Tough chicken

[Heathwood]

I eat chicken breast regularly and lately I've been finding that quite often I get one that's tough and fibrous. Had one tonight that was inedible.

I've been trying to work out whether certain brands or supermarkets etc are noticeably better than others (inconclusive as tonight's was from Ocado which are generally good). Also think that possibly the oversized ones, I assume pumped full of water, can be tougher, but again I'm not sure.

Anyone else find this or has any thoughts on how best to avoid tough chicken breasts?

[Turn7]

Free range from a quality Butcher and dont overcook it....

Also, try using Thighs as more flavour.....

[C70R]

Free range thighs from Waitrose (can't remember the bloody name of the brand/farm off the top of my head) are my favourites from the supermarket. 20-25min in a hot oven with some garlic powder and salt, and they are spot on.

[cheddar]

Thirded for thighs and for free range, if you were crammed in a shed with 70,000 other people your breasts would taste chewy too

[J8 SVG]

seal them before putting them in the oven - a few minutes in a pan until the outside is all browned then a lower temp in the oven until the middle is cooked and it might help

[Colonial]

Just use tofu instead. Both are bland and tasteless.

[IanCress]

I've had similar from Tesco recently. One breast out of a pack of 4 was virtually inedible. Presumed it was just Tesco but maybe not.

[LHRFlightman]

My family are complaining of the same thing. Coincidence or something else afoot?

[prand]

I started a thread on this a about three years ago. I'd also noticed that chicken breasts we had bought from both supermarket (and local Halal butcher) regularly were incredibly fibrous and inedible. Like very stringy turkey.

Connected to the other chicken thread running at the moment, this was partly why we weredriven to buy less chicken at the time and then opt for more pricey butcher/farm supplied meat.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[FrankAbagnale]

Just started buying boneless thighs too. Chuck them on a tray with a load of chopped up vegetables for 40 mins or so and it's delicious.

Got to be healthy too!?

Decent example - https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipe...

[4Q]

I've noticed this too in the past year. We only buy free range and have tried a number of different supermarkets including Lidl, Aldi, Sainsburys and Waitrose, but they're all the same, even their organic and corn fed varities. We buy most of our meat from the local farm shop butcher but he doesn't do free range breasts, just whole chickens which we don't always want so are forced to buy from elsewhere. They used to be fine but now they aren't, I wonder if they are all buying from the same producers and the breed of chicken is different?

[mattdaniels]

J8 SVG said:

seal them before putting them in the oven

Sear, not seal. You're not "sealing" anything.

[Lynchie999]

I've noticed the same also .... just a weird tough texture...

[4Q]

I've just had a quick google and it seems there's a thing called woody chicken breast which is affecting the meat.

[Melman Giraffe]

LHRFlightman said:

My family are complaining of the same thing. Coincidence or something else afoot?

Same as only yesterday

[227bhp]

C70R said:

Free range thighs from Waitrose (can't remember the bloody name of the brand/farm off the top of my head) are my favourites from the supermarket. 20-25min in a hot oven with some garlic powder and salt, and they are spot on.

20 mins to oven cook a chicken thigh I'm surprised you're still with us.

On a side note I made my own peri peri chicken rub this morning and slapped it on some thighs and roasted, very good it was too

[sc0tt]

IanCress said:

I've had similar from Tesco recently. One breast out of a pack of 4 was virtually inedible. Presumed it was just Tesco but maybe not.

Same thing about a week ago. Threw it away.

[227bhp]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I didn't presume, I took his quote at face value: Chicken thigh.

[C70R]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Sorry - it is a boneless thigh I'm talking about. I debone and flatten the fillets before roasting them.
Might have been worth asking the question.

[21TonyK]

Not aiming this at anyone but just pointing out that chicken doesn't take as long to cook as many think. Overcooking will result in tough, dry, stringy meat irrespective of how "good" the chicken is to begin with.

If you are unsure get yourself a cheap probe and cook to 75 degrees.