Do you get more meat from one large chicken or two small chickens?

MysteryMe

Thanks for the research, like many I awaited your results with great interest!

norabatty_2

geordie_joe wrote: »

Thank you for that, you have answered a question many people have pondered over for years.

I predict that you will now become an internet legend, the leading authority on how much meat do you get from a chicken.

Whenever people discuss what has more meat two small or one large chicken, you and your post will be quoted and linked to as being the definitive answer.

Thanks for that, Geordie Joe. I can tell that many, many, many thousands of people have pondered such a deep question because before I posted this question, I did a search for it on Google and came up with absolutely nothing!!!

Still, at least I now know to base my chicken purchasing decisions purely on weight and price per kilo. :money: Looking back through the predictions, it would appear you were the only one who thought the proportions would be exactly the same, so well done you! :T

inspace

Well done norabatty - nothing ventured nothing gained (literally) but hey ho we can all sleep sound safe in the knowledge that we are getting the best chuck for the buck. hehehehe.:rotfl:

cepheus

This probably answers the question. note: Broiler is a word for chicken reared for meat

Heavier broilers for value added products

Optimum slaughter age and weight of broiler are important for better yields and quality. Considerable proportions of broilers are marketed at less than 2.0 kg live weight. A study was conducted to demonstrate the benefit of growing broilers to heavier weights compared to low (1.5 kg) and medium (2.0 kg) weights. Producing broilers of heavier weights has indicated benefits of producing primal cuts, deboned meat and valuable protein at lower cost to benefit producers, processors and consumers. Boilers of the body weight groups of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 kg live weight were procured directly from poultry farm and the meat yields were found to be significantly higher in larger weight broilers. The yield of primal cuts (breast and thigh) and total lean was significantly higher in heavy weight broilers when compared to low and medium weight ones. Further, the lean of heavy weight broiler had more protein content and less moisture content than other groups. Yield of deboned meat from primal cuts (leg, breast, and wing drummets) could be increased by 74.49 g, 36.34 g and 27.98 g respectively when broilers were grown from low to heavy, low to medium and medium to heavy weight respectively. Reduction in cost of protein production was by 26.86% when low weight and heavy weight broilers were compared. Production of heavy weight broilers also facilitate development of processed meat sector with higher yields of special cuts like chicken tenders. These findings indicate better prospects of heavy weight broilers for value added products as higher boneless meat yield with higher protein content are important for processed meats. Meat processor could choose larger weight birds, which yield higher lean content for preparing chicken meat based products more economically without affecting quality of the products

downright_mean_with_money

good research and very informative. now add in the extra time taken to cook the bigger bird and add that to the equation? generally all in you should show a saving from the bigger bird as your cooking "more" only slightly longer than the time taken for 2x smaller birds (20minutes per 0.5 kg). there will be a point at which your savings will dwindle. what you may gain in the smaller birds maybe more stock? it's a trade off, most people would like more meat and so long as more people realise how much meat is on any whole chicken the better "not just the breasts and legs"!. Generally a whole chicken will be roughly 0.5 kg in bones and the rest meat/ skin etc.

Philosphate

Your efforts are appreciated here, great experiment!

However I'm surprised no-one has factored in the varying quality of meat from parts of the bird? Surely some people would opt for multiple smaller chickens because you're getting seemingly more 'higher quality' meat, i.e. breast meat.

Or from our experience do you get essentially the same amount of each section of meat?

P.S. congrats on making it onto the MSE newsletter

tain

So just to clarify:

Both smaller and larger birds give ~42% of deboned cooked meat from their uncooked weight.

So 3 birds totaling 4.05kg will only give a very slightly higher yield over 2 birds at 4kg (roughly 1.68kg of cooked meat).

So as long as the weight to cost ratio is the same, it doesn't really matter.


My conclusion therefore is that you should always go with the smaller birds. Gives you far more portion control, plus cooks a lot better and stays moist easier (bigger bird = longer cooking times = drier meat).

tain

Philosphate wrote: »

Your efforts are appreciated here, great experiment!

However I'm surprised no-one has factored in the varying quality of meat from parts of the bird? Surely some people would opt for multiple smaller chickens because you're getting seemingly more 'higher quality' meat, i.e. breast meat.

Or from our experience do you get essentially the same amount of each section of meat?

P.S. congrats on making it onto the MSE newsletter

You wouldn't get more breast meat from smaller chickens - it'll be the exact same % of meat from the overall weight.

Plus leg and thigh meat has far more flavour and quality.

Ferris

norabatty wrote: »

Sorry for keeping you waiting folks. DH hogged the computer for most of the evening :mad:

Anyway, drumroll please: !

drumstick, surely?

great topic. it would be interesting too see how it varies across birds in different price brackets.

jonsue

Interesting no doubt...BUT where does it leave us Veggies? Oh I know ...lets start another one. Is it cheaper to buy Quorn pieces or to buy Quorn fillets and dice them?