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Today We’re Eating the Winners of the 1948 Chicken of Tomorrow Contest
- coldcode 12y agoStore bought chickens taste nothing like chickens that roam around a farmyard eating whatever is there.
- jontas 12y agoI don't doubt that this is true, I've just personally never noticed the difference. Maybe I need to try a side-by-side comparison.
- blakeja 12y agoYou should and I would not be surprised if you did not like it. The meat taste completely different to me, and not necessarily in a good way due to my life long acclimation to the industrial chicken meat we get from the store. The eggs also taste different, much richer and a different color yolk from what I remember.
- AndrewKemendo 12y agoWe get local pasture raised eggs every week from a co-op. You are correct in that they are different, they taste meatier, they are smaller and vary in size more, the yolks are darker yellow and they last much longer on the shelf. Oh and they don't need to be refrigerated; and some of them still have chicken poop on them. Overall I like them much better.
- objclxt 12y ago> Oh and they don't need to be refrigerated Can't reply in-line to the child post, but this is a cultural difference. In Europe, eggs aren't refrigerated at all, and they're not washed. In the US, eggs are washed and they're sold in chillers. The reasoning behind this: http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-heres-why-we-need-to-refrigerate-eggs-20140714-story.html http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-heres-why-we-nee...
- rlm 12y agoEurope is not a single country. Some countries have refrigerated eggs, some have non-refrigerated. Denmark - European - refrigerated eggs. See also: Every other discussion about refrigerated eggs on HN. As far as I know, once refrigerated, always refrigerated. But if your eggs have never been refrigerated there is no need to.
- ams6110 12y agoPretty sure the refrigeration is just for shelf life. Refrigerated eggs are good for months (even though the expiry date might lead you to believe otherwise). I don't know about non-refrigerated but I would guess they can't be stored as long.
- CatMtKing 12y agoYeah, the eggs are the best. Love them raw over rice.
- aurelian 12y agoFarm-raised meat tastes nothing like wild game. For that matter, lean cuts of meat taste nothing like fatty cuts, let alone organ meats. Modern consumers prefer less flavorful meats.
- gph 12y ago>Modern consumers prefer less flavorful meats. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing (not that you were saying it is). I've enjoyed venison burgers/steaks, but most the time I'd rather taste the seasoning or the rest of the dish that I add meat to. I don't need flavor from meat, just that good ol' umami.
- pazimzadeh 12y agoUmami pretty much is the meat taste, or more specifically bone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami
- tedks 12y agoI've optimized away the entire process via a DIY soylent blend that includes enough MSG to make it taste perfectly umami. I drink this on days when I decide I want to taste umami. It's nutritionally complete, roughly a three dollars a day, and tastes excellent. I have similar variants for sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
- BrainInAJar 12y agoso why eat the meat at all, just toss some MSG on whatever
- dublinben 12y agoIt has a unique texture, and provides healthy nutrients.
- TaylorJEke 12y agoThe way chickens are raised today is awful, but I don't feel like there is anything we can really do, because the industry is an absolute giant.
- runjake 12y ago"Be the change you want to see in the world." Literally. If moving to a plant-based diet is too extreme, buy organic meats, or locally-raised meats, or have half a steak (chicken breast) at each meal and increase your vegetable and whole grain brown rice portions. Do something.
- canvia 12y agoVote with your dollars. Every dollar you spend is a vote for how you want the world to work. Are you an educated voter?
- joeframbach 12y agoWhere I work, we sometimes have Meatless Mondays where a group goes out for a vegetarian lunch. It's a habit that has the capabilities to become viral and I fully support it.
- Dylan16807 12y agoHow is buying 'organic' going to help living conditions?
- runjake 12y agoGreat point. Something being organic itself doesn't necessarily help living conditions, so good point to bring up. My understanding is that even most grassfed beef in the US is brought into the factory farming system and grain-fed the last few months of its life (a process grimly known as "finishing")
- GigabyteCoin 12y agoThere is plenty you can do right now. You don't have to support the giant chicken industry slaughterhouses if you don't want to. You can drive to a free-range chicken farm in the countryside and pay double the store price for a raw unplucked chicken... but why would you? When the ones at the walmart across the street from your house are fully defeathered, cooked, and seasoned for $7.87.
- SixSigma 12y agoNo I'm not. And neither are the other half a billion vegetarians.
- mpthrapp 12y agoI love playing spot the vegetarian/vegan. I just wish it were harder. :/
- pyre 12y agoIs it any harder than playing "spot the meat-eater?" What if we replace "vegetarian/vegan" with "homosexual" or "transsexual?" How is trying to bash the idea that vegetarians/vegans "announce" themselves any different than straight conservative people bashing Gay Pride because it "puts their sexuality in my face?"
- pyre 12y agoI'm curious how the parent post has positive points, while this post has been downvoted. The reality of "spot the vegetarian/vegan" complaints are usually due to disagreement with vegetarianism/veganism. This is much the same way that people that complain about gay people "announcing themselves" is due to either disagreeing with homosexuality, or just plain being uncomfortable with the idea that it exists.
- JasonFruit 12y agoI've raised heritage breeds and Cornish Cross (the result of the cross-breeding of the two breeds the article mentions), and the difference in their health, when raised under nearly identical conditions, is starkly impossible to ignore. The heritage breeds are healthy; the Cornish Cross are lethargic and obese, and when my wife, a physician, looks at the organs as we butcher them, she tells me about their advanced heart disease and other organ ailments. The meat, too, is very different, though both are frankly delicious. The heritage breeds are denser, gamier, leaner, and more flavorful, while not as tender; the Cornish Cross have loose-structured, tender, fatty flesh whose smaller flavor is less rich and complex. I prefer the heritage breeds' taste, but some of my family members prefer the Cornish Cross. (I've never had a Cornish Cross live long enough to lay an egg.)
- freshyill 12y agoThis is pretty interesting stuff, but I got as far as a supermarket rotisserie chicken costing $12.99 and a red flag went up. I pay $5 at Costco and maybe like $8 at the grocery store. $13? Holy crap. That had better be some really good chicken. So I'm now genuinely curious what other people pay.
- timboslice 12y ago$6-7 at a local grocery in St. Louis, MO
- gliese1337 12y ago$4-$5 at Costco or Walmart. In Provo / Orem, UT.
- ahmadss 12y ago$14 - $16 at Trader Joe's DC for a Kosher Broiler chicken.
- ahmadss 12y ago$14 - $16 at Trader Joe's DC for a Kosher Broiler chicken.
- base698 12y ago$8.99 - $12.99 at Whole Foods, depending on the time of day.
- wdewind 12y ago$9, full rotisserie chicken, whole foods, union square manhattan. I can't imagine how anyone can justify a more expensive super market rotisserie chicken than that.
- webnrrd2k 12y agoAbout $6.00, uncooked, at a Fresh & Easy in Orange County, California. (I bought it today, and roasted it tonight with carrots, celery. and onions on the side and it was delicious! I don't know why I haven't roasted a chicken for so long.. super easy and delicious -- really, give it a try if you haven't done one for a while)
- chrissnell 12y agoLoving these chicken stories that have been appearing on HN this week. As I write this, my backyard flock is happily clucking around my ankles, eating spiders and bugs from the vegetables growing in my garden. When I announced to friends and family on Facebook that we were getting chickens, I was surprised at the number of negative comments that I got. Most concerned the health and safety of my toddler son. "Why are you bringing disease into your yard?", people asked. The fear and hate of backyard poultry surprised me. Where, exactly, do these people think their eggs come from? Had they ever visited a commercial poultry farm? It's amazing how disconnected most of us our from our food. After a few months of chicken raising and a summer of vegetable farming, I have a whole new appreciation for the effort and difficulty--but also the joy and satisfaction--of food production. I highly encourage anyone with a backyard to give it a shot. You'll eat better and it will change the way you look at food. If you're interested in chickens, here's my favorite subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/ http://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/ My baby girls: https://www.flickr.com/photos/defender90/14826096908/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/defender90/14826096908/ They are: a Black Australorp, a Dominique, a Rhode Island Red, and an Easter Egger.
- cbd1984 12y agoAre you worried about bringing possibly-rabid wild or feral mammals into your yard?
- steanne 12y agoi spent my early years in a little mountainous valley in virginia where, each week, the mother of the family across they way would take her eggs to the local post office/general store, sell her eggs for the week, and then buy eggs. she wasn't "about to eat them nasty old hens' eggs." people can be disconnected from their food if they choose to be, no matter their circumstances.
- smacktoward 12y agoThe classic show Mystery Science Theater 3000 had their own funny riff on the Chicken of Tomorrow Contest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G0stojwYjI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G0stojwYjI