Foster Farms Chicken

[Jensen]

While admittedly the product is not uber-high quality, I have been in the habit of keeping a bag of Foster Farms' boneless, skinless chicken breasts in my freezer (Jinmyo, avert your eyes now).

The first time I cooked from that bag, the texture of the meat was a little rubbery and the dish was fairly salty. I thought maybe I'd just got an odd chicken but then, the next time I cooked it, the taste and texture was the same.

So, I looked at the ingredient list on the bag. Instead of just "chicken", it now reads "chicken, water, kosher salt".

It would appear that Foster Farms is selling brined chicken breasts.

This is outrageous! There's another thread here on "the dumbing down of heirloom tomatoes"...this is the dumbing down of boneless skinless chicken breasts (which were pretty low on the dumb scale to begin with).

What other meats are these company mucking around with? (and I mean just in the processing end of things...we all know they're mucking around with all sorts of things in the growing department).

BTW, Foster Farms responded to my comment to them that they had lost a customer over this issue with a polite "Thank you for your feedback."

[melkor]

Grocery store poultry is nasty - nearly all of it says something like 'may contain up to x% salt water by weight'. Frozen is worse.

[tim]

Jenson,

Consider yourself lucky. All of the breasts at Walmart are enhanced by saline solution, phosphorus and/or silicone.

On the other hand, it's acceptable to place hands on the ones enhanced with silicone.

Tim

[Dave the Cook]

Grocery store poultry is nasty - nearly all of it says something like 'may contain up to x% salt water by weight'.  Frozen is worse.

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That's a pretty broad brush. I don't have any problem finding minimally processed chicken at my supermarket. And though I'm not sure what the percentages are, it seems to me that after a few years of tumbling and soaking, the major processors are either backing away (at least for their fresh product), or are offering new lines of untampered-with poultry.

Besides, I don't think there's anything wrong with brining in principle; I usually brine supermarket breasts. The problems with factory brining are that 1) someone else determines the salt (and whatever else) concentration; 2) you pay chicken prices for salt water. And of course, there's the texture issue that Jensen pointed out, which usually goes hand in hand with either too much salt or too much time in the brine.

[melkor]

Grocery store poultry is nasty - nearly all of it says something like 'may contain up to x% salt water by weight'.  Frozen is worse.

←

That's a pretty broad brush. I don't have any problem finding minimally processed chicken at my supermarket. And though I'm not sure what the percentages are, it seems to me that after a few years of tumbling and soaking, the major processors are either backing away (at least for their fresh product), or are offering new lines of untampered-with poultry.

Besides, I don't think there's anything wrong with brining in principle; I usually brine supermarket breasts. The problems with factory brining are that 1) someone else determines the salt (and whatever else) concentration; 2) you pay chicken prices for salt water. And of course, there's the texture issue that Jensen also pointed out, which usually goes hand in hand with either too much salt or too much time in the brine.

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Hey, buy whatever works for you. I want nothing to do with factory farmed poultry, brined or not.

[JAZ]

How recent is this move by Foster Farms? I've been seeing pre-brined poultry and pork, too, in supermarkets for a while now. But it's really frustrating if a product you've been buying changes without warning and you don't notice until it's too late.

[Jensen]

Melkor: here in the burbs of Sacto, it's just not that easy to find poultry that isn't factory farmed (especially when one doesn't drive). I can get Petaluma Poultry products at my local Raley's but that's still factory farmed, even if it is a factory farm with a slightly nicer view.

I grabbed a chicken from my Trader Joe's earlier this week; it tasted remarkably similar to Petaluma Poultry's product. I'm guessing it's PP, private labelled.

The only good chicken I've had in recent memory is a Smart chicken I picked up at Corti Bros. Excellent chicken but Corti Bros. is out of Trigger's range (Trigger being my electric scooter).

Is it too much to ask that decent, un-mucked-with food be available?

(Rhetorical question...I already know that it is far too much to ask.)

JAZ: I just noticed it about a month ago. I was ranting about it to a friend and she said "Well, that explains why the last time I made [some dish], it was way too salty and tasted like crap." (I'm paraphrasing.)

Based on that, I think it's a fairly recent change.

[melkor]

A handful of places in Sacramento apparently carry Mary's chickens. They're a huge step up from the grocery store junk.

[Jensen]

A handful of places in Sacramento apparently carry Mary's chickens.  They're a huge step up from the grocery store junk.

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Hey! One of those places in Sacto actually has a storefront (i.e., it's not a restaurant) and, even better, it's near my house. Orangevale Meats is out of Trigger's range but well within the newly-licensed Spawn's driving comfort zone.

The last time I was in there, they didn't have meats in their cases; at that time, they were solely processors. But I'm willing to take a ride to check them out...if nothing else, it'll give me a chance to listen to the Spawn's Amy Winehouse CD.

Edited September 14, 2007 by Jensen (log)

[melkor]

Cool. Let us know what you think of them if you try them.

[Jensen]

Well, it won't be any time soon.

Just got home from Orangevale Meats; they only get Mary's Chickens in occasionally. BUT...I did buy another type of 'all natural' chicken (can't remember the name) which the shop marinates in their own seasoning blend.

I'm thinking I will throw it on the rotisserie.

[melkor]

So, was whatever you ended up with better than foster farms?

Edited September 17, 2007 by melkor (log)

[Jensen]

Better than Foster Farms and better than Petaluma Poultry!

I did get a lead on another possible source for Mary's chickens (and other good meats); a butcher shop has opened up in the new Quarry Ponds shopping centre. It's a bit of a drive from here but it's now on my list of places to check out.

[melkor]

Better than Foster Farms and better than Petaluma Poultry!

I did get a lead on another possible source for Mary's chickens (and other good meats); a butcher shop has opened up in the new Quarry Ponds shopping centre. It's a bit of a drive from here but it's now on my list of places to check out.

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Excellent.

[Jensen]

I still haven't checked out the Quarry Ponds centre yet but I did buy a Mary's chicken at Corti Bros. this morning. The "vegetarian diet" label on the wrapper caused me some concern but we'll see how it tastes. I should be cooking it tomorrow or on Tuesday.

[Jensen]

The Mary's chicken was very good...lots of chicken flavour. The meat was moist but not watery. Texture was superb; no rubbery meat at all.