“A chicken in every pot.” Many people think Herbert Hoover said that as a campaign promise during his 1928 run for the White House. Nope. He never did. According to the Hoover Library, it was part of a Republican ad promising the chicken and “a car in every backyard, to boot.”
Regardless, he got elected and times got tougher. Hoover did say, in 1932, three years after the stock market crashed, that prosperity was just around the corner, but all that was around the corner was more of the Great Depression.
Now, with the worst economic mess since the Depression, chicken is as budget-friendly as it was then. For many people, the days of only buying skinless, boneless chicken breasts are gone. Chicken parts are back, and so are whole chickens. They’re all a lot less expensive than those breasts.
Karen Haram of the San Antonio Express News wrote about this recently in a column published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. She quoted Lampkin Butts, the head of poultry producer Sanderson Farms. “Consumers are stepping down from steaks to ground meat, from red meat to chicken, and from boneless, skinless breasts to whole birds.” Butts also said 8% of chicken sales last year were whole birds — it was 35% some 25 years ago — but this year that number is already up to 10 to 11%.
Another factor is the popularity of rotisserie chickens; sometimes I feel like the only American without a Popeil rotisserie. And ever-more-popular ethnic cooking, especially Hispanic and Asian, often relies on dark meat for its added flavor and moisture. To anyone tempted to protest, “But ella, white meat is sooooo much healthier than dark!” I ask you to please read the nutritional comparison at Dietblog and the calorie and fat comparisons at Diet Bites.
For recipes here using whole chicken or parts, please check out Rainbow Room Roast Chicken, Chicken Adobo, Italian Chicken with Vinegar, Hot Thighs, Thyme Thighs and Baked Chicken with Herbs and Cheeses. Also see the link at the top of this post, Previous Post.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Is it my imagination or have whole chickens become gigantic? Seems like I used to get 3 to 3 1/2 # chickens, and now they are 4 # or bigger. Maybe it’s my bad memory?
I usually just buy whatever chicken parts I need, though I remember cutting up chickens myself when the parts were more expensive. Seems like the situation is different now. At least thighs and wings (which are getting harder to find) are usually cheaper than the whole bird.
Tess’s last blog post..Foiru-yaki: Mixed Grill in Foil
Hi, Tess. Good to see you! It’s not your imagination at all. Most “roaster” chickens are now 6 to 8# or more (!) and bred for more breast because of consumer demand. Some of those poor chickens can’t even stand up, their breasts are so heavy. I just won’t buy roasters anymore, having learned that.
Smaller chickens are broiler-fryers as well as kosher and free-range birds and premium birds such as D’Artignan and can indeed be hard to find.
We still have a lot of parts here and I just bought jumbo leg quarters at 59 cents per pound. And they are jumbo. My pack has 5 leg quarters and the weight is 4.40 pounds. $2.60. Thank heaven for my vacuum sealer.
Here’s a trick stores pull: the price of wings always goes up before the Super Bowl, when they’re so popular. Better to buy them a month in advance and freeze them!