Stupid question about chicken

Did not read page 2 of this thread, but I find that chicken tends to have lots of tendon like things running through and/or is a weird texture when cooked...rubbery and inedible. I noticed our restaurants near us also make chicken dishes that have these terrible cuts of chicken. What is going on? And, for what it's worth, all we have are 3 Food Lions in our town, for grocery stores. Or Walmart. There is a, mom and pop type, meat market I may have to get my chicken from and see if that is better.
 
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I would think that if you’re able to get chicken for $1.99/lb you’re not going to get the best quality.
Chicken was on sale for 79 cents a pound last week at the grocery store. Not sure what it says about that chicken. The brand we prefer is Foster Farms, and about every three months the boneless skinless breasts go on sale for $1.99 a pound, and that is very good chicken.
 
I've had bad luck with chicken breasts. Gave up on the frozen Costco brand and started buying only fresh. Recently we've bought fresh from publix and it has been very chewy in a few different recipes, so I'm thinking its not user error on my part. We eat much much less chicken then we used to because none of it tastes good anymore.
 
For now, heritage breed chicken from Whole Foods when they have it. I buy the smallest ones I can find and won't buy a bird over 4 pounds. I'm just sick of the giant chicken at grocery stores--weird texture, weird flavor. The chicken I buy looks positively scrawny--less breast meat, bigger legs. But scrawny as it is, there is somehow enough, and it comes out great.

We are thinking of joining a meat CSA eventually from a local farm. I'm interested because they always have small chickens, whereas right now, I feel like I'm always on the hunt for them (when found, I buy every chicken that meets my criteria for the freezer--still always running out because they're a come and go item). They also have stewing hens, which I'm interested in.

I've seen poultry exhibits/contests at county fairs. I think at least some of them are available for auction and maybe even immediate slaughter and dressing. Seems almost cruel to slaughter an animal that's been given a name though.
 


I've seen poultry exhibits/contests at county fairs. I think at least some of them are available for auction and maybe even immediate slaughter and dressing. Seems almost cruel to slaughter an animal that's been given a name though.
Unless it's a chicken named Colin. :-)

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Chicken was on sale for 79 cents a pound last week at the grocery store. Not sure what it says about that chicken. The brand we prefer is Foster Farms, and about every three months the boneless skinless breasts go on sale for $1.99 a pound, and that is very good chicken.

While they are a regional supplier, they still grow commercial breeds and raise them in the same conditions as other large growers.

I'm not under any allusions that the large suppliers are doing anything less than large-scale commercial farming. There was a contract farmer for Perdue who apparently didn't agree with how they marketed the chickens he raised and allowed someone to visit his farm. Anyone who is squeamish might not want to view this video, as there's euthanizing of chicks that are injured/diseased. Also this particular farmer claims that Perdue has retaliated against him.


The video starts with someone visiting a small farm in Africa. The premise is that chicken is expensive and carefully raised there, where it's a special treat, while American chicken is plentiful and raised in conditions that aren't as rosy as the marketers make them out to be. Even Foster Farms which tries to burnish an image of being different than the large national marketers.

I guess the one thing that seems to stand out is that few of these chickens have a full set of feathers. The farmer says "That bird is designed to put on meat - not designed to put on feathers."
 
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There's a small grocer here called Dot's that has an old fashioned butcher counter. I prefer most of my meat there but if it's unbrined I'll brine it myself in broth. The solutions they use for storebought chicken do make it heavier and saltier and not much else but a homemade brine with broth salt and herbs is a great way to get flavor into a chicken and keep it juicy.

Meier has okay storebought chicken but some is kinda older and can get tough, especially the breast.
Kroger I won't go to anymore after the local one gave me food poisoning several times. The last time they also sold us ice cream and popsicles that it looks like sat out for hours then they refroze... If it had been one item I'd have thought it was a mistake but I think they regularly put put-back things from the checkout just back in the freezer/fridge... which is prolly how I got food poisoning.
Target has good stuff but expensive, and I know for a fact that if they find meat packs out of the fridge they toss them.
 


Unless it's a chicken named Colin. :-)

Haven't seen it. I did remember the controversy when Gordon Ramsey had several lambs raised on the country home of David and Victoria Beckham. I think he even encouraged their kids to give them names. However, they didn't seem to understand that the idea was to raise them to be slaughtered.
 
We have a poultry place across from where I work. You pick your live chicken, they slaughter it to order while you wait. Never bought chicken there, but it certainly would be fresh.
Yikes....I don't think I could do that. I much prefer my life of denial. If I had to know/look at each animal I ate I'd become a vegetarian pretty quickly.
 
Chicken was on sale for 79 cents a pound last week at the grocery store. Not sure what it says about that chicken. The brand we prefer is Foster Farms, and about every three months the boneless skinless breasts go on sale for $1.99 a pound, and that is very good chicken.

:crazy2:
 
Yikes....I don't think I could do that. I much prefer my life of denial. If I had to know/look at each animal I ate I'd become a vegetarian pretty quickly.

I’m in full realization of what factory farms do, but I guess a lot of people really don’t want to know how the sausage is made.
 
I’ve had issues with the bag of frozen chicken breasts being rubbery after I cook them. Not sure what the deal is but it’s happened more frequently than say a year ago. I’ll probably start buying fresh again once this bag is done, but I hate the really thick chicken breasts. What happened to the normal size ones.
I might just have to splurge on the ones from the farmers market.
 
I’ve had issues with the bag of frozen chicken breasts being rubbery after I cook them. Not sure what the deal is but it’s happened more frequently than say a year ago. I’ll probably start buying fresh again once this bag is done, but I hate the really thick chicken breasts. What happened to the normal size ones.
I might just have to splurge on the ones from the farmers market.
I only buy fresh chicken breasts, though they may have been previously frozen for transport. I still find them rubbery and tasteless. Picture below of what I normally buy, but I've stopped buying them recently and have not found an acceptable substitute.

452559
 
Costco sells pretty large packs of various chicken cuts. I’ve found them to be the most affordable per pound, and they’re generally known for quality food products overall.
 
I only buy fresh chicken breasts, though they may have been previously frozen for transport. I still find them rubbery and tasteless. Picture below of what I normally buy, but I've stopped buying them recently and have not found an acceptable substitute.

View attachment 452559

When I mentioned Amish chicken, that's not at all what I meant. It's not a brand name, my butcher contracts to buy chicken from actual Amish farms. Just by the package I can see those are very large breasts and likely to be tough.
 

Foster Farms is no worse than a lot of factory farmed chicken. It's actually better than most, because it doesn't inject chicken with a saline solution. Price is regional. It gets that price in my area as well.

I’ve had issues with the bag of frozen chicken breasts being rubbery after I cook them. Not sure what the deal is but it’s happened more frequently than say a year ago. I’ll probably start buying fresh again once this bag is done, but I hate the really thick chicken breasts. What happened to the normal size ones.
I might just have to splurge on the ones from the farmers market.
They're breeding chicken to grow huge breasts since that's what people like to eat, and to grow fast, because that makes it cheap. The condition where the breast gets a weird texture (woody breast) isn't even the worst of it. The breast can become green--I haven't seen it, but it's called "green muscle disease" and looks pretty frightening. It's from a lack of exercise.
 
Foster Farms is no worse than a lot of factory farmed chicken. It's actually better than most, because it doesn't inject chicken with a saline solution. Price is regional. It gets that price in my area as well.


They're breeding chicken to grow huge breasts since that's what people like to eat, and to grow fast, because that makes it cheap. The condition where the breast gets a weird texture (woody breast) isn't even the worst of it. The breast can become green--I haven't seen it, but it's called "green muscle disease" and looks pretty frightening. It's from a lack of exercise.

I’ve had chicken once that was injected with that brine and it was so gross. I’d hate if that’s what we had to deal with.
 
Butcher down the street from my house. Their chicken is fresh and huge... I made three chicken breasts on Monday, has fed my family of 3 (I am a vegetarian) a meal a day since. (Breakfast omlettes, tacos 2 nights)
 

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