Chicken – Why do US chicken taste “gamey”/rancid in no time despite proper storage

chickenchicken-breastflavororganic

I am a new member. We are relatively new to the US, moved here 8 years ago.

I've purchased the chicken brands Foster Farms, Costco/Kirkland, Save Mart, Safeway, and more, but no matter the label, it seems that the taste of the meat goes bad really fast, within 12-24 hours after cooking. It's almost like the fats went rancid or the meat would just taste quite funny/fishy or different in no time.

**EDIT**: Sorry, now I realize it really does taste quite "GAMEY". I didn't want to use the word since it's not gamey like how I find Turkey meat gamey. But there is a little bit of gamey off putting taste to it.

When I was younger, the chicken tasted fresh, it doesn't have to be the free range, native or organic all the time, it never tasted funny like what we have now.

Is it that the chickens are processed for a long time here?

I would appreciate your input. Thanks very much and happy advanced thanksgiving to my fellow American members.

Best Answer

I think what your experiencing is the difference between our factory farmed chickens and "normal" chickens. If you do a side-by-side comparison of something like a purdue chicken and an organic free range chicken it'll taste nothing alike. Chicken, eggs, and to a certain extent beef taste immensely different (better IMO) when they're not factory farmed. Now your going to obviously pay more money for an organic bird but i think it's worth it to avoid going through what you've described above.

I remember experiencing the same phenomenon but in reverse when visiting other countries where you may be eating proteins hours after slaughter.

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Chicken – Whole chicken roasting time

The shops are likely going out of their way not to get sued by sticking to safety guidelines rigidly. The packet instructions usually result in a dry and overcooked bird. The various other times and temperatures are all attempts to get a safely cooked, attractively browned bird without overcooking.

However, roasting meat based on oven temperature and the weight of the joint is the wrong way to go about things, because ovens are rarely calibrated correctly (the temperature is often wildly at variance to that set on the dial) and the weight of the meat is rarely nicely rounded.

If you really want to cook any meat (and many other foods) properly, you'll invest in a digital probe thermometer. Then you can simply cook the meat until it reaches a safe internal temperature and no more. They aren't expensive, you can get them from Amazon, and once you've got one you won't know how you did without it.

Chicken breast sous vide: Time in fridge matters

According to the Douglas Baldwin pasteurisation tables for poultry a chicken breast of that thickness would be pasteurised after 55 minutes so you are well within that range.

Thickness   57°C    58°C    59°C    60°C    61°C    62°C    63°C    64°C    65°C
   20 mm    2¾ hr   2 hr    1¾ hr   1¼ hr   1¼ hr   55 min  50 min  45 min  40 min
   25 mm    3 hr    2¼ hr   2 hr    1½ hr   1½ hr   1¼ hr   1¼ hr   60 min  55 min
   30 mm    3¼ hr   2¾ hr   2¼ hr   2 hr    1¾ hr   1½ hr   1½ hr   1¼ hr   1¼ hr

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