Do all chicken breeds taste the same?

At the moment I don't have chickens, but I do have a plan to have a flock in the future. I wonder if there is any breed of chicken that have been developed only by the taste.

If I put 10 different breeds in a tractor or a paddock and I feed them the same, they will develope different tastes at harvesting time? I mean I can distinguish the taste of a duck to a chicken or a quail to a partridge. Independent of size or if one meat is leaner than the other... If so, which is the best breed, just for taste?

Unfortunately this is one of those things that are hard to guage being a matter of opinion, I personally find what the bird is fed on a better indecator of taste than type . Most breeds have been bred either to grow faster , have more eggs , cope with local conditions or look "nice " . You pays your money and takes your choice
Also how you cook them and age count too

Hi Joan,  The most flavorful breed is the "Kentucky Fried"!    Sorry, I couldn't resist.  Truthfully though, David is right, diet, age of the bird, how it's cooked, and habitat are the main factors in taste, and in my opinion, in that order.

I was looking into this recently and there are definitely breeds renowned for their flavor. I actually found a SARE funded trial of heritage meat birds and a blind taste test was one variable that the farmer used to rank the various heritage birds. They found that there was definitely a measure of personal preference and I don't think any one bird was the favorite of all the judges. I would recommend trying different breeds and seeing which ones you like the taste of best.

stephen lowe wrote:I was looking into this recently and there are definitely breeds renowned for their flavor. I actually found a SARE funded trial of heritage meat birds and a blind taste test was one variable that the farmer used to rank the various heritage birds. They found that there was definitely a measure of personal preference and I don't think any one bird was the favorite of all the judges. I would recommend trying different breeds and seeing which ones you like the taste of best.

That was me!

Short answer: Yes, they taste different.

Long answer: You're probably only going to be able to note any differences in flavor if you taste side-by-side, as they're fairly subtle.  You shouldn't expect to eat one breed one week and a different breed the next week and have the differences be obvious.  The exception to this is the Cornish-Cross, which is notably blander than slower-growing breeds, and has a different texture too.

Though it is certainly subjective, there are breeds that are known for the quality of their meat.  Among them are the Sussex, Dorking, and a number of French breeds.  In our project, the Sussex was the winner of the breeds we tasted.  We repeated this tasting event with a different group of people, and the Sussex won then, too, so while it is subjective I think there is something to the idea of certain breeds being (generally) better than others.

All that said, I would put meat flavor pretty low on your list of attributes to aid in breed selection.  As long as you're raising slow-growing breeds (as in, ones that don't reach butcher weight until about 16 weeks), and as long as you raise them well, feed them right, and know how to best process them, they're all going to be delicious.  If it so happens that a breed like the Sussex or Dorking is what works best in your particular situation, so much the better.

edit: Here is a link to the project's final report:
https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc12-866/

Can't help myself.

Ha! Kevin, I laughed out loud on that one.

I'll echo the same things, that diet, and especially age of bird can play a big factor as well as what each individual likes. I bought some frozen heritage breed birds from a local farmer once and he touted them as flavorful! While yes, they were a little richer in flavor than locally raised cornish cross that I've had also, it was like chewing on a shoe. I never grilled anymore of that chicken, it all went into the crock pot for 12 hours to make it chewable. It did make for delicious chicken stews.

So while we're on chicken taste, apparently the french Bresse reigns supreme over there in france as the sought after and most flavorful bird. The american Bresse is available here in the states and supposedly the meat will marble with the right diet. I have not tried a Bresse, but it is a bird I'm interested in raising myself in the not too distant future. When I do get around to it, I'll certainly report back.

James Freyr wrote:I bought some frozen heritage breed birds from a local farmer once and he touted them as flavorful! While yes, they were a little richer in flavor than locally raised cornish cross that I've had also, it was like chewing on a shoe. I never grilled anymore of that chicken, it all went into the crock pot for 12 hours to make it chewable. It did make for delicious chicken stews.

I would venture a guess that those birds were either quite old or were just cooked incorrectly.  Toughness isn't inherent, but is a function of how a bird is cooked.

A "fryer" or "roaster" of 16 to about 24 weeks of age should never be tough when roasted or grilled.  Over that age, and a different cooking method is required.  I like to tell our customers that our chickens are "firm."  That sounds like a euphemism for "tough," but it isn't.  The opposite of "tough" is "tender," while the opposite of "firm" is "soft."  To my palate, at least, the Cornish-Cross is soft, which I find unappetizing.  I wonder if a lot of folks, used to the softness of the CRX, eat a "firm" heritage breed and misdiagnose it as "tough."

For my money, the best way to cook a heritage bird is to roast it hot and fast.  Somewhere between about 425 and 450F.  A 3-lb. bird will take about 45 minutes.  A healthy dose of salt before it goes in the oven, a 10-15 minute rest after it comes out, and you're golden.

Wes Hunter wrote:

stephen lowe wrote:I was looking into this recently and there are definitely breeds renowned for their flavor. I actually found a SARE funded trial of heritage meat birds and a blind taste test was one variable that the farmer used to rank the various heritage birds. They found that there was definitely a measure of personal preference and I don't think any one bird was the favorite of all the judges. I would recommend trying different breeds and seeing which ones you like the taste of best.

That was me!

Short answer: Yes, they taste different.

Long answer: You're probably only going to be able to note any differences in flavor if you taste side-by-side, as they're fairly subtle.  You shouldn't expect to eat one breed one week and a different breed the next week and have the differences be obvious.  The exception to this is the Cornish-Cross, which is notably blander than slower-growing breeds, and has a different texture too.

Though it is certainly subjective, there are breeds that are known for the quality of their meat.  Among them are the Sussex, Dorking, and a number of French breeds.  In our project, the Sussex was the winner of the breeds we tasted.  We repeated this tasting event with a different group of people, and the Sussex won then, too, so while it is subjective I think there is something to the idea of certain breeds being (generally) better than others.

All that said, I would put meat flavor pretty low on your list of attributes to aid in breed selection.  As long as you're raising slow-growing breeds (as in, ones that don't reach butcher weight until about 16 weeks), and as long as you raise them well, feed them right, and know how to best process them, they're all going to be delicious.  If it so happens that a breed like the Sussex or Dorking is what works best in your particular situation, so much the better.

edit: Here is a link to the project's final report:
https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc12-866/

Awesome, I loved the study. I am planning a grazing rotation with sheep followed by heritage broilers for next year and I have been referring back to the write up regularly to help me plan what breed/breeds to run in the broiler. Are you guys still raising heritage meat birds commercially? Have you found a particular breed that works for you? Have you done any work breeding your own flock?

stephen lowe wrote:Awesome, I loved the study. I am planning a grazing rotation with sheep followed by heritage broilers for next year and I have been referring back to the write up regularly to help me plan what breed/breeds to run in the broiler. Are you guys still raising heritage meat birds commercially? Have you found a particular breed that works for you? Have you done any work breeding your own flock?

Yes, we are still doing it commercially, in the range of 200-400 birds per year.  (We also raise turkeys, ducks, guineas, and geese.)  Starting a breeding program is still in the "someday" stage.  Hopefully next year.

We've raised a number of other varieties, but the White Rock has been our go-to.  With hatchery stock, they have been consistent and reliable.  As an added bonus, we started dry plucking this year, and white-feathered birds pluck a lot cleaner than colored-feathered birds.  With wet plucking, the difference is much smaller.

Wes Hunter, have you ever tried the Slow White broilers from Welp hatchery?  I have a friend who loves them, and says they breed true (and are good layers).  I was doing some research and a couple of people thought they were probably just good big White Rocks.  I have been considering getting some (I prefer colored birds over white), and may go ahead and do it next year.

Kathleen

Kathleen Sanderson wrote:Wes Hunter, have you ever tried the Slow White broilers from Welp hatchery?  I have a friend who loves them, and says they breed true (and are good layers).  I was doing some research and a couple of people thought they were probably just good big White Rocks.  I have been considering getting some (I prefer colored birds over white), and may go ahead and do it next year.

Kathleen

I haven't.  I would doubt that they're just big White Rocks.  Heritage breeds are somewhat trendy, and it seems a silly business decision to not market them as such if that's what they are.  A few other hatcheries are offering more meaty-type strains of the old breeds, so I'd expect them to make it clear if that's what these were.

The drumstick of a chicken you raise will look different than the drumstick of the commercially raised chicken you bought at the store.

Site can effect taste cause its different.

Most chicken you see in the grocery stores is most always the Cornish/ Rock cross meat bird, they were developed to be ready for market in 7 weeks, not enough time of living for a bird to gain any meat flavor.
This variety gains weight so fast that at 8 weeks old the legs can not support the bird. If you raise them as true free ranging birds, they will taste better, but they still won't have the texture since they grow so fast.

What a chicken eats also has a lot to do with how the meat will taste, a bird that forages all day will taste different and have different texture than a commercially raised bird.
If the bird can't wander around much, it will not develop great texture, if it is fed commercial feed all the time, it will be very bland.

Some of the better breeds for homestead meat birds are also great layers, RIR, Leghorn, and many other Large frame birds were initially developed just for this dual purpose.

My experience has been that flavor in chickens functions a lot like pork, what they eat those last few months of life has a great influence on how they taste.

Upon checking Welp hatchery, that slow white broiler looks a lot like it is a Cornish x leghorn which would grow large but at a slower rate than the Cornish x Rock.

Redhawk

Which type of sussex breed taste the best? Do some taste different or the same? Eg between lights, speckleds,coronations and silvers etc. Kate.

As has been mentioned, I suspect that what the chicken eats is the main influencer.  I have raised several breeds over the years.

I would echo what so many have already said, but I will also attempt to explain why.

Diet - It is a fact that vegetables grown in a nutrient dense soil taste better. Scientists have linked this to more minerals in a vegetable increasing its flavor. We also know that grass fed animals have a different flavor and that much of this flavor is concentrated in the fats. I think it is easy to expand that to realize that nutrient dense food in the form of plants, grubs, and bugs for the chickens will increase the flavor regardless of the breed. As for the differences between breeds... its possible, but I have a feeling it has more to do with the breeds tendency to forage more than the meat itself. If a breed eats more bugs instead of grain I imagine they would taste better.

Age - As a negative example, we know that mercury gets concentrated in the oldest predator fish compared to younger prey fish. Over time the mercury has a chance to build up in the predator fish because he has eaten so many little bits of mercury in the little fish. There was an entire podcast I listened to one time (I believe it was the Mother Earth News podcast) on older animals. Many people consider an older animal as waste after it has finished producing eggs or milk or wool or whatever you were using the animal for. Not that they simply want to throw it away, but they suffer through the "tough old meat". This guy had written a book on how to cook and use old animals for food, and one aspect he pointed out was the concentration of minerals in their muscles was so much greater than the young tender animals we tend to prefer. This ended with a more nutrient dense and flavorful meat... though he admitted you have to cook it differently than you would a young animal. Given all this, I would think a 4 or 5 year old chicken would taste very different than a 12 week old chicken, regardless of the breed.

First time I raised broilers (2018??) we also had some cockerels that I had to cull.  So I did a side by side taste test.  The cockerels were one of the Wyandotte varieties, and the broiler was a Freedom Ranger.  Cockerel was 16-20 weeks old I think, the broiler was 10 weeks old at slaughter.  Nobody in my family could tell a difference in flavor.  Each was frozen first, dry brined and roasted whole.  If I put any herbs or spices on them it was the exact same for both, but as I wanted the base chicken flavor to come through I'm pretty sure I only used salt.  

So, I second the observation that diet and how they're raised is the primary determinant on how they taste, with age a secondary effect.  Breed is a tertiary effect at most.  Age will mostly affect texture and fat deposition.  Some types of poultry (or breeds within a type) will put on fat at different ages, so if you like fat (and who doesn't?  fat is flavor after all) then waiting for the bird to start putting on significant fat can improve flavor.  

Not that they simply want to throw it away, but they suffer through the "tough old meat".  

I will point out that the French peasantry invented the dish we know as Coq Au Vin (literally "rooster in wine") as a way to utilize a shagged out old rooster.  Something that would be about as tender as leather if cooked any other way.  Today it's a fancy dish only served in high end restaurants or by home cooks that make a special effort to do so, but originally it was something only the peasants would eat because the nobility ate the better/younger chickens.  

And most cultures for which animal protein is very scarce/expensive usually only eat animals when they're too old to produce milk, eggs, fiber, breed, etc anymore.  And the majority of their methods of preparation involve long, slow methods of cooking, often with a liquid, that allow for the connective tissues that cause that toughness to break down making the meat tender.  Smoking, braising, confit, slow grilling over open fires, stewing, and so on.  Or they involve grinding/shredding the meat so that toughness can't be noticed.  Think of most of your favorite Indian, Mexican, Indonesian, African, etc dishes, or anything from European peasantry.