I also find it interesting how much of a premium white meat commands at the grocery store. $10 might get me 1 lb (450 g) boneless chicken breast, or 3 lb (1400 g) boneless chicken thigh. Since one chicken produces slightly less thigh meat than breast meat, I can only assume that there is a huge disparity in demand.
I'm not complaining—I get the meat I prefer for a good price that way.
(Edit: To be clear, U.S.)
(Edit 2: I think I misremembered the prices: might have been 3 lb / 9 lb instead of 1 lb / 3 lb.)
This does vary somewhat - when chicken thighs became a more trendy ingredient a few years ago prices for chicken thighs rose pretty dramatically. I mostly noticed because I was semi-regularly making a very simple slow-cooker chicken chili that used boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Also, where in the US are you paying $10/pound for chicken breast? In the Chicago area even "boutique" organic boneless/skinless chicken breast is seldom above $6/pound, regular full-price conventional chicken breast is typically $3-4 depending on where you shop, and B/S breast is often on sale for at or below $2/pound (rarely below $1.49/pound).
Small packages of chicken breast are typically $7/lb. Large packages at a wholesale club are $3/lb for Perdue, $2/lb for the mystery brand. Whole Foods is much higher.
We have a supermarket oligopoly that keeps prices high, I noticed supermarket prices in a few NYC stores were in line with warehouse clubs at home.
I'm not sure that's true - in the UK at least. Brits just seem to have a general aversion to anything other than breast meat as the other parts are considered "yucky" etc
My Korean friend had the same attitude (and claimed it was common in Korea). After several "correctly" cooked chicken breasts he changed his attitude.
Breast meat takes far less heat/time to cook than the rest of the chicken (comparatively) making it very easy to over cook. Rubbery chicken breast is much less appetizing than chicken thighs (etc).
Also beast meat in stew/soup is difficult (impossible?) to do right (so so easy to end up rubbery). But thighs in a stew are perfectly fine (can't really overcook).
Not necessarily saltiness, I usually marinate chicken breast in a mix of olive oil, lemon juice and various herbs. The taste is so much better than the "plain" one.
Price of 'commodity chicken' is largely set internationally, as has fascinating disparities, especially due to cross-pacific preferences.
An example is chicken feet. Around 300,000 tons of chicken feet are exported from the US mainly China, as a lot of Chinese cuisine has ways to cook these into something tasty. Think about how little chicken feet weigh, and how many make up a ton. That's a lot of feet. Necks too.
The contrast in prices for chicken breast and chicken wings seems most stark. Chicken wings are popular all over the world, but breast mainly in the Anglo world (US, US, AU, CA, NZ) and some of Europe. China doesn't have much frontness for breast. Here, chicken wings retail for 4 times the price of breast (wings about USD6 per kilo and breast USD1.5 per kilo) despite breasts being bone/skin free - commodity, non-brand chicken, a price disparity that is surely a function of cost of arbitrage (shipping and refrigeration). These are retail prices, largely frozen or pre-frozen.
I prefer a free range bird, chicken, duck, pheasant, from the farmyard. As in friend's parent's farm in the countryside. These go at a huge premium to factory stuff, but are also much longer lived and much tastier. Around USD 15-20 per bird depending on size and type.
> ...a lot of Chinese cuisine has ways to cook these into something tasty.
Not exactly. They just like chicken feet. Cultural palate. You can go to a dim sum place (if you have one available in your US town) and get dim sum. If you don't like them already, pretty good chance you won't like them off the cart.
> Not exactly. They just like chicken feet. Cultural palate.
ish.
Depends. Also true of tripe (dim sum example, usually also black bean and/or chili). Trust the taste buds. A good restaurant shouldn't serve something that's not good. So take anything off the cart, or menu. If it doesn't taste good, the restaurant isn't doing something right.
Disclaimer: I eat anything that is cooked with love and/or care, and other stuff too.
Even fresh whole squids are only $5-6 a pound. I'm guessing 95% of U.S. food consumption patterns are determined by people being too lazy or dumb to spend thirty seconds googling for how to prepare basic food items.
I was going to post that the price of dark meat is actually inflated because we export it to Russia and other countries, it could be even cheaper! But then I saw this article: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2011/01/the_dark_sid... which says that Russia is not importing as much of our chicken. Good! I prefer dark meat and I want it to be as cheap as possible for me in the US.
It's not uncommon to see thighs on sale for prices as low as $.79/pound, in my experience. There is more waste, with the skin, gristle and bone, compared to boneless breasts, but still.
The one that gets me is that you can often get boneless pork chops or loins for around $2/pound. Even the cheaper chuck cuts of beef that I like are usually double or triple the cost of pork.
That's simple supply and demand. American customers prefer white meat because it's lower in calories, and therefore viewed as healthier. It's also considered better for people on a low cholesterol diet. Outside the US, a higher premium is placed on taste, and so dark meat is preferred.
There is a huge disparity in demand due to the perceived health benefits (which I think are essentially illusory). They used to ship unwanted dark meat to Russia but now they've gotten a taste for white meat as well.
I'm not complaining—I get the meat I prefer for a good price that way.
(Edit: To be clear, U.S.)
(Edit 2: I think I misremembered the prices: might have been 3 lb / 9 lb instead of 1 lb / 3 lb.)