Free range chicken - does it really taste better?

[phaelon56]

I like free-rangers because I think the white meat cooks up juicier -- and gives you a little margin or error when roasting a whole bird.

Hormone, antibiotic and ethical issues aside.... brining fixed all those issues for me. Now that I finally got on the brining bandwagon my chicken consistently comes out moist and juicy - even when I just split it and throw it on the gas grill.

[dave harper]

I am a firm believer in free range chicken. We have done blind tastings at home comparing it with comercial brands. At least in this group we all preferred the free range. I feel the taste and texture are both superior.

[Behemoth]

Seems to me a lot of your thoughts apply to the question, phaelon. I've also read of a recent testing (I think it was Cooks Illustrated) where the kosher chickens came out as the preferred chicken among all the other choices, including 'free range' varieties.

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I remember seeing that -- it was basically because it is the equivalent of brining.

I think organic tastes better, the texture just seems less mealy to me, though that is totally subjective, obviously.

Interesting about the coloring, my chicken is never as bone white as what you'd get in an american restaurant, even when the internal temp reads safe. I just stopped worrying about it, though I do feel a little weird serving it to American guests. There was a thread about this at some point I think...

[FunJohnny]

I'm not sure whether the freshness of the bird trumps how it was raised and fed, but certainly the big difference between your average Purdue/super market chicken and what you get from a farmers market or upscale grocery store such as Whole Foods is the freshness. My favorite brands are Bell and Eberly (Amish) chickens. Also agree with the observation that brining can cure many problems of dryness and other taste/texture issues.

[Suzanne F]

Weighing in on the side of superior texture but inconsistent flavor (at least the flavor can be fixed by brining).

The first time I bought a chicken at the Greenmarket, the two of us ended up eating the whole thing, it just tasted so good. But sometimes they are just okay. Still, I do think they have more flavor than supermarket, cottony birds; brining and herb butter under the skin help those chickens only so much.

[dumplin]

I buy natural chickens that are hormone and antibiotic free. If they're organic and free-range, or semi-free range, that's even better. My doctor said that eating antibiotics is bad for your immune system, especially if its already weak.

I can tell a difference in Tyson or Butterball chicken and a natural or free range chicken. The natural chicken doesn't taste processed. Tyson and Butterball treat their meat with a "broth solution" to plump the meat and give it more flavor. I prefer that the meat already have its flavor.

When my grandmother would go to the grocery store, she would complain that the chicken was frozen although they said it was fresh. She said it didn't taste right. This was in the 80's and early 90's before the organic and free range chicken boom hit. I realized later what it was. She was used to her "free range" chickens that she would go out in the yard and catch. I'm sure after that, the supermarket just doesn't measure up.

[Sleepy_Dragon]

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I can tell a difference in Tyson or Butterball chicken and a natural or free range chicken. The natural chicken doesn't taste processed. Tyson and Butterball treat their meat with a "broth solution" to plump the meat and give it more flavor.  I prefer that the meat already have its flavor.

Yes, I can tell too, especially with Tyson and Butterball. Not only the processed taste, but the texture too, especially when barbecued. And a roasted Tyson or Butterball turns into a hunk of chicken-flavored deli loaf when eaten cold the next day! I notice this with mass-produced turkeys too.

When my grandmother would go to the grocery store, she would complain that the chicken was frozen although they said it was fresh. She said it didn't taste right. This was in the 80's and early 90's before the organic and free range chicken boom hit. I realized later what it was. She was used to her "free range" chickens that she would go out in the yard and catch. I'm sure after that, the supermarket just doesn't measure up. 

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Well, I'm inclined to agree with that insomuch as the first time I tasted an organic free range chicken, it was such a revelation. It tasted like how the chicken of my memories of childhood tasted (my mother used to get fresh killed ones from Chinatown). It really struck me then that much had been done to the mass production of chickens over the last two decades to let my tongue grow accustomed to their taste and texture.

Pat

[DMH]

Well, I haven't ever really gone out of my way to buy a free range, hormone free chicken...i am usually lazy enough to settle for a supermarket bird. I have though, on two occasions, purchased a couple of free range chicken breasts. In size they were smaller and the first time i cooked them they were pretty bad. the texture was sort of stringy and dried out. I though maybe i had overcooked them or somehing so next time i tried the same brand of free range bird again....and again the texture was pretty horrid and the flavour was nothing too extraordinary. So, I think it is just the brand that i am getting and i am still hopeful that if i find a proper free range chicken it will taste better than any other chicken i have ever tried tried.

I hate the fact that some packaging can say that the chickens are free range and really they were only 'free range' for about 5 minutes a day. At least thats what i heard somewhere.

[marie-louise]

Well, I haven't ever really gone out of my way to buy a free range, hormone free chicken...i am usually lazy enough to settle for a supermarket bird...

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Me too-but fortunately, my neighborhood store sells organic free-range (Rosie), free range (Rocky) and "regular" (Foster Farms) chickens–and all of them come packaged in cut-up parts, so I can choose a package of all thighs or boneless, skiness chicken breasts from any of those producers.

Our markets are incredible out here; we are very fortunate.

[highchef]

I don't have access to free range birds, but I've been reading up on stock making techniques (the lesson here, from Les Halles, and Chef Folse's new encyclopedia for starters). In Les Halles, Mr. Bourdain stresses his preference for the free range chickens quite graphically, but it's not right there by his stock making recipe. It's an opinion elsewhere in the book, but I assume that's what he uses since he really doesn't like the way chickens are raised commercially. No one else makes a distinction. Anyway, since I have a sister who frequently runs I-10 between NOLA and Houston I asked her to bring me one so I could check it out. Now...what sort of taste test do I devise to see any appreciable differences? I was considering quartering it and braising in my large LC 'Chefs' pan (think large paella).

What, if any, opinion do you have on these birds? worth the bucks? must cook them tomorrow, what would you do? (I am going to save the bones and makes stock..even though they'll be cooked already. For what I paid her for them, I'm going to get a few meals from the investment!)

[fou de Bassan]

Highchef,

We've eaten only free range birds for the past 10 years. They are worth the extra cost. My husband was a sceptic until I did side by side roast chickens. There is a true textural difference in the meat and the dark meat is much better tasting than the store bought birds. Concerning stock, any chemical junk will tend to concentrate in the bone marrow and I find a free range stock tastes better, although I know this is a subjective term, and looks darker. Typically, free range birds are older and leaner with a different muscle structure than caged birds. If you are roasting you want to take this into account. In conclusion, I would rather not eat chicken if it isn,t free range. The grocery store birds taste like wet cardboard.

[ChefSwartz]

i've heard that the difference between a free-renge bird and a regular bird is about 6 inches. The taste and texture have more to do with diet and processing than the ability to "roam".

[TJHarris]

I have always found it to be worth the expence. The free range birds that I get have three times the flavor and just seem to be more wholesome.

[winesonoma]

I have always found it to be worth the expence.  The free range birds that I get have three times the flavor and just seem to be more wholesome.

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Roasted one tonight. I was offered the original Rocky on sale or the newer Brand Fulton. Give me the Fulton any day. We have a choice of free range here.

[kjente2]

Another ABSOLUTELY YES for free range birds. I cooked a regular grocery store bird side by side with a free range from the farmers market. There was no going back.

[BeJam]

New Yorker cartoon on free range chickens

[joiei]

New Yorker cartoon on free range chickens

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[bentherebfor]

Great Cartoon!

I've always found free range turkeys to have a different flavor, one that I appreciated very much. I have met others who didn't care for it quite so much, though. Either way, I buy them not so much for their flavor, but in an effort (misuided as some people seem to think it is) to be more humane to animals in general, and to show companies like Tyson that if they start treating their birds more humanely (a.k.a. free range) people will indeed take notice.

Edited February 21, 2005 by bentherebfor (log)

[DTBarton]

We have a couple of brands of chicken at our Whole Foods market that I think are far superior to the standard Tyson/Perdue/whatever. Much more flavor and less fat, don't have the really disproportionate Barbie style breasts.

One is Eberly's free range and the other is Bell and Evans. Bell and Evans ia our home brand, we really like it. As good or better than the free range and cheaper. They don't call it free range, but the birds do get open space, maybe there's a standard amount of space required to use the moniker free range.

http://www.bellandevans.com/

http://www.eberlypoultry.com/products.htm

Both of these sites have store locators.

[Farmer Dave]

chefswartz is right........the difference can be quite small in the different living conditions for chickens.....

Caged- self-explanatory, but I will add that if you ever saw the operation you would think twice.....I saw the same breed we have here "living" 2 to a cage once and, well, it was sad..(almost to tears kind of sad)

Free Roam- thankfully out of the cage and running around in a big open building...like an indoor soccer field with shavings on the floor and lots of feed and water to get free will........

Free Range- access to the outside world......a technicality sometimes as you will possibly see a 12" x 9" door at the end of a huge building with 20 K young birds who might just by chance wander out the door into a fenced area....

A real free ranger will be wandering outside eating a lot of grass...chasing bugs...finding grains...trying to fly, running a lot........these birds definately taste different.....I'm not sure better for some applications...but as far as stock goes...unsurpassed.....and the feet...! make chicken jelly if you wanted to...

I think the taste really has a lot to do with diet, age and processing (lack of added water especially)....

Eggs are a whole other story.

Edited February 21, 2005 by Farmer Dave (log)

[Patrick S]

Silly question, but how big does the chicken cage/enclosure have to be for the chicken to be considered 'free-range'? Is there a certain minimum square-meter-per-chicken specification?

[Pan]

Caution about Bell & Evans: Unlike purveyors of free-range chickens, they include cod liver oil in their chicken feed. Bell & Evans is definitely better than Perdue et al. but, in my opinion, far inferior to real free-range organic chickens. (Of course, cod liver oil is organic, but it's a bad flavor, noticeable in the meat but really evident in the bones for you marrow-lovers.)

[highchef]

I cooked the chicken my sister brought. It was not marked 'free range' but she was told it was, I thought it was a bit fat for that from what I've heard. It was marked hormone free and organic, which I think is a major attraction. It cooked and tasted like a Tyson, but with denser meat and darker 'dark' meat. I'd probably go that route if they were available. There's another in the freezer marked as above but also as 'free range'. It is smaller and more expensive. I think he'll become stock on the reccommendation of farmer dave. Thanks. They are called 'Smart choice' and I believe they're from HEB. I'd like to find someone local who'll does the organic/hormone free thing, but I won't hold my breath.

[SWISS_CHEF]

I have experimented spit-roasting both grocery store chickens and free range birds when I lived in the States. The free range were much better in my opinion but still its like comparing a Chevy to a Ford. The Rolls Royce would be the Bresse chicken from France. There are other "AOC" chickens in France that are very good too. In my opinion, the real taste test comes the day after when the chicken is coold. I am surprised that there aren't movements in the US to develop AOC type products like in France. (Maybe there are and I'm just poorly informed). The only drawback to the Bresse chickens is the cost.... it's almost cheaper to eat filet mignon. A good Bresse chicken can cost $40.

[guppymo]

Growing up to Vietnam I used to eat free range chicken all the time, the meat was so flavorful and the texture was so superb. Sadly there's an avian flu there and people are staying away from chicken.

I have not found any place that sells free range chicken in Boston