The third taste test where a store-bought chicken was pitted against a Salatin bird, has been completed. In the above picture, the store-bought bird is on the left and Salatin's is on the right.
As for how the taste test was conducted, some background is needed.
Until tasting Jamon Iberico de Belotta, fried chicken was, without reservation, my favorite food. It may yet turn out to hold that distinction as an almost-life-long prize if I ever get a chance to eat cured hams from acorn fattened hogs as regularly as fried chicken. It's hard to simply cast off life long adoration and reverence for something that has been held so near and dear for so long. If both were available side-by-side and if free to choose, I would never pass up the chance to get some of each and never one to the exclusion of the other. As for the actual frying process, I don't care. Even poorly fried chicken tastes wonderful to me. So, of the four meats purchased, this evening's taste test was the one most anticipated even though there was no meat on the table that came from our farm.
The best chicken fryer I know of anywhere about these parts (my momma) was retained for the cook off. No way I would entrust such a momentous occassion to my feeble abilities when a true master had the cast iron hot and her knife sharp.
The two chickens were taken out of the freezer a couple days ago to thaw out. This morning I awoke with the intent of putting in a full day of hard manual labor to maximize my hunger since that is the best seasoning. Towards this end, the kids and I spent the day in the pecan orchard and as a best guess, gathered about 50 gallons of pecans. Being the only one with sufficient body weight to shake a limb, I climbed most of the trees we gathered from. And I know they make those cute little pecan picker-upper thingies but around a bunch of kids, they are too tempting to use as makeshift swords so we go at it the true old-timey way - hands and knees.
We put the first pecan in the bucket at about 7:30 and the last one at 4:30. The only breaks taken was to wolf down a chicken salad sandwich about noon:30, the occassional drink of water from the garden hose and to de-fire ant one of the little ones that was playing when he should have been working.
By the time hog-feeding time rolled around, the legs were behaving most traitorously.
Supper was served about 6:30 and consisted of the two fried chickens which were fried under identical circumstances, homemade macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, cheyenne pepper that Youngblood whipped out of his shirt pocket while sitting at the table, cornbread and, for dessert, sweet potato pie.
I'm a wing man so to make sure the opportunity to get one wing from each plate was not lost (and because the level of hunger was approaching that which made me empathize with Esau) I jumped first. First bite was from the store-bought bird but it had come out of the grease too recently so Salatin's offering had to step up to the plate to bat my hunger pangs first.
I switched back and forth between each bird with each bite until both were consumed.
Salatin's bird was definitely cleaner near the bone which he claims is due to his better bleed out protocol. Salatin's bird was more chewy but I would hesitate to call it tougher. I think a better way to describe it would be to say that it had a better "mouth feel." Salatin's bird was more distinctly flavored - it tasted chickenier.
Having said that, everyone that tried both, loved both.
After tasting both side-by-side, if price were no object, I'd certainly give the nod to Salatin's bird.
But price for many is going to be a consideration. Salatin's chickens sale for about $4.50/pound and the grocery store stuff is less than half that (if memory serves).
I like fried chicken so much in general and liked his bird enough in particular, that strong consideration is being given to trialing his system as soon as practical. I think it possible that a chicken can be produced that would beat each in taste and both in cost.
Time will tell.
Then I will.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"
"If you can't beat them, bite them."