Thanks Hugh - really interesting to read how producers are coping, or not, with the BCC. In the past I have carried out trials on the different hybrids - the carcasses and taste varying so much. And just as important is a good end - a poultry abattoir that respects the birds.
Oh yes, differences in taste would be fascinating to delve into! I’d wonder what would have the most influence on quality — breed or feed or something else.
In my trials I had three hybrids - Ross, Hubbard 57 and Sasso - all from day olds and of a similar age and raised on the same diet and in neighbouring pens on the same type of ground so breed was the key factor. The Sasso, a French hybrid, was an amazing quality bird - body like a mini turkey, meat firm, dense and so tasty. Its one of those birds that looks a bit scrawny and can put off the consumer, but when when you come to eat it, you find you can’t eat much as usual as the meat is so dense and it goes way further. Sadly, I dont think you can get the Sasso in the UK anymore due to import restrictions and avian flu but its used around the world and I feel better adapted to free ranging in warmer summers than the Hubbard.
That's amazing. Shows us what we're missing with the more commercial breeds. And all because somewhere along the line (1950s?) we thought chicken should be consumed en masse rather than when a layer in someone's back garden stops laying or something.
Thanks Hugh - really interesting to read how producers are coping, or not, with the BCC. In the past I have carried out trials on the different hybrids - the carcasses and taste varying so much. And just as important is a good end - a poultry abattoir that respects the birds.
Oh yes, differences in taste would be fascinating to delve into! I’d wonder what would have the most influence on quality — breed or feed or something else.
In my trials I had three hybrids - Ross, Hubbard 57 and Sasso - all from day olds and of a similar age and raised on the same diet and in neighbouring pens on the same type of ground so breed was the key factor. The Sasso, a French hybrid, was an amazing quality bird - body like a mini turkey, meat firm, dense and so tasty. Its one of those birds that looks a bit scrawny and can put off the consumer, but when when you come to eat it, you find you can’t eat much as usual as the meat is so dense and it goes way further. Sadly, I dont think you can get the Sasso in the UK anymore due to import restrictions and avian flu but its used around the world and I feel better adapted to free ranging in warmer summers than the Hubbard.
That's amazing. Shows us what we're missing with the more commercial breeds. And all because somewhere along the line (1950s?) we thought chicken should be consumed en masse rather than when a layer in someone's back garden stops laying or something.
And of course across much of Europe, an ex-layer is still a prized meat for the pot.