Page 15 - Barbecue Chicken Made Easy

Modern American chickens have been bred to have large breast lobes because most Americans prefer white meat and because boneless breasts make a nice neat single serving (usually 6 to 10 ounces) that is easy to cook for one and fits perfectly on a bun. The American chicken has also been bred to grow quickly, going from hatchling to 3 to 4 pounds on the grocery store shelf in just 10 weeks. The vast majority are grown in massive factory-like henhouses. But there are still a number of farmers who grow both modern and so-called “heritage” breeds in pastures for sale to restaurants, in farmer’s markets, and online. Heritage chickens are breeds that are no longer popular with most commercial operations for a variety of reasons, usually because they taste different, grow too slowly, or are susceptible to disease.
After slaughter, most chickens in America are chilled in cold water, which causes them to absorb up to 12% of their weight in water, slightly diluting the flavor of the meat and bumping up the price per pound. In Europe, most birds are air-chilled instead, resulting in slightly less diluted meat and drier skin that crisps and browns more easily. Air-chilled birds are becoming increasingly available in North America.
Why does the bird have both white meat and dark meat (that really isn’t very dark)? Meat is made from muscles and muscles burn fat and oxygen as fuel. A protein called myoglobin transports oxygen for release during exertion, and in general the more work a muscle does, the more oxygen-laden myoglobin and fat it needs. Myoglobin makes the muscle darker in color and richer in flavor. It also tints the juices pink.
White meat, i.e. chicken breasts and wings, are muscles that don’t work hard because domestic chickens can’t fly more than a few feet and in the typical confinement of a factory chicken coop, there is nowhere for them to fly anyway. Breasts are known as fast- twitch muscles because they provide brief bursts of energy, and