chicken tastelessness?

[Anonymous]

I cooked some boneless chicken breasts yesterday and had a sandwich last night. It occurred to me that there was so much less flavor than I seem to remember from childhood. These were not processed breasts btw. I remember the best chicken I ever had--as a kid, we went to supper at friends of my parents. They had a huge number of kids (13?) and raised their own chickens, so the birds got to range outside. I've never splurged for an organic free range chicken, might be worth a try. (Didn't buy real maple syrup until I was an adult, always had my mom's homemade sugar+water+mapleine syrup which I still like, can't stand other bottled syrups).

Also realized we didn't eat that much chicken when I was growing up in the 60s. Looked up stats which confirm the pattern generally. But we'd have friend chicken sometimes, just dredged in flour and fried, and I'm sure it tasted better.

[Anonymous]

Yes, pay more for your chicken and it will taste better. The bigger the breast, the more tasteless it is.

Also, I tend to buy bone in, skin on chicken which tastes SO MUCH BETTER. Thighs are a massive improvement too.

[Anonymous]

I agree chicken has no flavor anymore. These are birds that just sit in a box their entire short lives, eating the cheapest feed possible. Then the meat is dipped in some kind of cleaners and pumped full of saline solution before being put in a plastic packaged filled with gas.

Consumers are screwed so that manufacturers can do it the easiest possible way.

[Anonymous]

I agree and I find that even organic, free-range chicken has not much taste anymore.

[Anonymous]

Yep. Chickens are now bred for breast size and fed a very standardized diet, but the trade-off is taste. Smaller chickens tend to taste better. Bone-in, skin-on chicken tastes better. Thighs have a lot more flavor.

[Anonymous]

Did you season the meat? Or marinate in anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you season the meat? Or marinate in anything?

Minimal seasoning, most was to be used for a soup that had a lot of other stuff (sort of a chile-corn chowder I make) with some for sandwiches. Brined before cooking (used a recipe I found online to avoid dry chicken breasts). These were the weird big skinless breasts you see, and they just happened to be on sale right when I needed chicken meat for the soup (already had chicken stock in the freezer). I usually buy thighs and bone them myself or leave the bone it depending. (save the thigh skins and bones for stock).

[Anonymous]

30,000 baby chicks are raised in each chicken house. They go to market in 8 weeks. Chicken farmers get a bonus for least amount of deaths. The chickens are at risk of death in the last week due to heart attacks from the "flocking" of 30,000 birds moving around the chicken houses.

Farmers have generally 3 - 6 chicken houses. The number comes from the ability of the farmer to get financing from local banks to build the chicken houses to the Poultry Mfg specifications.

Chicken breasts for sale now are at least 3x that they were when I was a kid in the 60's.

Buy whole chickens and roast them (bone in)

Buy breast with bone for better flavor.

Buy thighs.

I avoid the supersized breasts.

[Anonymous]

Ignore a lot of the "marketing" on chicken labels.

1. No chickens get antibiotics today.
2. Chicken eats "vegan" diet. This is stupid. Chickens are supposed to be eating bugs. Eating a vegan diet is more of a negative.
3 Picture of cute farm house. Ignore this. Farmer will be growing 30,000 chicks in each chicken house and probably has 3 -6 chicken houses.
4. "Organic".--I don't really put much stock in this.
Chickens get fed a lot of corn and soy. The problem with
our corn supply in the US is that almost all of it is
contaminated with the Round Up Ready variety.
Even if a farmer grows organic corn the overspray from
spraying roundup on the Monsanto Round Up Ready variety
is endemic.


When buying chicken I avoid the supersized breasts and
I buy on price.

I don't think their is much difference between what is on the shelf despite "marketing."

Almost all chicken sold in grocery stores is raised in CAFO operations in the US unless you drive out to a local farm
and get your own chicken.

[Anonymous]

To clarify 12:35

If a farmer is growing organic corn and neighboring farmer is growing the Round UP Ready variety of corn you will have overspray and contamination due to wind.

[Anonymous]

I haven't done any research on organic/farm raised versus not, but the chicken breast that we get from south mountain creamery is so much better than what we get from costco, even the organic chicken breast at costco. It doesn't have that slimy texture that I hate.

[Anonymous]

This is a budget stretch but I now buy all of my meat from a vendor at the farmer’s market. The taste difference is remarkable. I spend about $100/month on meat and we eat it 2-3x week.

[Anonymous]

We now buy all of our chicken at a farmers market or the butcher shop. It is more expensive but makes a huge difference. We went from tolerating chicken to enjoying it. Both the flavor and texture are so much better.

[jsmith123]

I feel the same way. I don't cook boneless, skinless chx breast anymore unless I'm pounding it thin to coat it in egg & breadcrumbs to pan fry.

For everything else I use thighs or bone-in, skin-on breasts, which have more flavor.

[Anonymous]

No taste, huh? Corona.