Stupid question about chicken

Cindy's Mom

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
Where do you buy your chicken? I want to get better chicken for our meals and was wondering if there different qualities Like steak is better from the butcher than the bodega. LOL. Is chicken like that? Sunday I made a fabulous chicken vesiouvio and I wasn't in love with the texture of the chicken.
 
Yes, chicken is like that. Most butcher shops do sell poultry as well, and what you buy there will generally be a better grade that what you will find at a chain supermarket.
 




I have one about two miles from my house. Yech. My mom grew up a couple blocks from the chicken store. Her grandmother had a standing order for once a week to get a chicken, she' send my mother to go pick up the chicken. My mom had no idea what was going on in the store, she would just walk in and they'd hand her the package. It wasn't until my mom was a teenager that she figured out why the package was always warm. LOL
 
We buy chicken most often at Costco currently. If they change the brand or the quality I will once again switch back to the butcher, buying Amish chicken if necessary. I've heard that the strange texture and taste of chicken is due to the way they're being bred, attempting to increase the amount of breast meat. I bought Purdue chicken at Costco for years without complaints. A few years back they switched brands and it was awful, texture and taste. I got tired of trying to chase Purdue chicken at grocery stores and switched to the butcher with generally good results, although sometimes we ran into grainy chicken there too which is what led to buying Amish chicken. When I happened to notice Costco changed brands again we gave it a try, hoping for budget friendly tasty chicken. For the most part it has been.
 
Costco chicken is the only food item I've come across that I wouldn't buy again. I did not care for the texture or taste of their bag of chicken breasts.
 
We buy chicken most often at Costco currently. If they change the brand or the quality I will once again switch back to the butcher, buying Amish chicken if necessary. I've heard that the strange texture and taste of chicken is due to the way they're being bred, attempting to increase the amount of breast meat. I bought Purdue chicken at Costco for years without complaints. A few years back they switched brands and it was awful, texture and taste. I got tired of trying to chase Purdue chicken at grocery stores and switched to the butcher with generally good results, although sometimes we ran into grainy chicken there too which is what led to buying Amish chicken. When I happened to notice Costco changed brands again we gave it a try, hoping for budget friendly tasty chicken. For the most part it has been.
Hmmm. It was a few years ago I stopped buying Costco chicken, maybe I need to try it again.
 
Honestly, I get a lot of our meat from Aldi. I've never had anything bad from them. I've stopped buying frozen chicken breasts from pretty much everywhere, but I love the Aldi thin cut chicken tenderloins and breasts. We also have a few local butcher shops that we get a lot of our beef from. I'm just a little less picky with chicken I guess.
 
It varies between Costco, Kroger, and Sprouts. Sometimes it's froze, sometimes in the meat case. Depends on price and budget that week.
 
I used to buy Costco boneless breast frozen but it was rubbery. Now I buy Purdue fresh at supermarket but I need to pound it to make it edible.
 
Purchase most of our chicken at Supermarket or smaller markets. I try not to buy small Fryer birds. I pay close attention to the amount of "Solution" that is added during processing especially if buying Breast pieces. Some have up to a 15% Solution of water, salt etc. added which makes weight higher but I feel affects the taste. If buying a Roaster, I try and pick the heaviest, usually 6-8 lbs. Used to buy exclusively Perdue, but have noticed, they are now labeled, Family Farms, so think they are sourcing beyond their facilities.
 
Honestly I get the complete cooked rotisserie chicken at Costco. At $5 and tax it's a great deal.

I'll get whatever is cheap most of the time, but I've also gone to Chinatown on the recommendation of a Chinese friend to get what they call "yellow skin" chicken. It's a specific breed that actually has more chicken flavor and doesn't have the look of common commercially raised chicken. It's been years since I've heard of live chickens being sold (or for them slaughtered/plucked to order) but I have heard the sound of live chickens in the back. I think local laws don't allow for the sale of live poultry.

But there are heritage breeds that are still being raised on a smaller scale than large corporate farms. They're much different. Apparently longer legs, less breast meat, and more of the flavor of chicken that many people remember from a half century ago. And how they taste is influenced by what they eat. Battery raised chickens eating nothing but commercial feed get little taste. But heritage breeds allowed to roam and eat (even when given supplemental feed) obtain a different taste to the meat.

https://nypost.com/2015/04/26/why-nothing-especially-chicken-tastes-like-it-used-to/
 
Purchase most of our chicken at Supermarket or smaller markets. I try not to buy small Fryer birds. I pay close attention to the amount of "Solution" that is added during processing especially if buying Breast pieces. Some have up to a 15% Solution of water, salt etc. added which makes weight higher but I feel affects the taste. If buying a Roaster, I try and pick the heaviest, usually 6-8 lbs. Used to buy exclusively Perdue, but have noticed, the are labeled, Family Farms, so think they are sourcing beyond their facilities.
 
Standard mass produced brands from the supermarket like Perdue and Tyson. Non-organic. Oh, and only skinless boneless breasts.
 

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