Is Expensive Chicken Worth It? Need Recipe Ideas Please….😋

[Panhead John]

It dawned on me yesterday that maybe I should try a better grade/brand of chicken than what I’ve used all my life. I have NEVER sought out a better quality of chicken than the usual store stuff…..Tyson, Pilgrims Pride, store brand or whatever. Years ago I quit buying select grade steaks/briskets from Kroger after joining Costco. Now days it’s always Choice or Prime and I’ll never go back to select. I’ve even been seeking out better pork chops, roasts etc……but never chicken. 🤷♂️ I remembered that a while back someone mentioned a chicken brand called Mary’s….it’s supposedly superior to the normal crap from Kroger’s. I was prepared to go to Whole Foods as I figured they were the only ones nearby carrying it. I had to go to HEB first for a few things before heading over to Whole Foods. Well I’ll be, HEB carries it! Woo hoo!



Besides the fancy labels on it, it says …Slow Growth and Air Chilled. I ain’t smart enough to know how that helps, maybe someone here can tell me the advantages of that? Have any of yall tried Mary’s, or something similiar to this? Did you like it, if so is it worth the extra money? I ain’t never paid $17. for a chicken before!!! 😳 I’m going to cook it tonight, preferably cut up and not whole….I don’t like messing with cutting a hot chicken into pieces. I prefer to oven bake the pieces tonight and was wondering if you have any really good recipe ideas you can share? TIA

[Mosca]

I’ve had chicken from Allen Brothers, and D’Artagnan, and maybe somewhere else I don’t remember. The D’Artagnan was some fancy French thing, too: semi boneless poussin.

It was good, but it didn’t light me up, either. Chicken is chicken.

[tstalafuse]

My guess it is about the same as what we read every year around thanksgiving regarding turkey. The heirloom, fresh never frozen, blah, blah, blah makes for a more tasty and moist bird. I could never really tell any difference, so I went back to whatever was on sale or cheapest.

[barelfly]

My wife picked up a whole yardbird a year or so ago, and when I saw the price I was surprised….didn’t know whole birds could go for upwards of $27 or so dollars. I don’t think she realized it was priced that as well, but from what I remember it was organic and all that other stuff.

I don’t recall it being any different than the double packs I normally buy from Costco. Perhaps it was, if I did a side-by-side comparison.

[Donw]

Never tried it but I noted two points in their marketing. 1. No hormones. Federal regulations prohibit using hormones in raising poultry. 2. No antibiotics. Many large poultry companies such as Perdue do not use any antibiotics in any of their chickens. Except for the air chilled feature the Perdue Harvestland line seems to meet all the features but for about $2.00 less per pound.

(I’m not a shill for Perdue but I’m most familiar with them as they are based here.)

[Prof Bunky]

And all chickens are gluten-free.

[yakima]

No opinion here re brands.
My impression is that air chilled is generally preferred over water chilled.
Your next project could be to cook both air and water chilled birds simultaneously, identical procedure, and report back.

My preferred method is rotisserie on BGE.

[STEbbq]

Chicken is chicken. Same with turkey. Turkey is turkey. Buy something that looks good and save the money for better beef.

[mrteddyprincess]

Niemann Harvest Market opened a store in Carmel, IN and they have their own chicken farm in Illinois. I prefer their whole chickens. They aren't significantly more pricey and I love the flavor.

I need to correct this, I originally said they only had two other locations in Illinois, but in fact, it looks like Niemann's operates several groceries there. So STEbbq and Sid P are you familiar with Niemann's? If not, it might be worth checking out their chickens.

Panhead John my post does nothing to help you out unless you'd like to come for a visit to Indiana. Otherwise I'll just have to tell you how good it tastes.

B

[Panhead John]

I’d love to visit one day Brian……but you come here 😎 I’m kinda hoping I can’t taste much of a difference tonight, I sure don’t wanna start paying that much more for chicken! 😂

[Steve B]

Not sure about whole chickens, but I would think that it would apply, when it comes to wings as well there is most definitely a difference. The best ones I’ve found around here are, I think they’re Blue Crystal or Crystal something. Much better tasting, almost never a broken one. Not too big and not too small. And very flavorful.

[Panhead John]

I think you’re right about the wings Steve. When I visited those wing joints recently, I could tell immediately how much better Wing Stop’s wings were over the other 2 places.

[Michael_in_TX]

I have wondered this myself. In fact, it has been on my mind a lot since the Meat Up. I am grudgingly beginning to accept that so-called heritage breeds -- bread for flavor rather than yield -- may really have a better flavor. But, does it extend to chicken?

I'd think you'd really want to taste the meat on this (spoiler: it probably will taste like chicken, lol), so full-on BBQ might be too much. The sauce probably would mask the chicken.

A dry brine in Tony's C's might actually be a great choice. Bolner's Fiesta makes a cheap chicken rub I've used from time to time.

[Panhead John]

I was thinking the same thing Michael, not to go hog wild with seasonings or sauces…I’d be better able to taste more of the chicken itself.

[clb239]

I always wonder about the fresh never frozen after I was at Wegman's a looking at their "fresh never frozen" chickens and I could see the ice crystals in the packaging...

[jfmorris]

They can sell poultry as "fresh never frozen" if it is kept at 26F or higher. If they freeze it below 26F, it is considered frozen.

Ice crystals, as we know, can form at 32F. But I will imagine the interior of the chicken is only lightly frozen.

That said... who knows if these grocery stores keep the "fresh never frozen" birds in a case that is 26 degrees or more...

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/poultry/poultry-label-says-fresh

[Smoker_Boy]

Since all chickens don't eat the same feed, the phrase "Chicken is chicken" is incorrect.

My wife raised their chickens when she was young.
She would also disagree with the phrase.

[FireMan]

Absolutely right! Yer friendly brands of stupor market chicky have who knows what in it like emulsifiers, goody

[FireMan]

Absolutely right!

[captainlee]

Interested in your results. We always buy whatever our store has and always satisfied. Every once in a while you get one that is on the tuff side, but rarely. We have had issues with organic turkeys being tuff, wasn't with the money. I do agree with you about Costco, but I now will only buy the prime if I'm doing a brisket. Going through all that effort for maybe one brisket a year I want to minimize my chances for disappointment.

[Panhead John]

I’ll post my thoughts about the fancy chicken tonight.

[Waiting for the Worms]

I have no idea if fancy chickens are any better than regular chickens. The last time I bought something other than what was cheap was when I ordered 3 chickens from a kid doing an FFA fundraiser. What I got were 10 pound chickens that were only suitable for soup, and even then they were pretty tough and stringy.

As for how to cook what you have.
Dry brine overnight if you have time, otherwise for as long as you have.

Make a compound butter with your favorite poultry seasoning. My favorite is the chicken rub from The Shed. Lift the skin off the meat, but avoid tearing the skin as much as possible, and rub the meat with the compound butter.

Set your oven to as high as it will go and let it preheat for at least one hour.

Put the bird on a wire rack set in a sheet pan, and stick it in the oven.
As soon as the bird goes in the oven, drop the heat to 350°, and pull it when the breast hits 150°.

When it comes out of the oven tent it with foil and let it rest for at least 15 minuets.

Slice and serve.

If you insist on cutting the chicken up first, then follow the same steps as above, but smoke it on the kettle at 250° for 45 minutes, and then run the heat up to 400 to finish cooking and crisp up the skin.

[Panhead John]

Thanks Will, that sounds good!

[Dan Deter]

That's basically how we do our Thankgiving turkey, although using a turkey roaster rather than the oven. Comes out great every year.

[TripleB]

At your age.....chicken is chicken .

When I buy whole chicken, I buy Mary's or another air-chilled organic chicken. I've found that they taste better than the Foster Farms variety. They are also a bit smaller, a true roaster over a stewing chicken which usually gets up to 5-6 pounds.

But I generally buy my chicken in pieces because: 1) I usually just want thighs; 2) I usually buy them when they're on sale (2 for 1) and 3) for specific recipes like chicken piccata and other chicken sauté recipes.

[Panhead John]

At my age?!?!……😳😢😢
😂