The Tough Truth About Chewy Chicken (organic, diet, frozen, healthy)

[elnina]

If you’ve ever cooked a chicken breast and had it turn out tough and chewy, it might not have been your fault. Some chickens are affected by a condition called “woody breast,” which is the result of hardened muscle fibers. This muscle disorder is linked to chickens that have been bred to get as big as possible as quickly as possible.
Thanks to modern farming methods, some chicken sold in stores has more than 3x the fat it’s supposed to, and this can be observed in the stripes of white tissue running through the meat.
Chicken with white striping exceeded normal fat content by 224% therefore is not as healthy as you think. They are tougher, less flavoursome and contain less proteins.

https://www.southernliving.com/meat/...pes-on-chicken

[marino760]

Geez, you can't even eat a chicken breast anymore without feeling like you're in the middle of some kind of genetic or chemical experiment, LOL.

[harry chickpea]

It can also be that the chicken was just old. When you see those cheap 10lb bags of frozen thighs in the store, those are most likely from old layers and not broilers. Tough, and often surprisingly little meat. The breasts get used in cheap processed products, like canned chicken soup or cat food.

Cornish hens, which sell at a premium because they are tender, are nothing more that immature broilers. Turkey is tougher than chicken in part because they are older when harvested.

[Miss Hepburn]

Thanks for this info. I've been sticking to org meats and eggs for a long time now
...good thing! (Esp, since, if I do not...I have little hairs growing on my chin!
Like the children that have premature growth of their breasts! Gosh, the hormones!)

[NYC refugee]

This is what I know about non-organic chicken: they are kept indoors and fed a grain diet in direct opposition to what they would eat left to their own devices. Put a chicken in your yard and they will eat crickets, worms, ticks, etc., a majority protein diet. Most factory farmed chickens are sent to the slaughterhouse right before they would die of malnutrition anyway, from their improper feed. This is the reason all the supermarket chickens are the same size, more or less. To get a larger bird, they need a better diet.

Bon Appétit.