Wet chicken (organic, frozen, chefs, consumers)

[azoria]

We lived overseas for a few years. I cook a lot of chicken. Even though the country we lived in imported a lot of their poultry, i.e. it was shipped in from afar, it was fine.

Every time I buy fresh chicken here and cook it I end up with a pan full of water. Can't saute the stuff it's so wet. I just made chicken alfredo and had to pour water out of the pan twice. It wasn't sauteed, it was mushy and boiled.

What's the deal with this wet American chicken? Are they soaking fresh chicken in water to increase the weight? The stuff is really hard to work with.

[5chevin5]

I admit, I had to check out this post just for the title....but now Im fascinated.
I cook professionally and I think I may have some advise...However without actually watching your recipe step by step, its kinda a shot in the dark.

Are you buying a whole chicken and cutting the breasts etc? I always recommend buying a whole chicken because
1. Its usually is cheaper
2. You can get from specific farmers at your butcher
3. There are 100 uses for a whole bird...Its really an easy thing to do...

I also recommend very highly that you get to know your local butcher...Not the guy at QFC (no offence), I mean the guy down the street that knows everything about meat and will most likely source locally...which is a good thing. Most mega food marts purchase breast meat from the big packers across the US (mostly in the South) and merely repackage and sell....very little fabrication of chickens in store, not like cutting meat from Primal and Sub-Primal Beef.

Most packers want you to be brand loyal....so they may do some sneaky chicken tricks...


Okay, back to the "Wet Chicken"...
Many chicken breasts (sold all ready to cook from a store) are injected with moisture/chemicals to prevent drying when cooking and enhance flavor. So that the consumer enjoys the chicken meat and buys more. Henceforth the big movement towards Organic and Farm Fresh products on the market. They may even do it for weight, however I think that would not add much and the cost of the method would out weigh the return.

Much of the US foodsupply in based on mega consumption, most consumers would have no idea what their season specific local produce is or what is raised in the area. Things are slowly changing for the better and allot of us chefs (though Im in Asia now) are very focused on where our products come from. When I was a chef in Seattle my boss thought I was bonkers for going to Pike Place to buy fresh seasonal local produce...(this was in the early 90's!) he thought that the food just magically appeared on the back of a truck from a magically land where Asparagus was in season in December....silly.

Anyways...sorry for the ramble...
Good luck on the chicken....
5

[Thushara]

Sri lanka

[5chevin5]

Sorry Thushara...I looked through your link for relative chicken insight....did I miss something?? trust me a sri lankan ( which I have a few working for me) chicken recipe would be cool...


5

[Robhu]

You need to cook it in dry heat on a day with low humidity.

[Capt. Cave Man]

Look at the package better, it was probably in a "solution"; which I think is just a brine. Turkey and chicken come this way and I hate it. It's kinda hard to find "good" chicken that is not in some solution.

Like 5 said, buy as fresh as you can. I always buy whole birds that our groc gets fresh. Then I put it in a brine.

As far as how you cook it, I'd suggest smoke'n it. But I try to put everything and anything on the smoker.

[5chevin5]

smokers rule....

low and slow is the way to go...

Yes "solution" the word escaped me. bad poultry juju....
get to know Sam the butcher, he will take care of you, he has me....

If you want any cooking ideas, let me know...
5

[azoria]

It's just chicken. From the supermarket, ostensibly never-frozen. But when sauteed in a pan, it sweats a lot of water making sautee impossible.

When I buy it looks like any other chicken I've ever seen. When I cook it, it's wet and mushy. And no I haven't been using whole chickens, I hate cutting up raw chicken. It's just too oogie.

So is all supermarket chicken here injected with water? I don't remember having this problem with US chicken years ago. Maybe this watery thing is a new supermarket scam to increase the weight, i.e. profits, on chicken.

If so, where does one get decent chicken that isn't all watery?

[allforcats]

Maybe this watery thing is a new supermarket scam to increase the weight, i.e. profits, on chicken.

Already answered above...

where does one get decent chicken that isn't all watery?

Already answered above -- butcher shop if you prefer, rather than supermarket. Google for butchers in your location.
But I always buy my Draper Valley (local) chickens at QFC and have never encountered the "water" you describe.

[Ira500]

Try the Ranger brand of chicken, it's free range and local to WA state available at Trader Joe's.