Whole chickens - worth paying extra?

Lucy_Lastic

Last weekend I thought I would try one of the more expensive "corn fed" fresh chickens, just to see if it was worth the extra money.

I roasted the chicken in the same way as I normally do and was disappointed to discover that the only difference was that it appeared drier than the normal fresh chickens that I buy. This could be because my normal chicken has water injected into it, I have not checked the ingredients list.

I found that it the more expensive chicken did not taste any better, just looked a bit yellow (as corn fed ones do).

I will be buying the usual standard fresh chickens for roasting in future, but wondered what others have found.

Do you have a chicken preference?

Fire_Fox

I prefer the taste of corn fed and I've never had it be any drier than any other chicken (I dislike breast meat for that reason). AFAIK water doesn't make a bird more succulent fat does that, adding water is just a profiteering exercise.

Lucy_Lastic

I did not notice a difference in taste, must be my taste buds!

Worth a try I guess, but it cost £10 instead of the usual £5-6

Fire_Fox

Good lord where are you shopping? Sainsbury is currently £4.30 a kilo to Tesco £5.50 a kilo for corn fed, they were on offer in Sainsbury for £3.40 kilo less up to yesterday. Aldi have free range whole birds at £3.40 a kilo but I can't tell you what it tastes like.

maman

Lucy_Lastic wrote: »

I did not notice a difference in taste, must be my taste buds!

Worth a try I guess, but it cost £10 instead of the usual £5-6

:eek:

I cooked an Aldi FR one on Sunday and it's yummy! I buy FR for conscience reasons although I'm not fussed when buying thighs! (no I don't understand it either).

Will be making a chicken and leek pie later with LOs.

Lucy_Lastic

It was almost 2kg, so that's about right.

Clowance

Whatever type of chicken suggest this way of cooking:
Put in covered casserole dish ( I use a black enamel dutch oven which is big enough for large chickens) and add about an inch of water. Cook for normal time with lid on. It partly steams and is lovely and moist. No added fat required - still goes brown.
Bonus - if you drain the water it cooks in (top up with veg water if required) and skim the fat, it makes lovely chicken gravy. Healthy and tasty.

Lucy_Lastic

I cook my chickens in a roaster bag (Lakeland) and it has a similar effect, keeping all the juices in the bag and (normally) resulting in a lovely moist chicken. Juice in the bag used for gravy. No water added to the bag though.

I rummaged in the bin and checked the price, it was a Waitrose FR cornfed chicken and was £5.50 per kilo, so same price as Tesco.

Fire_Fox

Lucy_Lastic wrote: »

I cook my chickens in a roaster bag (Lakeland) and it has a similar effect, keeping all the juices in the bag and (normally) resulting in a lovely moist chicken. Juice in the bag used for gravy. No water added to the bag though.

I rummaged in the bin and checked the price, it was a Waitrose FR cornfed chicken and was £5.50 per kilo, so same price as Tesco.

Maybe complain? Waitrose are known for their good service. It definitely should not have been dry in a roaster bag, as you say.

Lucy_Lastic

I'll just chalk it up to experience - I've eaten the evidence!

Edwardia

Cheapest whole organic chicken I've seen lately is Tesco for 6.60 (whole bird not per kg).

We bought a Romertopf chicken brick complete with instructions and a cookbook for about $2 IIRC at a boot fair. Gave it a good clean following instructions and works very well.

Have to say I prefer my stainless steel lidded roaster though. I can brown onions and veg on the hob then add the bird(s) on the trivet and put other veg round and stick in the oven.