Organic Free Range Chicken - it had a different texture and taste

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desertjean

Well-known member
The local grocer had their new store brand version on sale and decided to try it. Not only was the texture different (hard to explain but it the only way I can describe it was that it was more 'toothsome' as I heard a TopChef cheftestant) but it also had a different flavor, pretty strong for a chicken.

I've had organic/free range before, but never did it have such a huge difference in flavor/texture. I realize the definition of both "organic" and "free range" can vary, so now I'm wondering if others have noticed a huge difference in brands.

 
I believe the flavor and texture you describe indicate the bird got some exercise. "Free Range"

is very loosely defined. It could mean only that the birds had an opportunity to go outside for part of the day, not that they actually did. I've come to like the stronger flavor.

 
Some exercise, definitely, and often a better diet. Many people who have spent years eating that

pale, soft, bland mass-produced chicken, "organic" can take some getting used to.

There's an industry word for that sponginess which I wish I could remember. Apparently it's a desirable quality in the fast-food biz, where I guess people don't actually want to chew too much -- or taste too much! In fact because of its blandness, in many restaurants chicken isn't so much the focus of the meal as it is a vehicle for other flavors -- stuffings or sauces, for instance.

I think there's no comparison between "organic" and "supermarket" chicken, just like there's no comparison between "organic"/"heritage" pork and supermarket pork. It's like you're eating two totally unrelated species.

 
I really, really dislike commercial grown chickens. Those huge breasts are so hard

to take. My husband wants a thigh and a leg piece and I prefer a wing and breast. Even a half breast is so huge, it feeds me for three meals! I really hate the thickness of those commercial breasts. This is what led me to organic, free range chicks.

 
Must be bruiser chickens! I'd hate to meet one in a dark alley....

I get them home and quarter them, freeze, then bag. They are certainly monsters!

 
In Michael Pollan's book "Omnivore's Dilemma" he says that the chickens and turkeys that

are bred to have those hugh breasts literally can not walk, they are too breast heavy. That really bothers me, I can't buy them.

 
I just got extra-large eggs in my weekly organics delivery. It was a nuisance, actually, because I

wanted to do a bunch of baking. So I had to have them scrambled and fried and hard-boiled for breakfasts and lunches. Life's tough sometimes.

 
I use whatever eggs I have around, that my hens are laying. . .

and they range from jumbo to small, extra-large and large too.

Never found much difference in recipes using an extra-large instead of a large unless the recipe was a really picky one, like angel food or all-yolk sponge cake; if the size of the egg is super critical, I measure the eggs by volume or weight. In general, my baking is not of the super critical type, but I have made plenty of standard cakes with extra-large eggs instead of large and they come out just fine. Of course the members of my family attack all and any of my desserts like a pack of ravenous wolves--ravenous *uncomplaining* wolves!

When the girls are not forthcoming in their eggs, I buy mediums and and an extra egg or larges or extra larges and use the exact measure. And if all I have around are the eggs from our lone banty hen, they are so small, I either measure those by volume or wait for big eggs or go to the store for eggs!

 
Your hens are different mistral.... the commercial bought extra large/jumbo eggs are from chickens

who are bred purely for larger and larger eggs. The chickens who lay huge eggs have pain and stress - often there is blood on the eggshell. It has been known to kill a chicken who can not pass such a large egg.

 
Halal chickens

Can your butcher/meat dept get hold of Halal chickens? We first bought a Halal chicken in January, for roasting, and I can never go back to regular chickens. Upon first tasting the chicken, it reminded me that this is what roasted chicken tasted like when I was a child.

Kind of like game meat- like grouse- the eat is so dense you only need a little bit before you're full (which makes you wonder about what the mass produced chickens are fed). Our first Halal chicken lasted us 3 meals! Although it was so yummy, we couldn't leave it alone. Every time each of us went into the fridge we found it impossible to not pick off a tiny bit to eat!

 
Well, that may be true, but the longer the chickens lay (at least at home) . . .

the bigger the egg. You would not believe the size of some of the gigantors that my girls squeeze out--and sometimes there is a little blood on the egg, but usually just when they start to lay the first time or after a, ahem, layoff for the winter.

Of course, these are full-sized Americaunas, Rhode Island Reds, Brahmas, Buff Orpingtons. I do have a pair of White Leghorns (we call 'em the flighty whities) but I am guessing these girls are from a show line, as they are really beauties and do have some size on them. Most of my chickens are definitely bigger than some of those small white layers they cage up. Stands to reason that a bigger hen would be able to deliver bigger eggs, no?

Plus I though Shaun in TO was complaining of not being able to use an extra-large egg in a recipe that specified another size egg (like large).

I knew chickens were bred for laying a large nubmer of eggs but I did not know that they were bred for size of egg.

 
Food, Inc. echoes that that practice is ...

the routine of the Tyson corportation...and a whole lot more that made me start questioning what I'm eating.

 
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