Qczar
09-19-2006, 02:22 PM
A few weeks ago I set out to buy a med to lg chicken to doctor up and get it on a spit for my grill. Personally, I have learned that I can stand eating any chicken except Perdue. Some are better than others. An all natural I find being the best. I`ve heard some like Perdue, which baffles me? I have`nt eaten one for years.
(IMO, Perdue`s are processed in a way that they are molecularly changed, for lack of better words. I cook one, and they taste different from other chickens. They are tougher and do not cut or tear the same.)
So, in a hurry, I head to the nearest super market and sure as sh*t, they were out of my usual brand, Lancaster, and only Perdue. No way. So off to another supermarket and yet another. Getting p*ssed I finally find one on my fourth try that did`nt go thru the concentration camps of a Perdue factory. Not paying too much attention to the label, it looked good and fresh, good date, good color, I was happy it was just another brand.
I`m psyched. Get her home, trimmed, washed, dried, lubed, seasoned, and tied up. I gett`er on the spit and start to spin her with the rear infrared burner. After about an hour do a internal temp reading and let it go for another half hour. I get it up near 180º and I thought I would hit it with a little marinade. As I brushed it on I noticed that the flesh was not forgiving at all. I felt a little sick as this was not a good sign. Now I`m hoping it was nothing. So a few minutes later I get`er off the spit and on a cutting board, covered with foil for a good 15-20 minutes or so. It looked beautiful.
As soon as I put a knife into the breast I started bumming out. It was gross. The flesh was leather like. Even the look of the meat did`nt look right. I could`nt even tear the thigh from the back. No exaggeration, I could`nt pull it apart with all my might and the leg would not tear from the thigh either. The dark meat was worse than the white. Not eatable. It very much reminded me of a Perdue, but twice as bad.
In amazement that a store can even sell such garbage, that anyone, knowing how to cook or not could possibly eat this thing, was way, way beyond me. I looked again at the fine print of the package and it mentioned '10% injected' ? 10% liquid ? Something like that. What the fark is in these birds? Could it be a type of brine (salt, water)? Chemical? Seems unearthly to me. I never tried brining chicken, I wouldn`t think the results are similar? But maybe when injecting it with a brine? My next Q I was going to try brining before smoking and hope to learn sumtin`. I hope I`m not going down a similar path?..................... Anyone differentiate the two?
For the record, I called the market I bought the chicken at and got my money back. In all my years I never had to bring anything back. But this sucker was reallll bad. Just to prove my sanity (as I could`nt believe it), the next weekend I found a chicken I could trust and cooked it the exact same way. Chicken was moist, tasted great, and pulled apart with ease. Whew, was questioning my ability ..............
(IMO, Perdue`s are processed in a way that they are molecularly changed, for lack of better words. I cook one, and they taste different from other chickens. They are tougher and do not cut or tear the same.)
So, in a hurry, I head to the nearest super market and sure as sh*t, they were out of my usual brand, Lancaster, and only Perdue. No way. So off to another supermarket and yet another. Getting p*ssed I finally find one on my fourth try that did`nt go thru the concentration camps of a Perdue factory. Not paying too much attention to the label, it looked good and fresh, good date, good color, I was happy it was just another brand.
I`m psyched. Get her home, trimmed, washed, dried, lubed, seasoned, and tied up. I gett`er on the spit and start to spin her with the rear infrared burner. After about an hour do a internal temp reading and let it go for another half hour. I get it up near 180º and I thought I would hit it with a little marinade. As I brushed it on I noticed that the flesh was not forgiving at all. I felt a little sick as this was not a good sign. Now I`m hoping it was nothing. So a few minutes later I get`er off the spit and on a cutting board, covered with foil for a good 15-20 minutes or so. It looked beautiful.
As soon as I put a knife into the breast I started bumming out. It was gross. The flesh was leather like. Even the look of the meat did`nt look right. I could`nt even tear the thigh from the back. No exaggeration, I could`nt pull it apart with all my might and the leg would not tear from the thigh either. The dark meat was worse than the white. Not eatable. It very much reminded me of a Perdue, but twice as bad.
In amazement that a store can even sell such garbage, that anyone, knowing how to cook or not could possibly eat this thing, was way, way beyond me. I looked again at the fine print of the package and it mentioned '10% injected' ? 10% liquid ? Something like that. What the fark is in these birds? Could it be a type of brine (salt, water)? Chemical? Seems unearthly to me. I never tried brining chicken, I wouldn`t think the results are similar? But maybe when injecting it with a brine? My next Q I was going to try brining before smoking and hope to learn sumtin`. I hope I`m not going down a similar path?..................... Anyone differentiate the two?
For the record, I called the market I bought the chicken at and got my money back. In all my years I never had to bring anything back. But this sucker was reallll bad. Just to prove my sanity (as I could`nt believe it), the next weekend I found a chicken I could trust and cooked it the exact same way. Chicken was moist, tasted great, and pulled apart with ease. Whew, was questioning my ability ..............