Windopaene at 10:00 PM on May 28, 2022
People in the US aren't prepared to pay real wages to anyone who puts food into the system to begin with, so of course the quality is poor. Food like it was 30-40 years ago would cost like 5x what we pay today.
And yet people regularly open their wallets to pay the higher price per pound of boneless skinless chicken breast when they could buy cheaper thighs or drumsticks
Look, I don't really know how to have a conversation about meat choices in the US without talking about working conditions:
1) the wages of the public haven't gone up, so there's less money to buy nicer, more expensive chicken or other meats. Meat prices have increased over the last twenty-thirty years while wages have largely not. When I was a child, even in a poor family we ate some form of meat nearly every day. Now, as an adult, I cannot afford to do the same for my own family.
2) People who are buying chicken breast are not usually buying it because it tastes better, they are doing so because it is easier to cook and takes less time to prepare and eat. This is because with increasing commutes on top of longer working hours, people have less and less time to cook for their families. I prefer the taste and cost of chicken thighs, but every time I buy them I have to spend an additional twenty minutes either cutting them off the bone or picking bone out of the food. That may seem small, but I have little time for so many of the things I want to do already. My life is a constant choice between buying the easier thing or buying the cheaper thing.
Give me a job that lets me work from the hours of 9 to 5, with a half hour commute, that pays fair wages, and I'd be happy to buy and cook the good stuff. But until then, it's going to be Frankenchicken's Choice.
posted by corb at 10:25 PM on May 28, 2022 [20 favorites]
And yet people regularly open their wallets to pay the higher price per pound of boneless skinless chicken breast when they could buy cheaper thighs or drumsticks
Look, I don't really know how to have a conversation about meat choices in the US without talking about working conditions:
1) the wages of the public haven't gone up, so there's less money to buy nicer, more expensive chicken or other meats. Meat prices have increased over the last twenty-thirty years while wages have largely not. When I was a child, even in a poor family we ate some form of meat nearly every day. Now, as an adult, I cannot afford to do the same for my own family.
2) People who are buying chicken breast are not usually buying it because it tastes better, they are doing so because it is easier to cook and takes less time to prepare and eat. This is because with increasing commutes on top of longer working hours, people have less and less time to cook for their families. I prefer the taste and cost of chicken thighs, but every time I buy them I have to spend an additional twenty minutes either cutting them off the bone or picking bone out of the food. That may seem small, but I have little time for so many of the things I want to do already. My life is a constant choice between buying the easier thing or buying the cheaper thing.
Give me a job that lets me work from the hours of 9 to 5, with a half hour commute, that pays fair wages, and I'd be happy to buy and cook the good stuff. But until then, it's going to be Frankenchicken's Choice.
posted by corb at 10:25 PM on May 28, 2022 [20 favorites]
A visual illustration of how chickens have changed.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:30 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:30 PM on May 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
À propos of nothing, lately in the Netherlands, vegetarian and vegan options that look and taste like chicken are on the rise... both in quality and availability. I've had to check packaging once or twice because the resemblance can be uncanny (to someone who has not eaten any real chicken for 40 years). Is this a Thing in the US, too?
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:37 AM on May 29, 2022
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:37 AM on May 29, 2022
First experienced woody breast 5-10 years ago, here in the UK. So it’s neither a strictly recent nor a strictly geographic thing — albeit I’m not shocked if it’s on the rise. It really is so utterly unlike chicken in texture, it’s a real shock to come across.
posted by breakfast burrito at 4:51 AM on May 29, 2022
posted by breakfast burrito at 4:51 AM on May 29, 2022
dark meat is in fact superior
If I'm after bulk chicken meat for quick and easy prep, I buy these and put them straight in the freezer. I only half-thaw them before using one of my lovely tomato knives to cut the whole pack into strips before cooking with them, which makes both cutting and cleanup very quick and easy. Never had a bad pack in forty years, they brown beautifully, and you'd need to heaps overcook them to make them end up dry and awful.
Breast fillets are marginally cheaper per kilogram, but within the constraints of any given budget I'd choose to spend my money on slightly less thigh over slightly more breast every time. It seems to me that an actual preference for breast meat most often reflects an irrational, propaganda-induced fear of saturated fats. Yes, skin-off thigh fillets are higher in fat than skin-off breast fillets, which is exactly why they actually taste like something and have the better texture. No, they don't have anywhere near enough fat content to be reasonably described as a high-fat meat.
posted by flabdablet at 5:50 AM on May 29, 2022
If I'm after bulk chicken meat for quick and easy prep, I buy these and put them straight in the freezer. I only half-thaw them before using one of my lovely tomato knives to cut the whole pack into strips before cooking with them, which makes both cutting and cleanup very quick and easy. Never had a bad pack in forty years, they brown beautifully, and you'd need to heaps overcook them to make them end up dry and awful.
Breast fillets are marginally cheaper per kilogram, but within the constraints of any given budget I'd choose to spend my money on slightly less thigh over slightly more breast every time. It seems to me that an actual preference for breast meat most often reflects an irrational, propaganda-induced fear of saturated fats. Yes, skin-off thigh fillets are higher in fat than skin-off breast fillets, which is exactly why they actually taste like something and have the better texture. No, they don't have anywhere near enough fat content to be reasonably described as a high-fat meat.
posted by flabdablet at 5:50 AM on May 29, 2022
I've had to check packaging once or twice because the resemblance can be uncanny (to someone who has not eaten any real chicken for 40 years). Is this a Thing in the US, too?
Yes, vegan and vegetarian chicken-esque products are on the rise, and no, it's pretty hard to mistake one for the other. The meat industry has promoted a lot of laws about how such products are labeled, and meat substitutes typically have their own sections in grocery stores--next to, but not mixed in with, meat products in the deli aisle, and in their own space in the freezer aisle.
posted by box at 6:14 AM on May 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yes, vegan and vegetarian chicken-esque products are on the rise, and no, it's pretty hard to mistake one for the other. The meat industry has promoted a lot of laws about how such products are labeled, and meat substitutes typically have their own sections in grocery stores--next to, but not mixed in with, meat products in the deli aisle, and in their own space in the freezer aisle.
posted by box at 6:14 AM on May 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think they meant taste-wise? I've been very impressed with the quality of new "faux" chicken and beef products. Thinking of making the switch in a lot of recipes because of it. Prices are getting too high for meat that isn't very food at all.
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:13 AM on May 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:13 AM on May 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I made the decision last year to become a full-time vegetarian for moral reasons and nothing I’ve read or seen since then has made me anything but glad.
posted by rhymedirective at 7:18 AM on May 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by rhymedirective at 7:18 AM on May 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
It seems to me that an actual preference for breast meat most often reflects an irrational, propaganda-induced fear of saturated fats.
In my case it’s because I find that dark meat has a horrid texture that makes me shudder. Sometimes preference is just preference, and being entirely subjective, food preferences can’t be right or wrong—they just are. Everyone gets to like what they like.
posted by corey flood at 9:14 AM on May 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
In my case it’s because I find that dark meat has a horrid texture that makes me shudder. Sometimes preference is just preference, and being entirely subjective, food preferences can’t be right or wrong—they just are. Everyone gets to like what they like.
posted by corey flood at 9:14 AM on May 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
I bet some of this is a result of our increasing monopolies.--clew
I recommend the movie Super Size Me 2, where the maker of Super Size Me buys his own chicken farm, learns about growing unhealthy chickens, starts his own chicken restaurant, and hires food marketing firms to help him design menus and advertising. There's a lot of discussion of the monopoly practices in the chicken industry.
(Note I think the message the film makes is a good one, but note that the director has since revealed that he has a drunken abusive past).
posted by eye of newt at 9:41 AM on May 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I recommend the movie Super Size Me 2, where the maker of Super Size Me buys his own chicken farm, learns about growing unhealthy chickens, starts his own chicken restaurant, and hires food marketing firms to help him design menus and advertising. There's a lot of discussion of the monopoly practices in the chicken industry.
(Note I think the message the film makes is a good one, but note that the director has since revealed that he has a drunken abusive past).
posted by eye of newt at 9:41 AM on May 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
In my ideal world, I get to eat BBQ once or twice a summer without guilt, because once or twice a summer is the norm for everyone and, as a result, the demand can be met by farms which don’t cause any more suffering than nature demands of us all.
We eat a little meat about once a week. That way we can afford a bit of the good, organic stuff.
Artificial meat costs at least the same as real meat here, and I can taste and feel the difference, specially compared to free-range meat, so it's not really what we are looking for.
And then we go all in for Christmas, and maybe two or three other times a year. Wednesday we are having fried pork belly because it is a tradition here to eat pork belly on election day.
It's not more than about 100 years ago that most people in the world ate like that. But I think a big part of the problem is that many people feel that going back to it is a loss, a regression to poorer times. And also, people don't have the skills, at least in the West, so vegetable food seems sad. Those skills weren't lost yesterday, either. My mother's vegetable cooking consisted of opening a bag of mixed frozen vegetables and heating them up. If she was feeling creative, she would heat them up in a white sauce made with stock from a Maggi cube, flour and margarine. A salad was lettuce, unripe tomatoes and cucumber. And don't mention the casseroles. Those were more my stepmother's thing.
Then for a few years when I was a teen (30+ years ago), my aunt and uncle followed a macrobiotic diet. Specially my aunt is a brilliant cook, so to me it was fun and inspiring in general to visit them or taste their contributions to family dinners where they brought their own food, but some of the places they took us out to eat blew my mind: there was a secret dinner club that served Japanese Buddhist food. A-mazing! And an Italian restaurant where we had all their vegetarian antipasti: so many different vegetables, and so many ways to prepare them! Who knew? There was also a very good Jain restaurant, though it wasn't as mind-blowing as the others. We also went to more typical hippie vegetarian restaurants, they didn't impress me as much, I can really understand those people who can't see themselves giving up on meat, when nut-loaf and slaws without the mayo are the alternatives.
I think one thing that is really good about this age, is that restaurants are getting much better in far more places. That way, people encounter new ways (to them) of cooking and eating vegetables, and even try them at home. A lot of the popular food bloggers have vegetable mains, too, even Pioneer Woman Ree.
Imagine that in ten years, a barbecue has less meat and more vegetables, both prepared in more imaginative ways. It would be more welcoming for vegetarians, more healthy and safer for the planet.
posted by mumimor at 9:46 AM on May 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
We eat a little meat about once a week. That way we can afford a bit of the good, organic stuff.
Artificial meat costs at least the same as real meat here, and I can taste and feel the difference, specially compared to free-range meat, so it's not really what we are looking for.
And then we go all in for Christmas, and maybe two or three other times a year. Wednesday we are having fried pork belly because it is a tradition here to eat pork belly on election day.
It's not more than about 100 years ago that most people in the world ate like that. But I think a big part of the problem is that many people feel that going back to it is a loss, a regression to poorer times. And also, people don't have the skills, at least in the West, so vegetable food seems sad. Those skills weren't lost yesterday, either. My mother's vegetable cooking consisted of opening a bag of mixed frozen vegetables and heating them up. If she was feeling creative, she would heat them up in a white sauce made with stock from a Maggi cube, flour and margarine. A salad was lettuce, unripe tomatoes and cucumber. And don't mention the casseroles. Those were more my stepmother's thing.
Then for a few years when I was a teen (30+ years ago), my aunt and uncle followed a macrobiotic diet. Specially my aunt is a brilliant cook, so to me it was fun and inspiring in general to visit them or taste their contributions to family dinners where they brought their own food, but some of the places they took us out to eat blew my mind: there was a secret dinner club that served Japanese Buddhist food. A-mazing! And an Italian restaurant where we had all their vegetarian antipasti: so many different vegetables, and so many ways to prepare them! Who knew? There was also a very good Jain restaurant, though it wasn't as mind-blowing as the others. We also went to more typical hippie vegetarian restaurants, they didn't impress me as much, I can really understand those people who can't see themselves giving up on meat, when nut-loaf and slaws without the mayo are the alternatives.
I think one thing that is really good about this age, is that restaurants are getting much better in far more places. That way, people encounter new ways (to them) of cooking and eating vegetables, and even try them at home. A lot of the popular food bloggers have vegetable mains, too, even Pioneer Woman Ree.
Imagine that in ten years, a barbecue has less meat and more vegetables, both prepared in more imaginative ways. It would be more welcoming for vegetarians, more healthy and safer for the planet.
posted by mumimor at 9:46 AM on May 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
Imagine that in ten years, a barbecue has less meat and more vegetables, both prepared in more imaginative ways. It would be more welcoming for vegetarians, more healthy and safer for the planet.
I love well-crafted traditional American barbecue. But too often, the sides are a distant afterthought. Very rarely have I had a meal where the sides were at the level of the meat, but that sounds like such a perfect meal to me, where the brisket or pulled pork or whatever is balanced by non-meat dishes prepared with the same level of attention.
The best Brazilian churrascarias are like that -- amazing meat, but balanced with other foods.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:27 AM on May 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I love well-crafted traditional American barbecue. But too often, the sides are a distant afterthought. Very rarely have I had a meal where the sides were at the level of the meat, but that sounds like such a perfect meal to me, where the brisket or pulled pork or whatever is balanced by non-meat dishes prepared with the same level of attention.
The best Brazilian churrascarias are like that -- amazing meat, but balanced with other foods.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:27 AM on May 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
This does seem iconically American - yuge portion of poor quality.
“There’s something so human about taking something and ruining it a little so you can have more of it.”
— Michael, the Good Place
posted by panama joe at 11:43 AM on May 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
“There’s something so human about taking something and ruining it a little so you can have more of it.”
— Michael, the Good Place
posted by panama joe at 11:43 AM on May 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
If it was just about total weight, you'd expect breast meat would be sold at a discount because it is cheaper to produce more breast than other meat, but it isn't. People actually prefer the stuff and I don't think that's all about health
Separating the meat from a chicken thigh or drumstick is a lot more effort than just slicing up a chicken breast. Also, chicken breasts are a lot easier to deal with for sandwiches. Another factor is that white meat and dark meat have different flavor profiles, and I can think of some dishes where white meat works better — like anything with a sauce.
However I don’t think that fully accounts for Americans’ across-the-board preference for white meat. Maybe it did start out as a health thing, but by now it might just be cultural. I think a lot of people tend to eat whatever is around, or whatever they grew up with.
posted by panama joe at 11:51 AM on May 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
Separating the meat from a chicken thigh or drumstick is a lot more effort than just slicing up a chicken breast. Also, chicken breasts are a lot easier to deal with for sandwiches. Another factor is that white meat and dark meat have different flavor profiles, and I can think of some dishes where white meat works better — like anything with a sauce.
However I don’t think that fully accounts for Americans’ across-the-board preference for white meat. Maybe it did start out as a health thing, but by now it might just be cultural. I think a lot of people tend to eat whatever is around, or whatever they grew up with.
posted by panama joe at 11:51 AM on May 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
Another factor is that white meat and dark meat have different flavor profiles
I jumped on the "dark meat is clearly superior" bandwagon in my early days as a foodie, but as I became a better cook I started to use chicken breasts more. There are some dishes where they just taste better.
I actually like the flavor of chicken breast and don't find it to be dry or bland when cooked properly. The problem is that it's a lot harder to cook it properly. It takes some experience to reliably hit that sweet spot where it's just cooked to a safe temperature and still moist. I definitely have dried out a lot of chicken breasts.
It took me a while to realize that while my mom is usually a great cook, the reason that I just didn't care for some of the things she made when I was a kid is that they were overcooked. It's the food culture she was raised in. I mean, I cannot believe how good vegetables actually are sometimes.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:54 AM on May 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
I jumped on the "dark meat is clearly superior" bandwagon in my early days as a foodie, but as I became a better cook I started to use chicken breasts more. There are some dishes where they just taste better.
I actually like the flavor of chicken breast and don't find it to be dry or bland when cooked properly. The problem is that it's a lot harder to cook it properly. It takes some experience to reliably hit that sweet spot where it's just cooked to a safe temperature and still moist. I definitely have dried out a lot of chicken breasts.
It took me a while to realize that while my mom is usually a great cook, the reason that I just didn't care for some of the things she made when I was a kid is that they were overcooked. It's the food culture she was raised in. I mean, I cannot believe how good vegetables actually are sometimes.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:54 AM on May 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
rhymedirective: I made the decision last year to become a full-time vegetarian for moral reasons and nothing I’ve read or seen since then has made me anything but glad.
I know, right? Just like not joining Facebook, it really is the gift that keeps on giving.
posted by Too-Ticky at 8:39 AM on May 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
I know, right? Just like not joining Facebook, it really is the gift that keeps on giving.
posted by Too-Ticky at 8:39 AM on May 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
I jumped on the "dark meat is clearly superior" bandwagon in my early days as a foodie, but as I became a better cook I started to use chicken breasts more. There are some dishes where they just taste better.
It depends on the chicken, too. After I've started only using free range chickens, there are absolutely dishes where the dark meat doesn't work because it overpowers the sauce. Whereas with the industrial chicken, the breast meat can taste almost only like the water it's pumped full of, so you have to use the thighs to get a bit of taste.
posted by mumimor at 10:30 AM on May 30, 2022
It depends on the chicken, too. After I've started only using free range chickens, there are absolutely dishes where the dark meat doesn't work because it overpowers the sauce. Whereas with the industrial chicken, the breast meat can taste almost only like the water it's pumped full of, so you have to use the thighs to get a bit of taste.
posted by mumimor at 10:30 AM on May 30, 2022
I was interested to hear that chickens have been selected for bigger breasts because of consumer demand. I remember when oxtail was cheap, before people found out how good it was—now it is steak price for mostly bones. I look forward to the introduction of cows with multi-hundred-pound tails. Should be beneficial from the fly-swatting angle for the cows, too.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 5:24 PM on May 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
I look forward to the introduction of cows with multi-hundred-pound tails. Should be beneficial from the fly-swatting angle for the cows, too.
Just you wait- when talented cooks get a hold of woody chicken, it'll become a legitimate ingredient. Give it a solid decade, and people will search for woody chicken breast for certain recipes.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:44 PM on May 31, 2022
Just you wait- when talented cooks get a hold of woody chicken, it'll become a legitimate ingredient. Give it a solid decade, and people will search for woody chicken breast for certain recipes.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:44 PM on May 31, 2022
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posted by leotrotsky at 10:18 AM on May 28, 2022 [2 favorites]