Re: Chickens coming home to roost?

"Harry Lowes" <hl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ha scritto nel messaggio >
> "Mike....." wrote in message
>> Following up to Harry Lowes
>>> "a survey found that the cheaper birds had a better flavour and 
>>> texture."

> But flavour has nothing to do with tender. I personally think battery 
> chickens can be very - if not too - tender. I certainly would not
describe 
> the ones I have eaten as having flavour.
>
>>
>>> I'm in no way saying I agree with their findings, for a start I'd have

>>> liked>>> more information concerning the tasters. There again if they 
>>> used >>> "ordinary
>>> folk" as tasters and they all agreed in blind tests that the intensive
>>> reared birds were "better" it does raise some questions.
>>
>> about what people have been "educated" into liking.
>
> Or as I said, the blind tasting. I wonder how any one would fare in a 
> truly blind taste test of many varieties of cooked chicken from various 
> sources. I > would not be surprised to find a few "experts" choosing 
> Tesco's "2 for a > fiver" birds.

I can tell you my own experience as one who has eaten home grown, battery 
and free range modern chickens.

I have to make an extraordinary amount of chicken stock every year.  It's 
used in a great many dishes I cook and I will not use cubes.  I make it as

it is used from the freezer, so I make it from what is in the shops. 
Sometimes that's chicken backs and wings-- battery reared.  Sometimes it
is 
old hens.  Sometimes it is whole battery chickens if on sale. 
Occasionally 
it is free range chicken from a neighbor.

I have to cook the battery chicken stock down almost to a syrup to get 
richness of flavor.  Even when I roast the parts before making stock it 
takes forever.
The old hens cook quite a while to release the collagen, but the broth is 
rich shortly afterward.
The free range chickens from my neighbors are just the best.  I wish they 
grew enough to sell.  The stock is very good in a very short time, 
comparatively.