Page 20 - Barbecue Chicken Made Easy

Free Range or Free Roaming. This is another classic case of an industry bullying the USDA into allowing a highly misleading label term. Most poultry is raised in a row of connected “battery” cages in a hen house. They can be humane and safe for the birds if they are not overcrowded, but in reality, they are often crammed, leaving birds barely enough room to turn around. Free range animals may still be kept in battery cages or crowded coops most of the time, but they are “allowed” access to the outside through an open door to a fenced in yard. Now that doesn't mean they actually walk out the door. Often they don't. It is bright out there. There is no roof. It’s scary. But they can go for a short stroll if they want to.
Fresh. This term indicates that the bird has never been below 26°F. But at this temperature ice crystals can form and it can be as hard as a bowling ball. We have no idea how the USDA can consider this fresh, which, to most people, means “never frozen.” We would rather have a bird that was frozen soon after slaughter than one that was never frozen, shipped across country, sat on a loading dock for an hour, and then waited a week in the open top refrigerator case of the grocery store.
Kosher. These birds have been salted on the outside and inside the cavity because it was thought in ancient times that this would draw out the “unclean” blood. Nowadays there is little or no blood left in a bird after processing. Do not brine these birds.
Mechanically Separated Poultry. This is the term for meat-based products such as many types of chicken nuggets which have no wing meat. After butchering, bones with meat attached are run through a device under high pressure to separate the bone from the edible tissue. The result is a paste or batter-like product, sometimes unfortunately called “pink slime,” that can be formed into nuggets or other shapes. We have really mixed emotions about this stuff. On one hand it is usually so heavily treated and flavored that it is