Jamie Oliver - Forums / Have you tasted the difference?

Sweet Tomaita · Thu 13 Mar 08 4:41am

Hello all!

I'm new here today. Had no idea Jamie had a forum website. I just kinda stumbled upon it and I'm glad I did.

For years I've been feeling guilty for eating battery hens and their eggs. It wasn't until I met my husband in 2003 that I found out that free range hens and eggs existed oops

Ok, so that may sound daft but its the honest truth lol When I met my husband he said that he was currently still living with his mum and dad until he had enough money to place a deposit on a house.

He also warned me over the phone during my first journey to his folks house that it looked a lot like a farm. Being an urban girl I naturally assumed that he was humoring me.

As it turned out, I couldn't have been more wrong. When I finally arrived about a mile down this country farm type lane, I was greeted by my then boyfriend (now hubby of course) at the gate.

As I stepped out of the car and looked around I saw several dogs running around, a small family of sheep, a couple of goats and countless ducks and chickens.

Needless to say, I was gobsmacked. The closest I'd ever come to farm animals was actually visiting a proper farm. You know the ones, where your prmary school organises a day trip, right?

Anyway, a few weeks into our relationship his nan and mum badgered me and finally convinced me to try one of their hens free range eggs. At first I was totally horrified and I immediately asked if the hens eggs were safe to eat. I even asked, "Are you sure they don't have any diseases?" (yep, I was very naive at 21). As you can imagine, this made them roll around on the floor in hysterics oops

So, I nervously tried one of the eggs. Fried sunny side up and laid on top of buttered toast. I thought that I wouldn't like it but to my surprise I couldn't believe how much nicer it tasted, especially the yolk yummy It had so much more flavour and the yolk was bright orange, not like the wishy washy yellowy orange yolks of battery hens eggs.

Also battery eggs are weak, watery and break very easily compared to free range eggs being thicker and greater for cooking with. Why not see for yourself and perform a simple test? Bake yourself a yorkshire pudding, one with a battery egg and the other with a free range egg. Let them cool down to room temperature and taste each one. Let me know which tastes better. I know which egg I prefer.

Since then we've been getting eggs from my in-laws or buying free range eggs from our local supermarket. Word of advice though, free range eggs in shops aren't quite as tasty as the ones from say, Farmers Markets/shops. Fresher really is better.

And then there's the case of the actual chicken meat. I have to confess that until very recently I've been buying battery hen chicken, just because it's been cheaper and money has been very tight for us this past year shocked

On a brighter note though, we have tried free range chicken and boy does it taste good. Compared to the battery meat which is often slack, bland and increasingly watery, free range is meatier, succulent and way tastier yummy Thanks to Jamie clap , I've been converted to preffering and supporting the produce of free range produce as supposed to battered produce.

So, this begs the question, "Have you tasted the difference "

Sweet Tomaita wink

Buffie · Thu 13 Mar 08 12:50pm

Well done,keep up the good work and don't forget the hidden battery eggs in prodcuts like cakes, pasta etc.

Just so you know broiler chicken is the cheap chicken in the supermarkets etc, battery hens are used to supply cheap eggs and hen meat which is made into pies and procesed foods, pet food etc. If you saw a battery hen on a chiller shelf whole, it wouldn't sell. hmm

Last edited by Buffie (Thu 13 Mar 08 12:51pm)

AskCy · Thu 13 Mar 08 12:54pm

We used to get the 2 for £5 type chickens but have been using free range eggs for a while due to the better flavour. Jamie and Hugh's campaign made us re-think our chicken eating and we now only buy free range chicken (as much as possible, we're not going to turn down a meal at a friends house or have a deli sandwich analysed).
I didn't expect to notice that much in all honesty but I did ! Well not a massive taste difference between intensively farmed and free range but I realised the taste was like chicken used to be when I was a child (thats going back 30 years or so). The best way I can describe it is being "extra chickeny" which is how it used to be years ago !

As for eggs, well they seem hit and miss to be honest sometimes they are really tasty and sometimes little difference to a standard egg!

We did notice that when on holiday in Cyprus the cheap and cheerful half a dozen eggs in the "corner shop" type places were all from local farms just up the road and we even better than our free range eggs for flavour and quality. That seems to be their standard to be well treated not something you have to track down like you do here in the UK.

Ps Welcome to the board big_smile

Last edited by AskCy (Thu 13 Mar 08 12:57pm)

Sweet Tomaita · Thu 13 Mar 08 2:43pm

Buffie wrote:
Well done,keep up the good work and don't forget the hidden battery eggs in prodcuts like cakes, pasta etc.

Just so you know broiler chicken is the cheap chicken in the supermarkets etc, battery hens are used to supply cheap eggs and hen meat which is made into pies and procesed foods, pet food etc. If you saw a battery hen on a chiller shelf whole, it wouldn't sell.

Thanks for pointing out about the hidden battery eggs. I feel daft for saying this, but it hadn't actually occured to me to think of things like pasta and ready made pies containing the battery eggs and poultry. Thanks again for the heads up clap

Sweet Tomaita · Thu 13 Mar 08 2:51pm

AskCy wrote:
We used to get the 2 for £5 type chickens but have been using free range eggs for a while due to the better flavour. Jamie and Hugh's campaign made us re-think our chicken eating and we now only buy free range chicken (as much as possible, we're not going to turn down a meal at a friends house or have a deli sandwich analysed).
I didn't expect to notice that much in all honesty but I did ! Well not a massive taste difference between intensively farmed and free range but I realised the taste was like chicken used to be when I was a child (thats going back 30 years or so). The best way I can describe it is being "extra chickeny" which is how it used to be years ago !

As for eggs, well they seem hit and miss to be honest sometimes they are really tasty and sometimes little difference to a standard egg!

We did notice that when on holiday in Cyprus the cheap and cheerful half a dozen eggs in the "corner shop" type places were all from local farms just up the road and we even better than our free range eggs for flavour and quality. That seems to be their standard to be well treated not something you have to track down like you do here in the UK.

Ps Welcome to the board

I agree, good quality free range food is hard to come by here. Luckily though, my in-laws live in South Lincolnshire which has a free range farmers shop just a few miles from their house. They sell just about every type of local produce possible, even jams and ice creams which are all delicious.

Oh, and about the whole hit and miss thing with the eggs. Again, I agree and blame the sometimes lack of taste down to the diet the hens are being fed as well as the conditions they're kept in.

Also it's a shame that we don't take a leaf out of Cyprus's book and make free range produce more easily and readily available here.

Thanks for sharing thumbsup

GeoffP · Thu 13 Mar 08 5:04pm

There's always free range eggs and chickens about if you look - supermarkets are NOT the best source by any means, but its often surprisingly easy to find them for sale at the roadside or from farms, or in Farm Shops.

I particularly like free range duck eggs - contrary to popular opinion, they don't taste at all "Fishy", but are richer in flavour. My local farm shop stocks them at the same price as free range chicken eggs. Years ago, while at Cambridge, we were able to get free range turkey eggs - as my wife used to say "It doesn't take many of those to make a dozen" smile

Our favourite family story is about when my older sister tried, for the first time, to slaughter one of dad's chickens (parents used to be tenant farmers).

She made the mistake of trying to chop its head off with an axe, and ended up being chased around the yard by the headless chicken. For years she wouldn't touch chickens, live or dead smile

Then there was the time the goat butted her into the pigswill trough....

Last edited by GeoffP (Thu 13 Mar 08 5:07pm)

Elvis Parsley · Thu 13 Mar 08 5:20pm

Did you find the Label Rouge chickens yet, Geoff?

GeoffP · Thu 13 Mar 08 8:35pm

Not at Tesco's - but I can get them at a good butcher in town.

A lot more expensive that in France, so I'll stick to the free range organic from a local farm shop - very nearly as good, and a whole lot cheaper.

Sweet Tomaita · Thu 13 Mar 08 9:22pm

GeoffP wrote:
There's always free range eggs and chickens about if you look - supermarkets are NOT the best source by any means, but its often surprisingly easy to find them for sale at the roadside or from farms, or in Farm Shops.

I particularly like free range duck eggs - contrary to popular opinion, they don't taste at all "Fishy", but are richer in flavour. My local farm shop stocks them at the same price as free range chicken eggs. Years ago, while at Cambridge, we were able to get free range turkey eggs - as my wife used to say "It doesn't take many of those to make a dozen"

Our favourite family story is about when my older sister tried, for the first time, to slaughter one of dad's chickens (parents used to be tenant farmers).

She made the mistake of trying to chop its head off with an axe, and ended up being chased around the yard by the headless chicken. For years she wouldn't touch chickens, live or dead

Then there was the time the goat butted her into the pigswill trough....

Hi GeoffP!

Yes, it's true. Ducks eggs are much richer in flavour and I find that they're slightly sweeter in taste too. Can't say I'm a big fan but at least I tried one. My husband on the other hand, prefers duck eggs.

Your post made me laugh lol I had such a funny vision of a woman running around trying her best to escape the headless chicken. It must make you chuckle everytime. Thanks for sharing those memories big_smile

itsmarie · Thu 13 Mar 08 10:10pm

Sweet Tomaita,
thanks for sharing your first post, how sweetly innocent, love stories like that, and yours of course GeoffP, we are all educated along the road of life and its so refreshing when we learn something new and make new disscoveries, we really do learn something new everyday, i am truly envious you live on a farm, i live in town and in a flat, im lucky as its a good area and we have lovely grounds that are cared for daily, but oh how i would love a patch of earth, my husband is now going to build inside our living room window a large window box, our window is south facing and has the sun all day, so it will hopefully be good growing conditions, in a sack, (just like Jamie) im going to try potatoes, and tomatoes and then onions.

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forum: Chicken

#1 Thu 13 Mar 08 4:41am

Sweet Tomaita

Have you tasted the difference?

#2 Thu 13 Mar 08 12:50pm

Buffie

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

#3 Thu 13 Mar 08 12:54pm

AskCy

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

#4 Thu 13 Mar 08 2:43pm

Sweet Tomaita

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

Buffie wrote:

#5 Thu 13 Mar 08 2:51pm

Sweet Tomaita

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

AskCy wrote:

#6 Thu 13 Mar 08 5:04pm

GeoffP

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

#7 Thu 13 Mar 08 5:20pm

Elvis Parsley

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

#8 Thu 13 Mar 08 8:35pm

GeoffP

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

#9 Thu 13 Mar 08 9:22pm

Sweet Tomaita

Re: Have you tasted the difference?

GeoffP wrote:

#10 Thu 13 Mar 08 10:10pm

itsmarie

Re: Have you tasted the difference?