is Chicken an over rated food?

just a poll too see how many cooked chicken fans with have here!

and those that dont eat it can we have some backrground info into why this is?

please no arguements though

Chicken used to be for Sunday dinners only and even then was considered a 'treat'.
I mean...who'd want to eat your producer of those lovely eggs?

Then we got the battery farms and it became a ludicrously cheap source of meat protein and swiftly overtook lamb, beef and pork, although pork did manage to hold its own, being fed cheap scraps and the leftovers from the country's school dinners.

So chicken became almost disposable meat and the go-to protein for those in a rush.
Much as I love proper chicken*, I just wish it cost more and would then be treated with the respect it deserves.

I do enjoy my meat and, for me, I suppose beef is the overrated one, though that discounts a quality steak.

*I've kept chickens and these became (almost) pets, producing glorious eggs and living a free range life to the full. It took me a while to grow comfortable eating their meat once more and, even then, it has to be free range and relatively 'local', as with most of my meat.

@fishyfun&fans , I'm curious as to what prompted this poll?

Cooking Hunters Chicken and Chips for dinner today prompted this i think

Nope. Chicken is one of the most popular foods out there, and is used to compare other foods. It’s also been around for centuries.

Bruce Leyland-Jones said:

So chicken became almost disposable meat and the go-to protein for those in a rush.

Click to expand...

And those with a family to feed and not a lot of cash.

I'm not overly fussed about chicken but we eat quite a lot of it in our house along with eggs, rice and pasta. Chicken is probably the cheapest decent source of protein that everyone in the house is happy to eat. There is also a ton of ways to prep and cook it which can turn it in to entirely different meals.

Spicy chicken, curried chicken, roast chicken, chicken strips, stir fried, etc, etc. Could literally eat chicken for a month and not have the same meal twice. All of them are cheap, tasty and mostly fairly healthy.

Pork again is the second most ate meat because it is cheap and again you can do a ton of stuff with it. Spicy Porkbelly is one of or families favorite meals along with pulled pork over handmade beef burgers. Porkbelly literally costs a couple of quid to feed 5 people and it tastes amazing. We don't eat it as much as chicken though because of the higher fat content.

We get eggs from a local farm as well for similar reasons. Lots of stuff you can do with them, makes healthy meals and are cheap and easy/quick to prep/cook.

Lamb is the overrated met in my opinion. Out of the last 5 times we got a lamb joint only 1 was really nice. The rest where fatty/chewy/grisly and pretty expensive for what you get.

Thoughts?

my variation on the Traditional hunters Chicken(heat rate out of )

Method-Marinate chicken overnight using the following Herbs Spices
Paprika , Cumin(small amount) , Rosemary , Habanero Flakes , Himalayan Pink Salt ,Thyme and black peppercorn

using the following sauces/oils as a base for the marinade Sunflower Oil , Tabasco Sauce(orginal and only a few drops) BBQ Sauce(of your choice and optional)

after the chicken is left over night to marinate and is warmed up slowly to room tempreture your ready to cook!

Preheat the oven to 200c put chicken on a tray in the oven for 25 mins take out of oven and add bacon(smoked or unsmoked trimmed or untrimmed) cook for a further 20-25 mins at 220c add grated cheese and Squirt on Copius Amount of BBQ sauce and back in the oven for a further 5 to 10 minutes

Nope, chicken is great! We go to our local Fresh Market and get 2 $12 chicken meals. 2 meals consist of 2 rotisserie chickens, 4 pounds of sides (we get two pounds of mashed potatoes and 2 pounds of creamed spinach) and 2 boxes of cornbread muffins. Its one of my favorite meals ever.

I think that in addition to chicken being cheap, there is so much variety in how to make it, so even if you have it on a weekly basis it doesn’t get old. There are so many ways to make chicken with a side of potatoes, I dont think it could ever get old for me! Potatoes are my favorite food

I haven't touched chicken in years due to the drug resistant bacteria found on them at commercial poultry abattoirs.

• 20 years ago they found drug resistant bacteria in about 5% of poultry abattoirs.
• 10 years ago it was 50% of poultry abattoirs.
• 5 years ago it was 85% of poultry abattoirs and they found over 5 species of drug resistant bacteria in each abattoir.
• By now it will be at least 5 species of drug resistant bacteria in every commercial poultry abattoir.

Anyone handling raw poultry products that come from a commercial poultry abattoir, (and that includes duck, turkey, goose), should make sure they wash up everything with hot soapy water after handling the raw meat. You should also avoid handling raw poultry if you have cuts, scratches, open wounds on your skin because these allow the bacteria into your system.

If possible wear rubber/ plastic gloves when handling raw poultry products that come from a commercial abattoir, and disinfect benches and taps afterwards.

-------------------
Chicken is cheap to buy because of mass production and high protein chicken foods.

Back in the 1980s commercially grown chickens took 3-4 months to get to saleable size. Before then it took even longer (5-6 months). In the 80s commercial growers started feeding high protein diets, which had lose doses of anti-biotics in. The anti-biotics helped the birds digest the food better and grow faster. Unfortunately the anti-biotics also caused drug resistance in bacteria. This practice of adding anti-biotics was banned some years later but it was too late. Drug resistant bacteria were already being found on commercial poultry farms.

After the turn of the century (year 2000), growers modified the chicken's diet and increased the protein levels again. A lot of the protein was from left over chicken parts that people don't eat.

Now chickens are fed high protein food and not allowed to do much exercise. This means they gain weight faster and can usually be slaughtered around 2 months of age. Because the chickens are younger, they cost less to grow to saleable size, and this means they are cheaper to buy at supermarkets.

One of the main drawbacks to force growing animals is they suffer from deformities and chickens grown for food regularly have osteoporosis. The birds are grown so fast they can't absorb enough calcium or do enough exercise to make strong healthy bones. Most people don't care about them because the birds are killed after 2 months.

-------------------
Chickens grown in a backyard are a completely different story. They grow much slower (or they should), and they have stronger bones, better developed muscles, and high levels of calcium in their bones. They also get a chance to build up levels of Coenzyme Q10, which is not found in commercially grown birds.

Backyard birds are usually free of drug resistant bacteria and have more nutritional meat compared to commercially raised birds.

I eat it in a curry or if it’s Kentucky fried but not a fan of just plain cooked chicken , over bred mutants with massive breast and ammonia burnt legs 90% of chickens are , I’m more humane I prefer to eat baby sheep

Love free range roast chicken for dinner, Then on my sandwiches for lunch.

I love chicken!
I make chicken parmigiana, chicken marsala, chicken francaise, roast chicken, fried chicken, etc. Affordable and delicious!