Why Isn't Store-Bought Chicken Gamey?

Anyone who's eaten wild fowl like duck, pheasant, or quail knows the distinctively earthy, robust flavor of the meat. It's nothing like the mild, almost neutral taste of poultry you'll find at typical grocery stores and supermarkets. So, what's the reason behind the stark difference? It turns out there are a few things at play.

One of the most significant is the diet of commercially raised chicken compared to its gamier wild cousins. Store-bought chicken is almost always raised on a relatively consistent diet of chicken feed, consisting of a mix of corn meal and soybean meal. This grain-based diet is a major contributor to the familiar chicken flavor many love. On the other hand, wild birds eat a more diverse mix of food, like insects, grasses, seeds, and other varying items. That ever-shifting combination contributes to the more complex flavors that make up the animal's meat, which are marked by trace compounds and other factors unique to the area in which the bird lives.

Another key aspect is the lifestyle of wild birds compared to farm-raised chickens. The former are constantly on the move, hunting for food and responding to threats in their environment. The chicken that ends up at your grocery store is far less active, regardless of whether it's a free-range bird or spends its life in a small cage. Ultimately, these chickens don't use their muscles in the same ways that toughen them and alter their flavor. This also means birds raised by the chicken industry can often have more naturally occurring fat than leaner wild ones.

To be sure, there are occasions when cooks may come across gamier chicken, including buying from smaller farms and producers or raising them themselves. If you're looking to reduce this particular flavor, it's as simple as covering and soaking the chicken in a solution of one tablespoon of salt or one cup of white vinegar per quart of water. This trick works to reduce gamey flavors in all types of meat.

Store-bought poultry's versatile, non-gamey taste is one of the most important reasons it's flexible enough to star in these healthy chicken recipes everyone will love.