This is the story of chickens who crossed the road to get to a better neighborhood. It seems that not long after there was a chicken in every pot, there was a chicken on every plate in America. First soulfully deep-fried, then machine-cut into nuggets. Grilled without the skin for every dieter in the land. Usurping Caesar in the salad. A chicken even walked into a bar and turned into buffalo wings.
Keep up this mass production long enough, and poultry starts to have all the cachet of pork rinds.
It was time to upgrade chicken a little, and it started with the address on the packing label. Fine dining restaurants in Chicago made the distinction right on the menu: We brake for Amish.
That’s Amish chicken, such as the breast stuffed with roasted garlic Christopher Koetke produces in the kitchen at Les Nomades, the poultry Don Yamauchi at Gordon pairs with couscous, or the Champagne-poached Amish breast Keith Luce served at Spruce this summer.
These are not factory birds, but animals lovingly raised in good homes with no TV and plain food.
But the consumer’s quest for free-range country chicken can be tricky. The truth is, just because a chicken has an Amish name doesn’t mean it was raised by men in black; nor does a product sold as Amish chicken even have to be allowed to roam free, according to Diane Van of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“The only thing we require (for labeling) is that the chicken come from a region of the country that has a large Amish population,” says Van.
Hmm. So is this like the so-called Shaker furniture made all over New England? Chefs at notable restaurants are in touch with the source of their supplies; it’s the supermarket customer, trying to replicate the experience at home, who might be spending an extra 20 to 60 cents a pound on “the-Amish-are-just-a-five-minute-drive-away” birds.
Chefs who feature Amish chicken on their menu say they do so because the small farms raise a better-tasting product.
“In a lot of cases, it’s a question of flavor,” says Koetke, who procures the chickens from Indiana. “The breast is plumper and it’s beautifully round.”
Luce agrees. “The chickens have a truer poultry flavor,” he says. “You also see richer color in the flesh. The texture is certainly firmer.”
Whether the customer can discern this, especially through an accompanying sauce or seasoning, isn’t certain. But it sounds like a good selling point.
“The birds are essentially free-range chickens,” Koetke says. “They are not penned up and they are fed natural feed.”
Hormone-free food is always a plus with consumers. And for many diners, Amish chicken conjures up the wholesome image chefs may be looking for.
“We do get actual Amish chickens,” from farms in Indiana and Illinois, says Sandy Davis, sales manager for Wild Game Inc., a specialty foods purveyor on the Near West Side. As a supplier for such restaurants as Gordon and Gibson’s, Davis says, “The restaurants like it because the chickens are free range and don’t have any steroids in them. Even the feed the Amish use is all grown on the premises and they don’t use chemicals,” she says. “It’s part of the interest in health.”
Next month, a new restaurant called Taza opens in the Loop, with plans to serve Amish chickens delivered the same day they were killedum, processed. The grilled chicken “is by far the best available,” says general manager Joel Steinwold.
There’s a reason restaurateurs and retailers are looking for an edge on the market: Americans are eating more chicken than ever, about 50 pounds of chicken per person per year. Neither the USDA, the National Broiler Council nor the government’s Economic Research Service, however, keeps track of how much of that figure is specialty poultry like Amish chicken. Being free-range, perhaps these spirited birds are reluctant to line up for roll call.
So supermarket customers should be wary of companies that put an “Amish” label on chicken, but are just running a business in the same region. You can ask at the meat department, but even the grocers may not be familiar with the precise parentage of their chickens, because the labeling is done before the product reaches the store.
The only outward indicator that the chicken was raised at least Amish-style may be a higher price, according to Guy Cates, a meatcutter for Whole Foods in Lakeview. Naturally raised chickens are more expensive because without growth hormones and routine antibiotics, raising them is less predictable than with mass-produced chickens.
But do they taste better? We thought it might be worth cooking a few chickens in the Tribune test kitchen to see if Amish chickens tasted better than the average supermarket selection. (See chart.) But surprisingly, there was no consensus.
We gathered roasters from Whole Foods, Treasure Island, Dominick’s, Sunset Foods and a freshly plucked chicken from John’s Live Poultry on West Fullerton Avenue, roasted all of them without any oil or seasoning whatsoever, and tried pieces from each in a blind test.
“Hey, they all taste like chicken!” one taster joked. Another thought the just-killed chicken had “little” flavor; a third taster pronounced it “good.” One person proclaimed the Perdue chicken to have “real chicken taste” while the next in line pegged it immediately: “supermarket brand?”
The Amish chickens got favorable comments but didn’t stand out, with opinions ranging from “bland” to “liver-y” to “excellent.”
Maybe people who work with food for a living know a good product when they taste it. For the rest of us, maybe things only taste better if we can picture the happy farm the food was raised on. Considering how we fry, baste, stuff, smother and casserole the bird, it usually doesn’t matter if the chickens were raised by the Amish or the A&P.
And at that point, it certainly doesn’t matter to the chicken.
GRILLED ORANGE MUSTARD CHICKEN
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 30 minutes to 4 hours
Cooking time: 14-20 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Adapted from “The California Cook,” by Diane Rossen Worthington.
1/4 cup each: grainy mustard, Dijon mustard, fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon each: balsamic vinegar, olive oil
1 tablespoon each, finely chopped: fresh tarragon, fresh chives
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper oil or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt to taste
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Fresh herbs, orange slices for garnish
1. Combine mustards, juice, vinegar, oil, tarragon, chives, zest, pepper oil and pepper in small bowl. Taste for seasoning. Put chicken in shallow, large non-reactive bowl; pour marinade over. Refrigerate, covered, 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
2. Prepare grill for medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade and grill 3 inches from heat until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes per side.
3. To serve, place chicken on platter or individual serving plates; garnish with herbs and orange slices.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories …… 155 Fat ……… 4 g Cholesterol .. 70 mg
Sodium ….. 160 mg Protein …. 27 g Carbohydrate … 1 g
ROASTED GARLIC-STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH TOMATO-CAPER SAUCE
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Marinating time: up to 24 hours
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Adapted from a recipe by Christopher Koetke, chef at Les Nomades.
20 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil
4 boneless chicken breast halves
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon herbes de provence
Salt, freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
3 tablespoons capers
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place garlic cloves in small oven-proof skillet; cover with olive oil (add more oil if necessary to cover garlic). Heat to a simmer over medium-high burner. Bake, covered, until garlic is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Cool garlic and reserve oil. Mash cooked garlic in small bowl with 1 teaspoon of the reserved oil until a smooth paste forms.
2. Cut a pocket in the side of each chicken breast; stuff with mashed garlic. Refrigerate up to 1 day, if desired.
3. To prepare sauce, heat 2 tablespoons of the reserved oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add minced garlic; cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, herbes de provence, salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes. Add broth; simmer over low heat 15 minutes.
4. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat 2 tablespoons of the reserved oil in medium oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on both sides. Place skillet with chicken breasts skin side up, in oven. Bake until chicken is no longer pink in center, 8 to 10 minutes.
5. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add wine to pan and heat to a boil over medium-high heat, scraping bottom of pan to remove any browned pieces. Add wine and capers to tomato sauce; cook 15 minutes to reduce and thicken sauce. Pour over chicken breasts and serve.
Test kitchen note: Skinless chicken breasts may be substituted. Cover breasts when baking to avoid dryness.
Nutrition information per serving (using skin-on breasts
Calories …… 340 Fat …….. 20 g Cholesterol .. 70 mg
Sodium ….. 405 mg Protein …. 28 g Carbohydrate .. 12 g
AMISH CHICKEN BREAST WITH WILTED SPINACH, COUSCOUS AND BALSAMIC SAUCE
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
Adapted from a recipe by Don Yamauchi, chef at Gordon restaurant.
Sauce:
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup each, chopped: onion, carrot, celery
6 large cloves garlic, minced
4 cups each: red wine, veal broth, see note
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups balsamic vinegar
1 cup sugar
Salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chicken: 8 boneless chicken breast halves
8 cups cleaned spinach
Couscous:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups each: water, couscous
Salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup each: chopped tomato, unsalted butter
2 tablespoons snipped chives
1. To make sauce, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic; cook 5 minutes. Add red wine and boil until liquid is almost evaporated, about 35 minutes. Add both broths and boil until reduced by half. Add balsamic vinegar and sugar. Reduce until sauce barely coats back of spoon. Strain through sieve; season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
2. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat remaining olive oil in large skillet over high heat until very hot. Add chicken breasts and sear on both sides. Reduce heat to medium, continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Remove chicken and keep warm. Add spinach to pan and season with salt and pepper; cook until wilted and bright green.
3. To make couscous, heat 2 tablespoons oil in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallot and garlic until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Increase heat to high, add water and heat to a boil. Remove from heat, stir in couscous, cover and let stand until liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in chives, tomatoes and butter. Divide couscous among serving plates. Top each with spinach and a chicken breast. Spoon sauce over and serve warm.
Test kitchen note: Additional chicken broth may be substituted for veal broth.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories …… 710 Fat ……… 31 g Cholesterol .. 85 mg
Sodium … 1,275 mg Protein ….. 38 g Carbohydrate .. 69 g
SIZING UP THE CHICKENS
We tasted six plain roasted chickens, without salt, and couldn’t agree on a winner.
— BELL & EVANS (AMISH)
$1.79/pound, Whole Foods
Comments:”Tender; bland; a little chalky; nice moist bird; dark meat has excellent taste; little flavor.”
— JOHN’S LIVE POULTRY
$1.25 to $1.35/pound
Comments:”Stringy; tough; bland; chemical flavor; seems average to good; good flavor.”
— TREASURE ISLAND (HOUSE BRAND)
$1.09/pound
Comments:”Lively tasting; the wettest bird I’ve ever eaten; bland; too soft, watery; fairly dry and dull.”
— CASE FARM (AMISH)
$1.29/pound, Treasure Island
Comments:”Very pleasant but not rich enough; both dark and white meat on this bird tasted bland; moist, nice texture; appearance is strangeskin looks boiled but it tastes OK.”
— PERDUE
$1.49/pound, Dominick’s
Comments: “Real chicken taste, deep flavor even with white meat; supermarket brand?; a little dry, good flavor; moist but lacks flavor; dark meat almost liver-y.”
— ROSEBUD FARMS
$1.19/pound, Sunset Foods
Comments: “Except for rubbery texture, this one was pretty good; mild flavor; good dark meat; nice texture; a kind of vegetable taste in breast meat.”
