Chicken has no taste

rosmoke

Has anyone else noticed chicken in Ireland is tasteless ?

Every friend/relative that comes over from abroad noticed & said the same thing (without me asking) that the chicken is tasteless.

I noticed as well of course and not only chicken, fruits as well, and after asking other people what they think, it seems they feel the same.

Tried free range, fresh, different stores .. not sure where else to look for .. any suggestions ?

Alanstrainor

How are you cooking your chicken? And how are you seasoning it?

Chicken is pretty bland without seasoning.

rosmoke

I'm referring and comparing it with plain chicken.
It wouldn't make a difference, grilled, oven, fried, once you tried it abroad .. it's really noticeable.

And I am not comparing it with taking the chicken from the country side/farm, because there is simply no comparison, it was 1000 times tastier than the one bought in stores even abroad.

dudara

To be honest, what else do we expect from the vast amounts of factory farmed chicken that we eat? A whole chicken for €3 isn’t going to deliver hugely on taste. You’ll obviously get more flavour from a whole roast chicken than a breast, but if the underlying quality isn’t great, there’s nothing you can do

I consciously stopped buying factory farmed chicken a while back. It costs more to buy organic and free-range but there’s no comparison.

rosmoke

Agree, heard many noticed a difference on taste between free-range and the normal one, I personally didn't.
I would be tempted to try buying from a local farm or a farmer, don't really know where from though .. (I'm based in Dublin)

odyssey06

Have you tried corn fed chicken?

rosmoke

odyssey06 wrote: »

Have you tried corn fed chicken?

Not sure if I had, definitely not lately, but good idea .. I'll try it next!

Wildcard7

As someone who's been living in another country for 30 years and in Ireland for 5, I can't say I notice any difference. That's true for chicken drumsticks, wings and breasts from Tesco anyway. Plain chicken in chinese restaurants tastes weird and tasteless to me (which is why I always order crispy shredded chicken). Almost like they boil it in water or something.

Offtopic: What annoys me is that it's impossible to get decent bacon that you can actually fry, because every pack of bacon oozes out half a pint of water and you inevitabely end up cooking it instead of frying it (or scoop all the water out). That's also true for other meats (even mince). I don't recognize that from the place I grew up.

Hitman3000

OP if you want good quality tasty chicken, you will pay a lot more than 4 euro in Lidl. Corn fed chicken or free range.

rosmoke

Check this out, my mother in law comes over, prepares a soup and a couple of other meals and says it from the 1st bite she has:
"what's wrong with the chicken? It's tasteless"

Then my mother, comes over just a week ago and same, she cooks something and then says the same thing "this chicken doesn't have any taste at all!"

I don't think it's a coincidence as I noticed it too, and I'm not picky at all, I'd eat anything.

rosmoke

Hitman3000 wrote: »

OP if you want good quality tasty chicken, you will pay a lot more than 4 euro in Lidl. Corn fed chicken or free range.

Definitely tried free range, from a couple of stores actually, no noticeable difference ..

Toto Wolfcastle

We used to go on holiday to France when I was a kid and we’d buy food in the supermarket so we could cook some of our meals. I always thought the chicken was so much tastier there than in Ireland.

Macy0161

With chicken, we'd notice a difference out of the butcher compared to the supermarkets taste wise, even though both probably raised the same. We did go through a period, and notice a taste difference, in free range but not enough to justify the cost tbh (much as we'd like too).

Regarding fruit - we simply don't eat local varieties, in season (is peach ever "in season" in Ireland?). It's getting shipped here, so not rippened on the plant, bred for transportation and not taste etc.

Hitman3000

rosmoke wrote:

Definitely tried free range, from a couple of stores actually, no noticeable difference ..

Go to a butcher not a multiple.

rosmoke

Now you remind me of when I went to Spain 2 years ago, every fruit I tried from supermarket was delicious!
Unlike here, where even fruits are plain.

I noticed there is a shop beside Sunflower takeaway in Templeogue that sell fruits, their peaches are the only ones that actually have taste from around here.

coffeepls

Dunnes stores corn fed chicken fillets. Not tesco, and I haven’t tried elsewhere. Even my little niece noticed how lovely the Dunnes corn fed chicken was. Its just so good.

odyssey06

rosmoke wrote: »

Not sure if I had, definitely not lately, but good idea .. I'll try it next!

I think it's more readily available now, have pick it up in Supervalu, Tesco and LIDL though it's usually bit more expensive.

It's very nice, although apart from one or two exceptions, I find the supermarket chickens taste nice too. And chicken thighs tend to have more flavour than breasts, although seems to be harder to find them on the shelves lately for some reason.

And I like other poultry e.g. duck which has strong flavour, so I'm not seeking out the blandest whitest meat or anything.

rosmoke

Yeah, we usually cook thighs/legs as well, as they should have more flavour than breast.
I'll definitely give it a go today/tomorrow.

Dial Hard

If literally everything your relatives have eaten here is more tasteless than what they have at home then I suspect that seasoning techniques are the culprit. Some countries/cuisines use eye-watering amounts of salt.

In terms of fruit, it's a bit of a no-brainer that locally-grown seasonal fruits are going to taste better in their native country compared to here. However, stuff that we can grow here can compete with the best in the world when it's in season, imo.

odyssey06

Dial Hard wrote: »

If literally everything your relatives have eaten here is more tasteless than what they have at home then I suspect that seasoning techniques are the culprit. Some countries/cuisines use eye-watering amounts of salt.

And if it's France... butter or oil too!

caviardreams

Hitman3000 wrote: »

Go to a butcher not a multiple.

I think this point is questionable - there are good butchers certainly, but poor butchers also, similarly some supermarkets do very good quality meat and poultry.

The vast majority of chicken fillets in butchers are not Irish and not free range. Unless you specifically ask for Irish chicken fillets they are probably not Irish in fact.

With supermarkets at least there is more transparency with labelling. In fact one of my local butchers sells Sli Eile chicken fillets which are actually Dutch when you look at the producer code. Nothing wrong with dutch chicken fillets but to brand them Sli Eile is misleading imo.

I find the farmers to market free range chicken very good (available in SV and in tesco), and also like the M&S corn fed free range chicken.

Tenigate

I'd agree that fat, mass produced hens probably taste a bit bland. Then, a lot of it is in the preparation. I think the oven needs to be at 230 degrees for the best flavour.

rosmoke

Lived for over 20 years abroad and there is a clear difference between a leg of chicken on the barbecue with a pinch of salt there compared with the one here, that's why I know it's not about condiments.

Tried free range, will try corn fed and get back with updates haha, thanks!

silverharp

I find cooking a whole chicken is far better than buying fillets etc. had some in a salad today and it makes a huge difference having the skin and the mix of leg meat and breast meat.

Graces7

Sometimes I buy a ready cooked chicken from Dunne's and the taste s usually great .. I think too that many folk are used to highly spiced and flavoured foods whereas I eat very plain.

rubadub

Dial Hard wrote: »

If literally everything your relatives have eaten here is more tasteless than what they have at home then I suspect that seasoning techniques are the culprit. Some countries/cuisines use eye-watering amounts of salt..

They said both the mother and mother in law both cooked it themselves.

I wonder how much they are paying at home, are they comparing like with like.

Tesco finest 1.2kg corn fed chickens are 4.35 at the moment

SAVE 33%
valid until 3/4/2018
€4.35

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=297887716

BUT -looking again I see it is stuffed and in a bag...

Irish roast in the bag corn fed whole chicken stuffed with wheaten bread, ginger and apricot stuffing, wrapped in Irish unsmoked streaky bacon and sprinkled with parsley.

Tesco Finest Cook in the bag Corn Fed Irish Whole Chicken with Wheaten Bread, Ginger & Apricot stuffing

It is 88% chicken so just over a kilo.

Franz Von Peppercorn

rosmoke wrote: »

Lived for over 20 years abroad and there is a clear difference between a leg of chicken on the barbecue with a pinch of salt there compared with the one here, that's why I know it's not about condiments.

Tried free range, will try corn fed and get back with updates haha, thanks!

What could possibly make chicken in Ireland different? It’s not even probably Irish chicken.

What matters with chicken is the cooking. It can be dry if cooked incorrectly.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

ted1

dudara wrote: »

To be honest, what else do we expect from the vast amounts of factory farmed chicken that we eat? A whole chicken for €3 isn’t going to deliver hugely on taste. You’ll obviously get more flavour from a whole roast chicken than a breast, but if the underlying quality isn’t great, there’s nothing you can do

I consciously stopped buying factory farmed chicken a while back. It costs more to buy organic and free-range but there’s no comparison.

Have you any idea what counts as free range chicken? There’s not much difference

rubadub

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

What could possibly make chicken in Ireland different?.

The breed, what they are fed, probably more factors. As I was saying they simply may not sell cheap chickens where they are from, if so it unfair to compare if they are the equivalent of some expensive butchers or "finest" range from supermarkets.

I found tesco do have unstuffed corn fed chickens too. 6euro for 1.1kg, but it is part of a meal deal thing too

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=290315743

ted1

silverharp wrote: »

I find cooking a whole chicken is far better than buying fillets etc. had some in a salad today and it makes a huge difference having the skin and the mix of leg meat and breast meat.

I cook one a full one ever Sunday.
Cover in oil, sea salt and pepper
Then use it for making wraps and sandwiches for lunch during the week. Much better value than buying chicken any other way

odyssey06

LIDL have this offer on corn fed chicken but it ends 14th March...
https://www.lidl.ie/en/super-savers.htm?articleId=7658

ted1

rosmoke wrote: »

Check this out, my mother in law comes over, prepares a soup and a couple of other meals and says it from the 1st bite she has:
"what's wrong with the chicken? It's tasteless"

Then my mother, comes over just a week ago and same, she cooks something and then says the same thing "this chicken doesn't have any taste at all!"

I don't think it's a coincidence as I noticed it too, and I'm not picky at all, I'd eat anything.

Different cultures , different tastes.

facehugger99

I’ve been growing carrots the last couple of years. The first time you pull one, you think ‘Oh yeah, that’s what carrots used to smell like’.

Graces7

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

What could possibly make chicken in Ireland different? It’s not even probably Irish chicken.

What matters with chicken is the cooking. It can be dry if cooked incorrectly.

Actually they are proudly labelled IRISH CHICKEN

Graces7

facehugger99 wrote: »

I’ve been growing carrots the last couple of years. The first time you pull one, you think ‘Oh yeah, that’s what carrots used to smell like’.

Agree totally. NB they are better if you take them out of the plastic bag as soon as you get home

Alun

facehugger99 wrote: »

I’ve been growing carrots the last couple of years. The first time you pull one, you think ‘Oh yeah, that’s what carrots used to smell like’.

That's more down to freshness than anything I'd imagine. If you smelled a commercially grown carrot fresh out of the ground it'd probably be the same.

greasepalm

yes sourcing a good chicken with taste can be hard,i like to roast them in a halo oven and very juicy and no need to season it for my taste. 20 years ago my mother often bought a boiler and not seen them for a while as they were great for salads.

tretorn

I bought a small organic turkey in Marks at christmas, it was reduced form sixty euros to ten euros.

I thought it would taste amazing but really there wasnt much difference to the free range turkey I usually buy.

The gravy from the organic turkey was absolutely gorgeous though.

rosmoke

rubadub wrote: »

I wonder how much they are paying at home, are they comparing like with like.

.

It's about 2.2€/kg for a whole chicken, 550€ avg wage (month) after tax, cost of living is very low, used to pay 60€ a year for car insurance.

the beer revolu

In butchers in France, they leave the head on, with feathers, so you can identify the breed. These chickens are very tasty and very expensive.
Cheap chickens from the supermarket taste much the same as cheap chickens from the supermarket, here.

OP, I suspect that your in-laws are not comparing like with like as I guess most countries have better access to quality, expensive chicken than Ireland.

I buy chicken thighs from O'Sullivan's in The English Market, Cork.
They are not free range or organic but they are Irish, GMO & Antibiotic free and very tasty.

Dizzyblonde

With this thread in mind I cooked chicken breasts on the bone for dinner tonight. They were just ordinary ones, from Dublin Meat company. As usual I put olive oil, lemon zest & juice and crushed garlic on them. They were delicious, really moist and tender and the meat itself tasted really good.

looksee

I have pretty much stopped buying breasts. I mostly buy thighs, take out the bone (and the bit of cartilage at the end ) cut off some of the spare skin underneath and roast on some veggies with a little bit of stock.

Bob_Marley

Any chicken meat cooked off the bone, e.g. breast, is going to taste bland.
Whole roasted chicken meat will always have much more flavour.