What causes chickens to have white and dark meat. Explained

I am such an idiot about this chicken debate. I only care if the Fried Chicken is hot and if I brought my bottle of hot sauce when picking some up. I also care about the quality of the chicken if I pick up some jerk chicken. That shit needs to be juicy and spicy.

Also, dark meat FYI.

 

They'll still run around! On the ranch when I was really little i thought it was strangely hilarious that the chickens still ran around for like 5 minutes after my grandma chopped their heads off on the chicken stump (two big-ass nails driven into the end grain of a stump).

My grandma would say, "don't go close! they can't see you!"

 

Southern fried jerk chicken baby, it's a thing down here.
Slap yo mama good, serve with a slushy cold Red Stripe and lotsa napkin's

 

Maybe like the opposite of Buckethead. A KFC bucket-funnel into the headless chicken gullet. I think we're getting somewhere... time to start shopping to VC.

I've been watching Billions, so I know what's up with these rich guys.

 

Eliminate the chicken altogether and go directly to bioreactor meat.

 

Not sure why I see discussions of pork in an audio forum, but being Taiwanese and very fond of pork cuisine, I'll try to answer.

Other than castrating the male pigs, the species of the pig is a primary factor of the taste and texture. We usually differentiate them by "white" or "local black", where "white" can be either Yorkshire or Duroc, and the "black" is the local Taiwanese species (https://www.angrin.tlri.gov.tw/Breed_Res/Breed_20-30_h.htm). White pigs tend to smell stronger than the black ones and the biggest other difference IMO is the texture of the fat when it's cooked for a long time. Black pig fat melts away much more easily then white ones, which kinda becomes a chewy lump, usually an indication of lower quality meat. The blacks are much lower feed conversion rate, causing them to be more expensive and usually regarded locally as better meat.

 

Honestly I don't plan on giving meat up (other than limiting consumption thereof for health and ecological reasons should push come to shove), but I've got my hopes pinned on synthetic meat, not pseudomeat like Impossible Burger which I'm nonetheless curious to try, becoming not-shit in the future and the Real Stuff being reserved for the fancy bastards. Almost certain to give the latter a premium pricetag but that's only fair.

inb4 people accuse me of not liking meat enough, ask anyone who's seen my Instagram the last month, haha.

All this talk of headless chickens remind me of two things, the first is Mike the Headless Chicken/Miracle Mike— lived for 18 months sans head.

The second thing this reminds me of is Chicken George from Fourteen. Oh God why'd I remember that.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Fourteen

This is probably me being basic but I much prefer dark meat to white, especially the "oyster". Dad and I occasionally squabble over that one, haha.

 

I wonder what chickens as a species were like in medieval times or at the beginning/ before animal farming and breading. The modern chicken is really kind of a gross animal.

 

@rhythmdevils - Not sure if you are looking to branch out into wild duck, but my limited experience (mallard and wood ducks) with this roughly matches the author's notes here. https://duckcommander.com/blog/top-10-ducks-eating
Also note that duck, like any other animal, will taste different depending on region, season, and what it ate for most of it's life. However, I haven't found the difference as drastic as corn vs grass fed beef or say wild hog that rummaged through human garbage vs hogs in the wild that eat in the wild.

As for what you are saying regarding dark/light meat, makes perfect sense. Similar parallel could be cuts of beef or pork - certain muscles don't get used much and have a certain taste. Others get used more and have a different taste. etc.

I also agree that the farmed pork in Taiwan is amazing. Probably the best farmed pork as a whole that I've had in the world (experience limited to NA, Asia, and Europe though). More depth of flavor, less of that slightly rancid dirty smell you get with most pork in the US, cleaner tasting, not as cloying in the fatty parts, fatty parts don't have that "dirtiness" to them, sometimes better texture (but not always). For wild pork, the best I've had was supposedly from the mountains of eastern Italy where they supposedly have good diets, but I had this pork in Prague so who knows if it was actually wild pig hunted in this eastern part of Italy. The recipes they used that meal also weren't "that good" per my preference, so it may have been good just b/c it stood out as better than other parts of my meal. 2nd best would be pigs that had a good diet in the US. Best chili I've ever had (coming from someone who's won a few small chili contests) was made with wild pork (well technically boar) in addition to the beef.

 

I'm well aware that personal my what-species-do-we-eat habits are essentially various bits of hypocrisy, misinformation, and I-don't-want-to-hear-it served with a thick gravy of pure ignorance. but...

I do prefer not to eat duck. It is one of the creatures I find easiest to imagine, and they always look so sweet. No, you don't need to tell me that they are actually far from sweet, male ducks being rapists, the female regularly dying under the gang rapists and all. File under illogical.

My favourite meat is sheep. Ideally, shoulder of lamb. And yes, the dark meat from the joint end is the most delicious. Lamb is not easy to get here, but goat is. There was a break in my goat eating after I met a couple that a friend-of-my-wife was looking after. Goats are completely different to sheep. Much more dog-like. Same intelligence, playfulness and mischief.

So I left off the goat eating. But not for long.

 

I actually don't like duck meat that much. However, sometimes, when prepared properly, I do really enjoy it. Funny you mention they look sweet though - the biggest mental block to me not eating more duck is the fact that they're nature's own psychotic rapist. Vastly different reasons leading to the same outcome.

Completely get what you are saying though - after a VERY up close encounter with a herd of elk (primarily the alpha bull of the herd), it's a little harder for me to eat elk now too... as much as I like it. Similarly, I've never consumed bear meat after watching a few bears at zoos, "habitats", and a few in the wild. I don't feel this about most other game animals I've seen/eaten, even after encounters with a few of those.