To the waters and the wild

[abbey road d enfer]

At least, the Brussels administration has turned the market into two groups:

- one group that creates impossibly low priced chicken breasts*
- one group that sells whole, unadulterated chicken

A whole chicken in our local supermarket (part of the Colruyt group) sells at 2,89€ per kg. How in heaven's name is that possible, considering that these chickens are 8 months old and have been well fed? It's even pretty decent chicken, locally bred.

As you certainly know, breeding is heavily subsidized. A large proportion of "industriéa" poultry goes to the Middle East, so it ends up being some sort of compensation for oil. Basic arithmetics are not applicable there. 

There's even cheaper, frozen. If you buy frozen wings, fi in 20 kg bags, you'll pay around 1€ per kg.

Chicken wings are not culturally as present in Europe as in the US, so we are in overproduction. In spite of that, France imports 25% of its chicken, because foreign producers manage to be cheaper! At what cost?

Hec, if I need a real "soup chicken" (mature chicken) to make chicken broth and/or "Vol au vent", I'll pay more. And if I want a mature rooster for "Coq au vin", I need to go to the poulier and it'll cost me next to 9€ per kg.

9€ is still cheap compared to beef.

*AFAICT, only chicken breasts are being pumped up this way, as that is where the profit is.

I never buy chicken breast. For me it's the less satisfying part, it's dry and relatively tasteless compared to the rest. Baby food... When I buy a whole chicken, I never eat the breast, I give it to the cats and birds that visit my garden.

Whole chicken never was adulterated in this fashion, as it looks really unhealthy, unappetising and nobody would buy it. What's left of the chicken after breasts and drumsticks have been cut off, is considered leftover in the sector. It's turned into chicken minced meat, including the skin.

Too bad. My fave is wings and rump (croupion).

If we want meat that's bred in a humane fashion, chicken would be at least 20€ per kg.

Are you sure? I can get range-bred organic certified (for what it's worth) no antibiotics at about 10€ per kg.
Cutting chicken and putting it in a tray produces a huge jump in price. Buying a whole chicken, keeping only the breast and legs and throwing away the rest is sometimes cheaper than buying them in trays!

 

[JohnRoberts]

My chicken thighs have salt water added .

JR

 

[Squeaky]

I also like to try different foods when I am traveling. I have discovered that I am not a big fan of sea slug - I suppose some might consider it an expression of the ocean. Ox member soup is tasty. I had some freshwater crabs that were small and round (about tennis ball size) and just sort of cracked open and sucked on, no meat to speak of. This was all in Shandong province. The wild chicken was excellent.

Funnily enough, one of the best sushi restaurants I have even frequented was in Salt Lake City. They had seafood flown in fresh everyday.

My memory of chicken feet is of the gelatinous consistency - no meat to speak of just connective tissue boiled to glue in a pretty tasty sauce.

I love a good crustacean: Wild caught prawns Mooloolaba prawns, Moreton Bay bugs, New Zealand crayfish.

Sea snails are good (abalone).

We have wild goat pretty frequently, when I say goat I probably mean kid or yearling. I am not a big fan of old billys or nannys. I have heard that the older billys are popular in the Caribbean.  I have to shoot (or the neighbour does), skin and butcher these myself.

Can't say I make a habit of eating living animals, although I have not particularly thought about it. I used to eat pipis raw as a kid. I prefer my oysters Kilpatrick.

A top of the line free range chicken in NZ is the equivalent of about 7 - 8 euro/kg. We don't really get cocks or soup chickens here any more. I have heard that the price of sirloin beef has just reached its highest price in history. The cost of beef and lamb is extraordinary for a country that produces like we do. Thank the export markets I suppose.

One thing I have never been able to bring myself to eat is possum, even one point when I was really hungry (out in the forest).

If you buy cheap bacon here it seems to throw an awful lot of moisture - so I don't.