The chicken breasts and tenders are what I consider good overall quality. Not the absolute pinnacle of heirloom species raised on farms with the strictest standards – but good. The meat has a deeper color and no blatant woody surface or white striping. However, this was cut from a roughly 4 lb bird that cost $3.29 a lb.
So the discussion point I’m putting out there: worth the extra cost or no way you pay for this? I can tell you straight away that this chicken tastes noticeably better than the pale “Franken Breasts” that each weighs close to 2 lbs each that you can find in the grocery store. Those are pale, has a striped pattern or worse a woody texture in spots. Counterpoint is the freakishly large chicken parts are more bang for the buck.
by Wasting_Time1234
9 Comments
I buy the cheap “woody” chicken and tenderize the hell out of it. After some poking and pounding, you can barely tell it’s lower quality meat.
Make sure you brine as well. I prefer dry brining
Chicken is all the same to me. Cheapest = best. How you cook it is 1000% more important than any other factor. And while you could argue that this is important for any meat, the high temperature requirement makes it a bit harder to prepare than other options.
There’s no way I would pay that. I typically buy whole chickens at Costco (raw, not rotisserie) but recently I’ve been buying chicken leg quarters at Aldi for $1.19/lbs. That’s a good price for both thighs and drumsticks.
It depends on my budget, what I can afford, and what I’m going to make. For example, if I’m making jerky or something else slow-cooked, I’m going to default to the cheap meat even if I can afford a higher quality meat.
I’m all about the 1.99lb Trader Joe’s bone-in skin-on chicken thighs.
This discussion has really opened my eyes to just how expensive meat is in NZ
Tbh we’re trying to eat less meat and use better quality the majority of the time when we do eat it. We used to be able to buy cases (6ea.) of whole chickens from the local Hutterite community, and it was the best balance I could find around here between quality and price… Can’t currently recall price per pound but I think it was in the neighborhood of what you’ve posted, plus I knew their operation, and the animals were humanely raised. Unfortunately they’ve closed up shop since then :'(
But yeah! I think it’s worthwhile to get better chicken. The woody birds are the absolute worst. The industry needs an overhaul, especially if big ag is going to continue to be subsidized. Quality should matter.
I haven’t had any problem with thighs or wings, but sometimes breast’s can be woody if they’re really cheap. I buy the cheaper cuts, and when I see a good sale I stock up on better quality breasts for the freezer. That’s too much for chicken though.
I only use high quality chicken. The meat farm cheap chicken in the US is disgusting. Seeing how the cheap chicken is raised will make you think twice.