Stupid big chicken

cuffs054 · Sep 11, 2019

Bought two chicken breast halves today. Together they weighed in at 3.22 pounds. That's unbelievable. The whole chicken must have been as big as a turkey.

maytagbear · Sep 11, 2019

I (mentally!)

--(not out loud, unless I know my companion well) call chicken breast halves like those "Dollys" or "Partons."

Love and laughter!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

ea56 · Sep 11, 2019

Tom,

I know what you mean! What are they feeding these chickens? And IMO these huge chicken breasts don’t taste as good either. But what are ya gonna do? This is pretty much the way they all are now.

Also, I like to roast chicken breasts with the skin and bones intact, they have much better flavor. But where I live, the only place I can find bone in/skin on chicken breasts is at a high end market for $5.99 to $7.99 lb., depending upon whether they are on special, and thats just too damn much as far as I’m concerned for chicken breasts.

Eddie

toploader55 · Sep 11, 2019

Playing with God.

GMO. Yes, they are doing it. Frankenfood.

sfh074 · Sep 11, 2019

getting bigger ...

and bigger!

circlew · Sep 11, 2019

What brand of chicken did you buy?

My cousin Shane raises for Sanderson Farms, which is a popular brand in the South. His farm is near Seminary, MS.

iowabear · Sep 11, 2019

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are regularly on sale around here (fresh from the meat case or pre-packed frozen) for $1.69 a pound and sometimes even less. I stocked up on fresh ones (for my freezer) last month for $1.49 a pound.

Eggs are almost always on sale for less than a $1 a dozen.

Almost scary how cheap it is.

norgeway · Sep 11, 2019

We have a few

Butcher shops who still have honest to goodness frying chickens 2 1/2 to 3 pounds You cAN NOT fry a chicken any bigger

frigilux · Sep 12, 2019

Why is that, Hans? Meat too tough/stringy? Pieces too large to fry evenly without burning?

IowaBear: After eggs and, to a degree, chicken, followed beef into the pricing stratosphere a few years back, I've noticed a huge price drop in rural southwest Minnesota, as well. Eggs were on sale for $.44 a couple of weeks ago, then $.88 soon after. Chicken prices are remaining consistently low, too. My freezer is stocked to the gills. And yes; the breast halves are enormous! Can easily cut one into thirds and still be generously portioned.

Personally, I'm a thigh man. This is the way I like to bake chicken parts--the meat is well-seasoned both from underneath and on top. I usually use bone-in chicken thighs, but it works for legs and breasts, too.

BAKED CHICKEN
Adjust oven rack to middle position; preheat to 300 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
Sprinkle to taste on bare foil: Salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano, thyme, rosemary and chopped dried onion.
Place chicken thighs on pan skin side up.
Season tops of chicken with same ingredients as above.
Bake thighs about 1 hour and 20 minutes. If also cooking breasts, remove them as soon as they reach an internal temp of about 165 degrees or they'll dry out.

foraloysius · Sep 12, 2019

$1.69 is extreme cheap for chicken, it means that the living circumstances must have been very bad for those chickens. We call it "plofkip" in Dutch, which translates to explosion chicken. Reply #4 shows perfectly why that is. If you buy that kind of chicken, you are buying more an industrial product than a piece of meat.

iheartmaytag · Sep 12, 2019

Dolly Breast

That's funny, I said the same thing when I was buying chicken breast at Sam's recently. I actually split the breast into halves and they were still larger than a portion for each of us.

When I make homemade chicken and noodles. I often buy a 5lb bag of legs and thighs, and then throw in a dolly for the white meat. Still cheaper than buying the whole chicken.

kate1 · Sep 12, 2019

The living conditions of conventionally farmed chicken is a huge reason I decided to start raising my own small flock for eggs. I don’t raise chickens for meat, yet, but we do slaughter and eat them when they get too old to lay. I don’t buy chicken meat frequently but when I do, I buy whole chickens and try to find the most ethically raised birds I can, though that’s hard since terms like ‘free-range’ or ‘cage-free’ are unregulated and largely meaningless.

mikael3 · Sep 12, 2019

Hans is right. Only young chickens fry up properly. Larger ones (that is, OLDER ones) have a different texture that tastes better after roasting or baking—longer cooking time, I guess, but also, I think, the way the dry heat affects the meat. Even at the same temperature, dry heat is not like boiling lard.

This is a list of the way things used to be sold. The quality of each type is a combination of age and weight.

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Broilers: 6 to 8 weeks old, up to 2½ lb

Fryers: 6 to 8 weeks old, 2½ to 3½ lb

Roasters: 8 months old, 3½ to 5 lb

Stewing Hens: over 10 months old, 5 to 7 lb

Capons: 6 to 8 lb

Cock/Rooster: 10 months, 6 to 8 pounds

The market where I shop still distinguishes between them in this way, except that there are no true broilers or old cocks. Back in the day, it was possible to find itty bitty birds for broiling, but I haven’t seen them in decades. I've never seen a cock in a poultry case, and I can’t even source them from the local farms.

Old hens are for long simmering and nothing else. I’ve had the misfortune, more than once, of being presented with a giant piece of fried or baked hen, and it was inedible. Horrifying, really. One can’t even cut the stuff. The clueless hostesses thought they had found a bargain way to feed a crowd, but they were sorely mistaken. I always feel bad for them, since every single guest, after a few valiant efforts at dissection, leaves the whole, rubbery joint on the plate.

combo52 · Sep 12, 2019

GMO Foods

No one has ever been harmed by eating GMO foods, nearly every thing we eat whether plant based or animal has been modified over the past 100+ years from what was found before man was on earth.

Yes there are ligitment concerns about some GMO growing procedures but eating the foods produced are entirely safe.

John L.

ea56 · Sep 12, 2019

The best work arounds I’ve found for these gargantuan chicken breasts is to pound them within an inch of their lives before cooking, usually I broil them with Kraft Brown Sugar BBQ sauce or marinate in Teriaki, and they are good that way. But frying them is a crap shoot, even after the pounding. They are apt to be stringy/tough.

I also often will nuke them, then cut them up into cubes when cooled for use in casseroles, tacos, chicken salad/sandwiches, chicken pot pie, chicken soup. I found a way to get pretty good texture by nuking them. After pounding the breast in a zip lock bag to avoid a big mess, I pierce both sides well with a cooking/carving fork, sprinkle seasoned salt on both sides, place them in a pyrex pie plate and cover. For two breasts I nuke them at 50% power for 15 mins, then check the temp., you want 165F, if not done nuke for another few mins at 50% power. Let them cool then cut or tear into the desired size pieces.

Last week I cooked two large breasts this way and ended up with enough to make a dozen chicken tacos and two days later two nice chicken salad sandwiches, so we ate dinner for 3 days on two breasts, a good bargain.

Eddie

vacerator · Sep 12, 2019

Golden rice

is gmo, and helped with the famine in Ethiopia, etc. I believe in scientific research, evaluations, and in medical breakthroughs. It isn't any worse than artificial intellect, or stem cell therapy to save lives. Many don't condone those either. There are things that can be a slippery slope. I don't want my house controlled by smart apps for one. I don't speak for any higher powers, but I think we got the brains to do these things from them. Going to the moon, (which some do not believe has been done), the cure for Polio, etc., etc. Not my place to judge. Namaste'

revvinkevin · Sep 12, 2019

Chicken breasts by another name...

A few years ago a woman I know (who is an excellent cook, btw) was telling me about some delicious recipe she tried and read off the list of ingredients “something something and 2 lbs of chicken boobs and something something...” I did a mental double take then said “wait.... chicken WHAT??” She explained “yeah, you know, chicken boobs... the breasts....” I was laughing SO hard for a couple minutes. I’ve been calling them “chicken boobs” ever since!

Kevin

cuffs054 · Sep 12, 2019

There must still be a source for "normal" size chicken boobs since the pre-fried deli chickens have smaller breasts.

rp2813 · Sep 12, 2019

The solution for all of this hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth lies at your nearest El Pollo Loco. They trade in the smallest chickens on the planet.

iheartmaytag · Sep 12, 2019

Now if you want small chickens

Then get fried chicken at Popeye's. Their chicken is so small I have accused them of using squab (pigeons).

jamiel · Sep 12, 2019

When you're buying as much chicken as KFC or Popeyes you can get it however you want it. 30 years ago I had just finished working at KFC corporate HQ for 3 yrs as a mystery shopper...they had field poultry reps visiting the chicken houses and disassembly plants/slaughterhouses. They did not buy chicken on the bone from Perdue because Perdue fed marigold petals for a golden glow to the skin.

vacerator · Sep 12, 2019

Hahahaha Kevin!

That's hillarious! Well, that's what they are indeed. George Carlin's 7 words comes to mind. Pizza flavored? Have you ever tried the famous chicken and waffles place out there? I saw it on the food network.It may be in Crenshaw, or just off the Sunset strip area perhaps on Hollywood, or
Melrose ave. Another burger place I saw on there, or maybe it was Andrew Zimmer's show is on Imperial right across from the public housing before you get into east L.A.

toploader55 · Sep 12, 2019

Thanks for the input John.

You seem to know about everything.

God... And your information is based on .... What ?

I suppose you drink tap water without it being filtered and approve of fluoride too ?

Sorry, but I respect your input on some things but GMO is nothing anyone should be consuming.

Read some more. I have been a Chef for 48+ years and this time I totally disagree with what you say.

All restaurant food is totally processed beyond your dreams. I bring my own food to work. But anyway I am sure you will disagree with everything I just wrote.

frigilux · Sep 12, 2019

Looks like I’m in for a little more hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth, LOL! The nearest El Pollo Loco is 748 miles away in Denton, TX. But hey, they’re open ‘til 10:00, so if I leave right away...

DADoES · Sep 12, 2019

I've been calling chicken breast "boobies" for years.

tomturbomatic · Sep 13, 2019

"Stupid, Big Chicken"

Just because she has big breasts does not make her stupid.

sfh074 · Sep 13, 2019

Depending on the brand ...

They add up to 30% in weight of injected liquid into breast meat to make it more tender and flavorful. So how much of the 3.22 lbs of the chicken you bought wasn't actually chicken?!

From an article linked below:

"Plumping, or injecting, as it is called in the industry, has been going on for some time.

In the past five years, this industry process has become the standard. Fresh chicken is injected with a solution of saltwater so it stays juicier and more flavorful (so they say). The solution contains a long list of ingredients that can account for up to 15%, or more, of the chicken’s weight. Some studies have shown up to 30% weight.

Why did the industry start the practice of plumping or injecting? This again goes back to the idea that when you start to remove the fat from the product, you start to lose the taste. When breeders started growing birds with too large of breast meat (more muscle and less fat) this resulted in a dryer, less tasty bird.

A saline injection kept the bird more moist, but this still didn’t help with the flavor, SO “natural flavor” was added in the form of broth, lemon concentrates and corn syrup or other forms of sugar.

Early on sodium phosphate was also added as a binder, to help the chicken retain water during shipping and cooking. To allow for ‘low sodium’ labels, this ingredient was replaced with potassium phosphate. Since potassium phosphate makes meat taste more bitter, even more ‘natural flavors’ were needed to mask the flavor.

You will still find the words ‘All-Natural’ , "Organic" on the label, as long as all the ingredients that they injected into the chicken are legally considered as natural or organic. This doesn’t sound natural to me and I know that this doesn’t sound natural to you.

If you purchase a package of injected chicken for $6, you will likely be paying at least $1 to $1.50 for the salt water solution and you are likely consuming at least 1000 milligrams of added sodium. One chicken breast could eat up 60% of your sodium intake before you even start eating the rest of the meal!

If we look at this on a national scale, it is estimated that consumers are paying $2 billion dollars a year for the salt water that is injected into chickens.

Needle-injected meat has also been red-flagged by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) as a high-risk carrier of E. coli. The needles that insert the salt solution can push bacteria on the surface (where bacteria is typically found) deep into the meat, where cooking may not kill them. To prevent this, FSIS recommends (not requires) that processors apply “an allowed antimicrobial agent to the surface of the product prior to processing.” These approved agents include a number of ingredients (and processes such as irradiation) that most consumers would likely find far from “natural.

Organic chicken is also injected. How, you may ask? The USDA and the FDA list water and salt as organic. This allows organic chicken to be injected as well. Keep in mind that a normal chicken breast is only 5 to 6 ounces, anything larger has been plumped.

A chicken breast that is $3.99 per pound and has been plumped means you are paying $1.32 for salt water. This means that chicken breast has cost you nearly $5.50 per pound."

If we didn't buy this "franken-chicken", the industry would change their business model to sell what the public wants.
Just buy organic to stop this nonsense. If we all did this, processed chicken would be a thing of the past.

Bud - Atlanta

https://www.premierfoodsgroup.com/p...-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-affect-my-chicken

norgeway · Sep 13, 2019

If you really want GOOD chicken...

Raise it yourself, let it run around and eat bugs like God intended it too, When its big enough Do what our Grandmothers did, Wring its neck, cut off its head, after its thru figuring out its dead,,Dip in a pot of boiling water, pluck it light a paper bag on fire and singe off the remaining feathers, clean it cut it up and fry it in a pan of real lard,,its so much better this way its just not imaginable but its a messy nasty job

sfh074 · Sep 13, 2019

Hans ....

Just the way both my grandmother's used to do it. As a kid I'd get in trouble if I got caught messin with the chickens! I can still hear my grandma yellin at me, "Don't be chasing the chickens, you'll stress them out and they won't lay or will end up being tough!"

ea56 · Sep 13, 2019

When my Mom’s family first moved to Oakland, Calif. in 1935 from Kansas, Grandma used to go to a poultry shop downtown that sold live chickens, that she took home in a box. My Aunt Virginia was the oldest girl, and it was her job to wring the chicken’s necks and then cut the head off, drain the blood, draw out the entrails, then pluck the feathers and singe the pin feathers.

And when I was very little, in the early 50’s, my Mom used to buy poultry at a shop on SanPablo Ave. in Richmond, Calif. the sold live birds as well, or you could buy them already killed and drawn, then take them home and pluck the feathers, which is what Mom did when she bought our Thanksgiving turkeys. My brother Joe and I did the plucking. I can remember the sound of the birds in the cages and the smell. You picked out the bird you wanted to buy, and they wrung its neck and cleaned the entrails out while you waited.

Eddie

Stupid big chicken

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