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It came from OLD chicken. As they age, their meat turns that way. I'd suggest to never buy from that supplier again.
Try steaming it, if you can. But, otherwise, as I doubt, American cats will eat meat, toss it. Or, give to chickens, will be treat for them.
Say what? Since when did cats nationality have anything to do with their diet? Cats definitely eat meat, no matter what country they are from, maybe not old, dry chicken though.
I cooked some chicken breasts recently and the meat is very tough -- I don't believe that cooking was the issue because the meat tastes old. Would shredding it and putting it in soup be the best way to use it, or should I toss it? Thanks in advance for your advice.
JJ
I would just toss it if it looks off, however if it's still fit to eat then stick in a curry or soup.
Large “woody” chicken breasts ..
Try slow cooking them til they fall apart
For whatever reason, and in my experience, that doesn't work with tough chicken. It works wonderfully with beef, pork, and fish turns to liquid, but old tough chicken just dries out more (loses what fat might be in it) shrinks up a bit, and gets even tougher.
Consider that the tenderest chicken breast is that cooked just barely into the safe zone, and for the minimum amount of time. Reverse all that, and it just gets tougher and tougher. By the time you get in to the zone of melting connective fascia (which seems to go before muscle tissue) it is unsalvageable. Pieces that I cut into 1/4" cubes for soup presented as dry almost unchewable cubes. Ground up, it can be mixed with enough fat to work in some dishes.
I tried sous vide chicken a few weeks ago and was not impressed even with good chicken cooked low and slow. A thirty hour round roast, OTOH? Amazing.
To make proper chicken soup, you need an old hen (which is what you may have) for the broth and a young rooster for the meat. Simmer the tough meat until it gets some sort of tender if possible, if it doesn't then strain it out and feed it to a less picky eater like a cat or dog. Then use the old hen broth and the young rooster for the meat in the chicken soup.
Old tough hens make the best tasting broth, but sometimes the meat is pretty inedible. At least, for humans.
Cats love meat, even in America...and even in the SSRK.
When I put the meat on the table- chicken, turkey, pork, beef, the cats are right there...and if you ignore them, they will stick their claws in your hand and pull it toward them to remind you. They want theirs and they will leave you bloody if you don't share.
Anyway, on to the OP...I smoked a turkey a little while ago, everything was perfect except the drumsticks. The drumsticks were tough, but, no problem. Pulled the meat off the bones, shredded it up and made a big pot of slow-cooked jambalaya. It was a little chewy, but still OK.
Woody breast continues to confound the poultry industry a decade after its discovery. The condition does not harm the birds or cause them to act differently, and it does not harm people if eaten. It does, however, cause the meat tissue on chicken to become unusually tough, with a coarse texture - prompting complaints from consumers and leading to large amounts of affected poultry products going to waste.
Chicken affected by woody breast is healthy to eat, but the texture is very different, says Dr Casey Owens-Hanning, Novus International professor of poultry science at the University of Arkansas. In the laboratory, the condition can be detected in chicks as young as a week old, which suggests the problem might be genetic, says Dr John Glisson, vice president of research at the US Poultry & Egg Association.
Woody breast continues to confound the poultry industry a decade after its discovery. The condition does not harm the birds or cause them to act differently, and it does not harm people if eaten. It does, however, cause the meat tissue on chicken to become unusually tough, with a coarse texture - prompting complaints from consumers and leading to large amounts of affected poultry products going to waste.
Chicken affected by woody breast is healthy to eat, but the texture is very different, says Dr Casey Owens-Hanning, Novus International professor of poultry science at the University of Arkansas. In the laboratory, the condition can be detected in chicks as young as a week old, which suggests the problem might be genetic, says Dr John Glisson, vice president of research at the US Poultry & Egg Association.
^^^ This. The birds I had were within the scope of this. I cannot say more, except to say that Avigen was not responsible in any way. This is an issue that existed before the current industry, and will exist despite efforts to eradicate it.
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