My wife is not partial to beef, veal, pork, so my cooking at home is generally chicken or fish. I haven't cooked much fish this winter. My grocery habits have changed since I moved to the other side of town. I used to go to Trader Joe's - a really, really, really great grocery store and well worth the extra effort to go there - and stock up on very good frozen fish fillets and steaks. Really worth the effort. But it's out of the flight path now, and I don't do my regular shopping there any more.
Anyway, I'm off the point.
I've been moving away from Big Industrial Farm poultry for a while now, at least for home cooking. I don't really care about so-called "inhumane" treatment of the chickens: they are chickens. I do care about the nasties pumped into them, and I do care - my primary factor - about the taste. Purdue, Tyson's and the lot, well, they taste like cardboard.
By the way, when I am catering large parties, I go for the bulk items from the big box store, and don't much care where it was raised as long as it is fresh. Cost-cutting and is the nature of the game.
A whole bird, "organic free range," is going to cost you $3 to $ per pound. That's getting steep. Is it worth it? You be the judge. Sure tastes a lot more like chicken.
Now, when I roast whole birds, I generally brine them overnight. This is an especially great technique for your Thanksgiving turkey. It helps moisten the meat so that the breast doesn't dry out before the dark meat is done. I read about this technique from America's Test Kitchen (and Cook's Illustrated magazine, which is my favorite. Google them.)
I primarily cook thighs, by the way. More flavor.
As I mentioned in a post below, I've been using Peapod by Giant for the past few weeks. They are a grocery delivery service. I was surfing the poultry aisle for my first delivery, and was leery of their fresh product. Something about not putting eyeballs on bird. So I bought frozen breasts. (I have gotten over my hesitation: Peapod is a recommended service.)
To defrost, then brine, a piece of chicken means you have to take an extra day in the chicken-cooking process. Man, it's only a chicken! So, I bought Empire Kosher frozen chicken breasts. They were fantastic. Fantastic. They were moist and chickeny. Moist and chickeny. And not because of my technique. I rushed through dinner prep and made a marinade out of a tangerine that was too sugary, and I scorched the pan and had to futz about cleaning - then changing - skillets and such. I cooked the chicken to almost 175 degrees, way overcooked to me.
Moist and chickeny, even after overcooking.
Kosher birds are now my preference for home cooking.
