Know Your Chicken
Broiler-Fryers: Tender young birds that usually weigh 3 to 5 pounds. They can be roasted, fried, sautéed, grilled or broiled.
Roasters: Meaty birds that usually weight 6 to 8 pounds and are best when roasted.
Cornish Hens: Small birds that weigh up to 2 pounds each. They are tasty grilled, broiled and roasted.
Fowl: Also called stewing hens. These tough older birds are available especially around the holidays. They are always braised or stewed and make the best chicken stock.
Capons: Neutered male chickens that weigh 8 to 10 pounds on average. They are very meaty and tender and are usually roasted.
Poultry Shopping
Organic: The term organic has legal weight and the USDA enforces it. 100 % of the feed (except maybe for mineral supplements) must be certified organic which means that is has been grown in a field that has not seen chemical fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides or genetically modified organisms for at least three years. Certain husbandry techniques are prohibited in organic production. Since antibiotics are not allowed at all, chickens can’t be contained in the wing to wing density that conventional producers use (with that cramming it would be impossible to keep disease at bay without drugs). By law, organic chicken also has to be “free range.”
Free Range: These birds have been raised in an environment that provides access to open spaces, but not necessarily an open farmyard. This free movement allows them to develop more muscle which contributes to fuller flavored meat. Free range does have an official definition: “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.”
All Natural: This simply means that poultry has been minimally processed. Its feed was not necessarily organic and might have contained antibiotics.
Kosher: Kosher birds have been processed according to Kosher dietary laws under the strict supervision of a rabbi. The procedure includes salting to draw out the blood and season the meat.
Halal: If you live in an area that has a Muslim community, there is probably a Halal butcher. These birds are not fed hormones and are slaughtered manually while a special prayer is recited.
