Cooked Chicken

Logo

I'm not a fan of processed meats so I generally don't buy them. I'm just wondering if shop-bought cooked chickens are totally unprocessed - or are additives like preservatives used?

For a second, I thought this was going to be about the overuse of fake tan.

Winterlong

Or overly hot ladies.

The Hill Billy

They are the same as the chickens that you'd see in the chiller cabinets in supermarkets. The only thing is that you have no way of telling if they are battery-reared or free range because they aren't labeled.

The posters in the Food forum could probably give you a more comprehensive answer.

ScumLord

Logo wrote: »

I'm not a fan of processed meats so I generally don't buy them. I'm just wondering if shop-bought cooked chickens are totally unprocessed - or are additives like preservatives used?

Cooking is a process. I don't know what kind of preservatives they could add to a full cooked chicken. We're used to chicken being a short lifespan food stuff, people won't take risks so just keep cranking out the chickens to keep up with demand.

Really choosing organic and free range would be much more important and would mean the animals don't have the same levels of antibiotics in them.

suicide_circus

To cook a chicken, simply fill the cavity with Zip firelighters, ignite and throw the burning carcass under the front wheel of the 41 bus. Add salt to taste.

Logo

ScumLord wrote: »

Really choosing organic and free range would be much more important and would mean the animals don't have the same levels of antibiotics in them.

Thanks. Honestly never thought about the levels of antibiotics or other chemicals pumped into them... Food for thought.

Skyfarm

here chick ,chick , some lovely yellow-green pills for your cold

B0jangles

Are you talking about hot rotisserie chickens? If so, then they are the same birds as the raw ones on the shelves, or at least they were when I worked in superquinn back in the day.

Wouldn't recommend though, they are almost invariably overcooked to the point of incineration.

ScumLord

Skyfarm wrote: »

here chick ,chick , some lovely yellow-green pills for your cold

Chickens are the spartans of the bird world, they despise weakness and will kill any chicken that doesn't live up to the ideals of the spartan chicken warrior. This is why antibiotics are necessary because so many violent assaults take place against any chicken that bleeds or shows weakness.

So be careful not to show weakness when dealing with chickens. You don't want to lose their respect, or they will attack you, or at the very least taunt you with chicken insults that will destroy your self confidence.

Boom_Bap

These are the chickens that are used by the store staff in the back store rooms for chicken olympics before being cooked.

whiskeyman

Boom_Bap wrote: »

These are the chickens that are used by the store staff in the back store rooms for chicken olympics before being cooked.

And you DO NOT want to know what was involved in the breast stroke...

Boom_Bap

whiskeyman wrote: »

And you DO NOT want to know what was involved in the breast stroke...

Pole Vault is the more concerning.

Logo

B0jangles wrote: »

Are you talking about hot rotisserie chickens? If so, then they are the same birds as the raw ones on the shelves, or at least they were when I worked in superquinn back in the day.

Wouldn't recommend though, they are almost invariably overcooked to the point of incineration.

Thanks. I'm not into cooking so I assume it's hot rotisserie chicken. The organic option sounds great but I simply want to buy a cooked chicken (normally €5 in Dunnes). Over-cooked isn't a problem as I'd probably do the same myself. So is chicken the lean and healthy best meat option?

B0jangles

Chicken's fine . If you are worried.about the fat content.just don't eat the skins, the actual meat is pretty low fat, especially the breast meat.

B0jangles

B0jangles wrote: »

Wouldn't recommend though, they are almost invariably overcooked to the point of incineration.

I'd much prefer that to them being undercooked.

B0jangles

Theodore Ancient Granule wrote: »

I'd much prefer that to them being undercooked.

Well, yes but it's not.a.choice between under and overcooked, spend a tenner on a meat thermometer (hurr) and you get perfectly cooked food very easily.

Logo

B0jangles wrote: »

Chicken's fine . I.

That's what I'm wondering about. Should young chicks pumped with antibiotics and chemicals be best avoided? Or are corn-fed and more expensive birds the better option?

B0jangles

B0jangles wrote: »

Well, yes but it's not.a.choice between under and overcooked, spend a tenner on a meat thermometer (hurr) and you get perfectly cooked food very easily.

When it comes to chicken I always cook it more than recommended to be sure not a fan of taking the risk of being sick.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Breast is best

B0jangles

Logo wrote: »

That's what I'm wondering about. Should young chicks pumped with antibiotics and chemicals be best avoided? Or are corn-fed and more expensive birds the better option?

It's not something I worry too much about tbh. Unfortunately I think you're unlikely to be able to find somewhere that sells hot cooked organic chickens, the main supermarkets are all selling ordinary battery birds at their hotfood counters

JupiterKid

I love chicken but I'm paranoid about handling raw chicken and always slightly overcook it in order to make sure it's ok to eat.

I learned my lesson after a booze filled barbecue back in the 90s where we thought we'd cooked the chicken but it was undercooked inside and we were all very sick from both digestive orifices for a couple of days afterwards. I never want to go through that experience again.:(

Hot rotisserie chicken is fine. But be very careful about eating it shortly after buying it. Storing it in the fridge before it is fully cooled down is not a good idea.

Logo

B0jangles wrote: »

ordinary battery birds

I realise that all animals are pumped to the limit for sale purposes but are poor chicks being pumped with chemicals for my benefit?

Yamanoto

Logo wrote: »

Thanks. Honestly never thought about the levels of antibiotics or other chemicals pumped into them... Food for thought.

The cavalier administration of antibiotics in farm animals (used prophylactically in healthy livestock to prevent infection or as a way of boosting weight gain) poses a huge risk to human health. We're very close to the point where drug resistant bacteria will impact on everything from routine surgical procedures to how we manage cancer care.

RasTa

JupiterKid wrote: »

Hot rotisserie chicken is fine. But be very careful about eating it shortly after buying it. Storing it in the fridge before it is fully cooled down is not a good idea.

This makes no sense, once it's cooked it's cooked.

B0jangles

Logo wrote: »

I realise that all animals are pumped to the limit for sale purposes but are poor chicks being pumped with chemicals for my benefit?

I doubt it very much, as far as I know it's done pretty much indiscriminately to lessen the chance of disease breaking out among the birds.

looksee

The only reason for not putting warm food in the fridge is to prevent the temperature rise it would cause, which would affect other food.

foggy_lad

Logo wrote: »

I'm not a fan of processed meats so I generally don't buy them. I'm just wondering if shop-bought cooked chickens are totally unprocessed - or are additives like preservatives used?

Any drugs given are given under strict conditions and at times that should ensure the drugs are gone before the meat gets to your plate.

RasTa wrote: »

This makes no sense, once it's cooked it's cooked.

Cooling food down before refrigerating it at home is very important as is making sure that it is covered when cooling down and then reheated thoroughly to avoid contamination and restrict growth of bacteria.

Logo

JupiterKid wrote: »

I Hot rotisserie chicken is fine. But be very careful about eating it shortly after buying it. Storing it in the fridge before it is fully cooled down is not a good idea.

I store it in the fridge for over 7 days. Never been sick <yet>.

foggy_lad

looksee wrote: »

The only reason for not putting warm food in the fridge is to prevent the temperature rise it would cause, which would affect other food.

foods in containers also create condensation which can be an excellent breeding ground for bacteria.

SEPT 23 1989

I like a moist bird

Hammer89

B0jangles wrote: »

Chicken's fine . If you are worried.about the fat content.just don't eat the skins, the actual meat is pretty low fat, especially the breast meat.

You can post the skin to me if you like. I find it to be the nicest part.

BoJack Horseman

Rotisserie chickens have a roasting baste applied before cooking, but that is about it.
I'm not a fan because they aren't the best birds to begin with and are overcooked

I assume that the vacuum packed chicken in the deli section have nitrates or something similar to prevent it spoiling.

ScumLord

Logo wrote: »

I realise that all animals are pumped to the limit for sale purposes but are poor chicks being pumped with chemicals for my benefit?

I don't know that it's much of an issue for Cattle and sheep and other animals that can graze in the open air. The only reason they have to use more antibiotics on intensively farmed animals like chicken and pigs is that they cram them all into an enclosed space which allows diseases to spread rapidly. The animals get sores and cuts from not being able to move around enough and get attacked by other animals when they show weakness.

Keeping animals outside you don't have those same risks, I sure they still dose the whole heard at times but I don't think it's done as routinely as it is with chickens.

Just about all Irish beef is as about as organic as it gets. They spend most their lives outdoors grazing on grass, many parts of the country use siliage too so there's minimal use of processed feeds.

People should really make an effort to buy free range and organic for our poor chickens and pigs. The life of an intesively farmed animal is cruel.

B0jangles

Hammer89 wrote: »

You can post the skin to me if you like. I find it to be the nicest part.

No! Paws off my delicious crispy chicken skin. No sharing!

foggy_lad

foggy_lad wrote: »

Cooling food down before refrigerating it at home is very important as is making sure that it is covered when cooling down and then reheated thoroughly to avoid contamination and restrict growth of bacteria.

This is a myth born from a time when fridges were not as good as they are today and the introduction of hot food into them would result in the temp of the fridge rising.

Nowadays a modern fridge will compensate for the extra heat by increasing the the cooling. Putting warm food into the fridge is of no danger at. Rapidly cooling food does not increase bacteria. From my experience allowing food to cool in an open container is fine too its never done anything on me or family members and its how things were done as far back as I can remember.

Thoroughly reheating or else eating cold is a very important one though.

The Hill Billy

Logo wrote: »

Should young chicks pumped with antibiotics and chemicals be best avoided?

Whether we are talking about rotisserie products or young wans with STDs at a rave - the answer is yes.

foggy_lad

ScumLord wrote: »

People should really make an effort to buy free range and organic for our poor chickens and pigs. The life of an intesively farmed animal is cruel.

The world does not have enough space for all the organic and free range chickens and other animals and we don't have the 200% more cash to pay for it!

Corn fed organic 1.1kg chicken in tesco €9

Aldi 1.9kg Battery chicken that never saw grass €4.25

Logo

Thanks ScumLord for the informative post and I agree that we should buy free-range, organic Irish produce. But do you reckon that shop-bought cooked chickens are any less chemically pumped than other animals that graze in the open air.

ScumLord

foggy_lad wrote: »

The world does not have enough space for all the organic and free range chickens and other animals and we don't have the 200% more cash to pay for it!

Corn fed organic 1.1kg chicken in tesco €9

Aldi 1.9kg Battery chicken that never saw grass €4.25

I wonder how much of that cheap chicken ends up in bins though, do supermarkets sell every bit of hot chicken they have up there or enough to cover having 2 or 3 birds on display?

We could be overproducing chicken because it's cheap. Using it as a throw away product and making the animal suffer for comercial reasons isn't right either.

I don't really agree that we don't have the space for it, it's just the cheapest way to do it is to stick them into a bog warehouse because the animals can be so fragile they need climate control.

That extra 0.8kg, is it really going to make that much of a difference? How many chickens do you eat a week? I'd much rather a slightly smaller portion if it was of higher quality. Unless your going through half a dozen chickens a week then the €4 isn't going to break the bank.

This is also another case of inflicting cruelty by proxy. These animals really do suffer through their lives and I don't think you'd have the stomach to do it to them yourself. I don't think if I paid you €4 you'd be able to spend 10 weeks making it's life a misery.

I just don't think the saving is worth it. You're basically getting more of an animal that's been deformed through chemicals and poor environment.

Logo

foggy_lad wrote: »

The world does not have enough space for all the organic and free range chickens and other animals and we don't have the 200% more cash to pay for it

The world probably doesn't have enough space for the organic ideal - but hopefully Ireland still has. But I'm just wondering if the simple option of buying a cooked chicken in Dunnes Stores is okay.

ScumLord

Logo wrote: »

Thanks ScumLord for the informative post and I agree that we should buy free-range, organic Irish produce. But do you reckon that shop-bought cooked chickens are any less chemically pumped than other animals that graze in the open air.

No, they're intensively farmed so they have to be treated with antibiotics. Farmers won't risk losing an entire batch of animals so use regular antibiotic treatments as a preventative measure.

Logo

ScumLord wrote: »

No, they're intensively farmed so they have to be treated with antibiotics. Farmers won't risk losing an entire batch of animals so use regular antibiotic treatments as a preventative measure.

So as a chicken-eating lover how do I differentiate between the intensively-farmed crop and the so-called organic, home-farmed free-to-run chicks?

ScumLord

Logo wrote: »

So as a chicken-eating lover how do I differentiate between the intensively-farmed crop and the so-called organic, home-farmed free-to-run chicks?

It'll say it on the package. But any cooked food is probably being made from the cheapest chicken they can find unless otherwise stated. That's probably true for most restaurants too.

Logo

I'm about to make a chicken sandwich but I'm not really looking forward to it after realising that I'm probably going to eat a pumped bird:(

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Some farms have started keeping cows housed all the time, and having the grass mowed and carried to them so technically they're still on fresh grass but they're not grazing it.

The Hill Billy

Logo wrote: »

...I'm probably going to eat a pumped bird:(

Been there, done that.

foggy_lad

ScumLord wrote: »

I wonder how much of that cheap chicken ends up in bins though, do supermarkets sell every bit of hot chicken they have up there or enough to cover having 2 or 3 birds on display?

Lots of food gets thrown in the bin by shops and other retailing units daily but for the likes of the cooked chicken they usually err on the side of trying to put on just enough for the day or even leaving a few people disappointed nearer to closing time but most will have a few cold cooked ones held back which they can use for making rolls etc the next day.

We could be overproducing chicken because it's cheap. Using it as a throw away product and making the animal suffer for comercial reasons isn't right either.

I don't really agree that we don't have the space for it, it's just the cheapest way to do it is to stick them into a bog warehouse because the animals can be so fragile they need climate control.

It is cheap because it is popular and people want to buy more so it is mass produced. Mass production and hand-rearing free range chickens don't exactly go together. This is why we see warehouses and sheds which have harvesting machines which move around and grab and stun the birds. They then go by conveyor to the room where they are dipped and stripped and eviscerated before being packed for the oven or portioned and packed.

That extra 0.8kg, is it really going to make that much of a difference? How many chickens do you eat a week? I'd much rather a slightly smaller portion if it was of higher quality. Unless your going through half a dozen chickens a week then the €4 isn't going to break the bank.

For most people it is not as much the extra .8kg but the extra €5 for the smaller bird which simply won't provide large enough portions, the quality is not an issue to most people as the chicken gets cooked in a casserole or sauces anyway.

This is also another case of inflicting cruelty by proxy. These animals really do suffer through their lives and I don't think you'd have the stomach to do it to them yourself. I don't think if I paid you €4 you'd be able to spend 10 weeks making it's life a misery.

I just don't think the saving is worth it. You're basically getting more of an animal that's been deformed through chemicals and poor environment.

I used to pluck turkeys for Christmas and had no problem at all with how they were treated.