Building A Better Chicken

Is there a way to give chicken meat the same posh quality as Kobe beef? Yes! There is a movement amongst New York chefs to improve the life of poultry fated for the table.It means better treatment, resulting in more flavorful cuts and dishes. Soon chicken will be regarded as not common and every day  but richer in texture and taste.

Jeff Gordonier, usually a regular contributor to the New York Times Wednesday  Dining section , wrote a piece for the Times that made page one.It is  about a new movement  called from table to farm to table again and involves a certain breed of chicken.These are the heritage breed from Gascony in Southern France. The red feathered beauties are getting scraps from such high class restaurants as Per Se, Daniel, Gramercy Tavern, The Modern and David Burke Townhouse. These  are better than what some people eat. There are baguette scraps soaked in milk along with salad leftovers. It is a rich dinner resulting in better tasting birds.The scraps from the restaurants are designed for the birds fated for their tables.

Is the meat truly better? According to the many chefs involved in the project the answer is yes. The chicken tastes like what it should taste like, gamier, more flavorful and chewier than those raised in  slaughterhouses. The birds raised this way are exactly like what our great grandparents ate without any artificial additives and hormones.It's healthier as well.It's also more expensive A dish featuring homemade chicken sausage at Gramercy Tavern is 22 dollars . Another restaurant featuring chicken meat from an average butcher would cost less. The chefs are hoping this idea will influence other cooks across the country and bring back a more old fashioned, smaller farm raised meat industry.

If this is successful, then  expect better chickens gracing our restaurant tables. It's a good step away from the usual hormone and steroid injected poultry  most of us have been eating.The table to farm to table is the start of better eating in this country.Let's hope it catches on.