I decided to do an experiment with dinner tonight.  Since I was already roasting one chicken, I might as well roast two and use the leftovers for dinner tomorrow.  I ran out to Wegman’s and picked up an Empire Kosher Organic chicken – priced exactly the same as my Ayrshire Farms chicken purchased yesterday.  I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of taste…not that I didn’t already know what the outcome would be.  I was a little unprepared, however, for the huge difference in the chickens just from pulling them out of their packaging.  The AF chicken (on the right in the pic below) was very pink and pretty, and had skin that wasn’t fatty.  It had been processed perfectly and it looked healthy.  SQ said it was what a chicken would look like if Nordstrom sold chickens.  The grocery store chicken (on the left in the pic below) was wobbly, had thick fatty skin, and looked like it had been beaten up.  Hmmm, not a good sign so far.  Also, my AF chicken is of known origin/farm and known processing date.  The grocery store chicken is of completely unknown provenance…I certainly couldn’t find anything on Empire’s website about where their farm(s) is located, just a mailing address in Pennsylvania.  You could replace the store chicken with any other brand from a ‘known company’ and the point would be the same.  Though I doubt a Tyson or Purdue chicken would look even as good as the Empire chicken.

I roasted the chickens next to each other with some garlic, tarragon, and lemon wedges stuffed in the cavities.  We carved up the AF chicken for dinner and I shredded the store chicken for leftovers, testing a few bites so I could do a fair comparison.  The store chicken was quite good, and would be a noticeable step up from just about anything else in their case…but the AF chicken was just in a completely different league.  The texture was better, not ‘band-y’ at all, and it tasted, surprise surprise, like chicken.  Probably like ALL chicken used to taste 50 years ago.  Not bland, not watery, not stringy.  It was worth every last freaking penny I spent on it.  So go to your local farm, or go to your local farmer’s market…spend a little extra and support your local farmer.  They produce the best – for both health and taste – and they deserve your support…don’t you deserve to eat the best??

Can you spot the differences?