Best tasting chicken

[OregoniaEggs]

I have about 120 layers, six different breeds,and I sell 30+ dozen a week at work to foodie/gourmet types who would get pretty excited about meat that tasted better like old fashioned breeds are supposed to taste. I was reading the Country Conversation & Feedback section of the March/April issue of Countryside magazine where Craig Russell responds to an article in the October/November issue called Red Ranger vs. Cornish Cross. He goes on to say that neither type tastes as good as the traditional breeds that “will give you a better product even if they take longer.” My question is, what are those breeds?

 

[3riverschick]

Bresse, Dorking, Marans, Sussex.
Best,
Karen

 

[1cock2hens]

i think the person in the article was referring to heritage meat chickens as a whole being better the your modern production breed, look into heritage meat chickens

la fleche is a breed known for having one of the best meats as well.

 

[N Sully]

I just got dual purpose chickens less than a year ago. I have gotten a chance to eat a few and they do taste better. I have only tried the roosters and probably should of butchered them sooner, but still were very flavorful. The dark meat is much darker. At first I thought they were bruised it was so dark. So far the Java’s to me were the best.

 

[Maeschak]

I have about 120 layers, six different breeds,and I sell 30+ dozen a week at work to foodie/gourmet types who would get pretty excited about meat that tasted better like old fashioned breeds are supposed to taste. I was reading the Country Conversation & Feedback section of the March/April issue of Countryside magazine where Craig Russell responds to an article in the October/November issue called Red Ranger vs. Cornish Cross. He goes on to say that neither type tastes as good as the traditional breeds that “will give you a better product even if they take longer.” My question is, what are those breeds?

If you consider growing out some heritage chickens for foodies at work make sure they are well aware of how to cook them and that the carcass will not look anything like a store chicken. Or just try jut try it small scale at first.
Also you could try this: I have read that Leghorns were actually used traditionally as 'meat birds.' And by this I mean that everyone used to have egg laying breeds (like Leghorns) and had to hatch so many out each year as replacements that everyone ate their young Leghorn cockerels. It was quite common (and I guess that means 'traditional,?) for people to use their 12 week old or so Leghorn cockerels as fryers or simply tiny little broilers. You can read a bit about it here (see second page second paragraph): https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf
That might give you the best of both worlds- utilizing your egg laying cockerels and providing a very traditional product! Besides, you will love how quickly the egg layers grow and the quick turn around of small yummy morsels of chicken.

 

[Maeschak]

If you consider growing out some heritage chickens for foodies at work make sure they are well aware of how to cook them and that the carcass will not look anything like a store chicken. Or just try jut try it small scale at first.
Also you could try this: I have read that Leghorns were actually used traditionally as 'meat birds.' And by this I mean that everyone used to have egg laying breeds (like Leghorns) and had to hatch so many out each year as replacements that everyone ate their young Leghorn cockerels. It was quite common (and I guess that means 'traditional,?) for people to use their 12 week old or so Leghorn cockerels as fryers or simply tiny little broilers. You can read a bit about it here (see second page second paragraph): https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf
That might give you the best of both worlds- utilizing your egg laying cockerels and providing a very traditional product! Besides, you will love how quickly the egg layers grow and the quick turn around of small yummy morsels of chicken.

Sorry, you can also read in the second paragraph of the first page that young Leghorns were used as squab broilers and only 3/4-1lb when butchered.

 

[Dean Wood]

Orpington is the best tastings chicken breed and 1 of the biggest

 

[Dean Wood]

I'm going to try and do some table birds this year, Buff Orpington is my breed. Its a great tasting bird and its also good egg layer. I am going to hatch my own birds keep some for eggs and butcher the rest. How easy would it be to make a plucking machine??? Can u make them?????

 

[AspiringHomesteader]

When you say Marans, do you think there would be a big difference between Bresse and a Black Copper Maran @3riverschick ?

 

[speedy2020]

When you say Marans, do you think there would be a big difference between Bresse and a Black Copper Maran @3riverschick ?

White Bresse taste much better than Copper Marans. The Bresse is flavorfully and sweet. The Dorking also good, but they take much longer to growth out and hard to find good stock.