Tastes like chicken? You betcha

Dee Hobsbawn-Smith

  Calgary Herald 2003 
 
 
 

A bird in the oven is worth two in the coop

“Tastes like chicken” is how we describe something innocuous or something bland. It is the phrase we use when describing something new or unfamiliar. Alligator tastes like chicken. Frogs’ legs taste like chicken. Even snake (or rat, or dog) tastes like chicken.

Poor chicken. It has become something of a pejorative, being damned with faint praise, to taste “like chicken”.

In the midst of all this, we have forgotten what real chicken tastes like.

So in the spirit of investigative journalism (and good eating), we decided to cook several chickens and decide which tastes most like chicken. Roasting was the method we settled on as the least interventionist and therefore most likely to produce birds that taste most like themselves.

The birds we selected for this comparison came from three diverse sources. Each weighed about 4¼ pounds (2 kilograms)

Bird A was raised near Strathmore at Country Lane Farms, owned and operated by Jerry and Nancy Kamphuis and their family. Their birds are antibiotic-free and fed a mostly wheat diet. We bought it fresh.

Bird B was from Sunworks Farm, near Armena, It was a frozen, certified organic, antibiotic-free, free-range, grain- and grass-fed bird raised by Ron and Sheila Hamilton and their family.

Bird C wore a Lilydale label and was purchased fresh form Safeway. Vicki Warwaruk, communications director for Lilydale Co-operative, says the bird would not have received any unnecessary antibiotics.

Cooks should think of chicken as two animals trapped on one skeleton.

There are breasts, doing what breasts do — hanging about, getting no exercise, developing no muscles and developing little corresponding flavour. But they are tender and lean, which many people prefer.

Thighs and drumsticks do all the locomotive work for the bird, developing muscles, tendons (mainly in the drumstick), texture and flavour. Such muscles also store higher amounts of oxygen, resulting in darker meat. Drumsticks and thighs develop meat that is more flavourful and higher in fat.

The two parts, breast and legs, are best cooked separately, using different cooking methods. If you cook the bird whole, it usually means overcooking the breast meat into dry and unappetizing sawdust to ensure the legs cook thoroughly.
     
But (a big but!) it is possible to get both juicy breast meat and all-done legs by roasting the bird, breast down, in a hot oven (400 ° to 425°F/200° to 210°C), this method produces crunchy golden skin, but only on the back and legs. We have learned to sacrifice breast skin in favour of juicy white meat.

Each bird was washed under cold water and its cavity loosely stuffed with a few aromatics –a wedge of lemon, a chunk of onion, several garlic cloves and fresh twigs of thyme, rosemary and sage. A mixture of olive oil, pureed garlic, freshly cracked pepper and finely minced herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary and sage) was spooned over each bird’s skin prior to roasting.

After 45 minutes, we basted each bird with the fats and oil from the bottom of the pan and rotated each bird to ensure even cooking and colouring. It took about 75 minutes to cook each bird through. (If the oven is full, it may take longer. If the bird is alone in the oven, or in a convection oven with the fan on, it may roast more quickly.)

To test for doneness, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. It should register well-done, 165°F (75°C).

Alternatively, insert a carving fork, count slowly to 10 and pull out the fork. Immediately touch the fork to the skin on the inside of your wrist (ouch! It should be hot, so do it gingerly and quickly) and the juices running from the bird’s leg should be clear, not tinged with pink. If the bird is not yet done, put it back into the oven and cook it longer.

We let the birds cool for 20 minutes before tasting them. Here’s what we observed:

All three birds were juicy and tender, including their breast meat.

Bird A, from Country Lane, had the densest, meatiest texture. It was slightly sweet, with a clearly pronounced chicken flavour.

Bird B, from Sunworks, had the most pronounced, strongest, most chicken-like flavour. It, too, had a meaty and firm texture, but was less densely structured than the first bird.

Bird C had the softest texture and the mildest flavour.

Our preferences reflected our palates and our upbringing.

Of the three tasters, one opted for the Lilydale bird; the other two tasters preferred the Sunworks bird. All ranked Country Lane as the second preference.

So, what tastes like chicken to you?