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> “If breast meat is worth two dollars a pound and dark meat is worth one dollar, which would I rather have?” Western countries are weird about this. Chicken
by 9nGQluzmnq3M 6y ago
> “If breast meat is worth two dollars a pound and dark meat is worth one dollar, which would I rather have?”
Western countries are weird about this. Chicken breast, particularly the industrially produced Tyson broilers and their ilk, is bland, dry and tasteless. (There's an Anthony Bourdain quote which I can't find right now about chicken being what people who don't like food order in restaurants.)
In Asian countries "dark" meat is preferred and sells at a premium, because it actually has some texture and taste.
- nine_zeros 6y agoNot just dark meat but actually well fed farm chickens that are alive until ordered. The animals are raised healthier and it shows in the taste and nutritional composition.
- maxerickson 6y agoShh. It's probably easier to cook dark meat also.
- selimthegrim 6y agoDark meat itself has more vitamins and minerals, no?
- bluedino 6y agoWings cost way, way more than breasts in the USA
- gruez 6y agoMaybe if you're comparing flats (most expensive wing) with bone-in skinned chicken breasts (cheapest breast). At least where I live, whole wings (or drumettes) are always cheaper than skinless/boneless chicken breasts.
- adamjb 6y agoI think I found the Anthony Bourdain quote: Like most other chefs I know, I’m amused when I hear people object to pork on nonreligious grounds. “Swine are filthy animals,” they say. These people have obviously never visited a poultry farm. Chicken—America’s favorite food—goes bad quickly; handled carelessly, it infects other foods with salmonella; and it bores the hell out of chefs. It occupies its ubiquitous place on menus as an option for customers who can’t decide what they want to eat. Most chefs believe that supermarket chickens in this country are slimy and tasteless compared with European varieties. from "Don't Eat Before Reading This", the essay which put him on the map as a writer. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/19/dont-eat-before-reading-this https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/19/dont-eat-befor...
- gruez 6y ago>I’m amused when I hear people object to pork on nonreligious grounds. “Swine are filthy animals,” they say. Is this actually a thing? That is, an agnostic/atheist refusing to eat pork because it's dirty? Also AFAIK "swine are filthy animals" is the justification for not eating pork in abrahamic religions.
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 6y agoThanks! That's the essay which was expanded into his first book, Kitchen Confidential, so it's likely in both in some form.
- cookiengineer 6y agoEverybody that claims swine are filthy animals: that is absolutely not true. They are filthy because they have to sleep in their own shit, because the farmer presses them together in such a small room that they literally cannot move without hitting each other. If pigs are raised on an open field, they roll themselves in water to keep them clean multiple times per day. On the other hand cows roll themselves in their shit, even when provided with puddles of water...and are unable to clean themselves afterwards because they ain't gonna take a bath. Source: me, my grandparents had a rather mid-large farm in Germany and tried to raise their stock as humane as possible. They also tried to raise chicken in an open manner, but that's close to impossible because you would have to have a lot of bushes, puddles, mixed areas of grass, plants, and a lot of fences in between (so groups don't attack other groups) around the stable. Otherwise chicken won't leave the stable, even not when they get infected. And the value of chicken stock is so low that it's a financial disaster if you would build up a healthy environment for them, even if you would own the land. They would just destroy the plants so regularly that you would have to replace the plants at least on a monthly basis to provide hideouts and shadow for them.
- ip26 6y agoPretty sure it's a recent effect, a result of the lipid hypothesis. Basically, saturated fat was demonized, so Western countries looked for the leanest meats.
- wastedhours 6y agoYeah, I've never understood this - given the choice, I'd choose dark meat over chicken breast every time.
- breakbread 6y agoThe hype over dark meat has become a meme. I know Americans slept on dark meat for a while, and perhaps many still do, but in a certain slice of the foodie subculture (recipe bloggers, YouTube foodies, etc) this idea that dark meat is ALWAYS better than white meat has become this truism that, it seems to me at least, people like to slip in to signal how cultured they are or something. Personally, it just depends on the dish and what kind of mood I’m in. For example, if I’m wanting to make a pan sauce I’ll almost always go with white meat (usually bone-in split breast). Chicken parm? White meat, please For me, because dark meat itself is fattier and more flavorful by default, I find it can take over in many dishes where the meat is more of a vehicle for something else. Stir frys, however - I almost always opt for dark meat. Curries? It depends.
- wastedhours 6y agoDidn't realise I was playing into a meme - I've basically replaced most of my white meat use with off the bone thigh meat. You get a stronger taste for sure, but I've not yet found it actually jars with a recipe (and to be clear, complete anecdata based on dishes I prepare) to the extent the cons outweigh the pros.
- bserge 6y agoPeople got used to the taste. "Normal" hen that have roamed free since they hatched tastes quite different. Apparently people don't like it! It's the same with eggs - there's a noticeable difference in color and taste between farm and true free range eggs.
- bambax 6y agoHere in France we usually buy whole chickens to roast (yellow chickens are sold at a premium, although I'm not sure there's a big difference in taste). When served it's a kind of battle because the thigh go first, then the sticks ("pilon"), and the breasts last. Nobody wants them; sometimes they simply get thrown away as they tend to be dry and flavorless.