I do not enjoy commercial often injected chickens. Bland, no texture and they taste like “chicken”.
I generally opt for Kosher or Trader Joe’s natural birds. I like organic birds and have had good tasting air chilled chickens in the past. Last week at Whole Foods I saw whole organic air chilled chickens from Mary’s for $2.99 per pound. I cut it up into pieces and marinated with Mojo Criollo and then charcoal grilled the pieces.
This is the best quality chicken I have ever eaten. Tender, juicy and with great flavor and I did not even brine. Highly recommended Grand Cru chicken.
Thanks Glenn- I reviewed their site and am (for the first time) going to try Whole Foods for meat. It could be a nice alternative to my Vons/Safeway, Ralphs/Kroger and Foster Farms offerings (from which, I might add, I haven’t died do far).
Mary’s used to have the only air chilled organic chicken in town. Now Rosie’s (petaluma poultry) offers organic air-chilled chicken. Both are pretty good. Mary’s is better, but also is generally more expensive.
By the way, the “Coleman” organic chicken from costco is sourced from the same Rosie’s/rocky petaluma poultry folk. Rosie/Coleman isn’t a pasture raised bird in the idyllic sense, but it’s probably the best one can get for a large producer.
Outstanding stuff …we have been eating it for awhile now. In addition WF has their turkeys, also excellent. The farms are in Fresno, so very centrally located for Californians .
I have tried the Mary’s a couple of times in the past and felt they were not as good as the regular “Rocky” chickens mentioned above. The Mary’s I had was the air-chilled boneless/skinless breast, which was essentially without flavor. The best tasting chicken I have had for roasting is the “Rocky Rosie.” Not sure how it differs from the regular Rocky, but every time I roast one, my daughter and I agree that the texture and flavor are the best we have had, and it is pretty impossible to overcook it. Meaning, when we forget and then check with the thermometer, it may read overdone, but it is just perfect, regardless. Guess I’ll have to try the whole version of Mary’s, but for sure it will not be from Whole Foods. That Napa WF is atrocious.
Rosie is the organic version of Rocky.
Rosies are now marketed as “air chilled” so the differences between to Marys and Rosies are diminishing. The main differentiation is that Rosie (also the same as Coleman organic at costco) is more uh, an industrial sized operation, while Marys are true pasture raised chickens. So if people want to feel good about eating happy animals, Marys is for you.
IIRC Mary’s also slaughters their chickens in a more humane fashion than Rosie’s. Mary’s is one of only two producers that gas their chickens before bleeding them out.
