Water being sold in chicken!!!!?

Forever21

I don't buy frozen chicken so am I safe buying the fresh free range fillets from lidl, like I pay between €7 & €7.95 for 3 fillets that has a bord bia sticker & comes from co Monaghan. Am I safe enough or where can we get ones that are not water injected.

regi3457

Speedwell wrote: »

sigh https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/06/supermarket-frozen-chicken-breasts-water

just sick... you have to have eyes on the back of your stomach nowadays else people will feed you garbage

regi3457

Forever21 wrote: »

I don't buy frozen chicken so am I safe buying the fresh free range fillets from lidl, like I pay between €7 & €7.95 for 3 fillets that has a bord bia sticker & comes from co Monaghan. Am I safe enough or where can we get ones that are not water injected.

when you cook the chicken does a lot of water come out?

Forever21

Not the free range one I get in lidl

regi3457

Forever21 wrote: »

Not the free range one I get in lidl

It really shouldnt have any water at the prices you are paying. But I mean jesus that is expensive for 3 fillets. Are they big at least?

Forever21

You know what I actually don't mind now paying that as they're Irish & yeah much bigger than the ones from butcher & not that shiny looking like all the others . It kinda make sense now if we're getting 6 fillets for a fiver god knows what's added to them , going make sure now no more packs of ham or turkey for lunches any more, going cook my own or what's left from dinner will be put into sambo's from now on. !!!

regi3457

Forever21 wrote: »

You know what I actually don't mind now paying that as they're Irish & yeah much bigger than the ones from butcher & not that shiny looking like all the others . It kinda make sense now if we're getting 6 fillets for a fiver god knows what's added to them , going make sure now no more packs of ham or turkey for lunches any more, going cook my own or what's left from dinner will be put into sambo's from now on. !!!

Yes that is much better. The hams and things, you never know what is in there. The best food is the simplest and with least modification / alteration to it.

Forever21

It's back to basics in my house from now on

rubadub

pleasant Co. wrote: »

I'd imagine one wouldn't inject brine as one would end up with a fillet of chicken that tasted of nothing but salt.

The same could be said about the chefs and numerous posters doing it! There is loads of info available online about producers doing it, there is no secret at all. I don't think I have ever read of any of them using straight water, pretty sure its always been brine, or brine with other additives like sugar, protein & flavourings.

Here is a tesco one

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=258465837

Chicken Breast Fillet (82%), Water, Salt, Sodium Bicarbonate, Glucose Syrup, Rosemary Extract

Skinless and Boneless Chicken Breast Fillets with added water and salt

the more expensive tesco one has more salt
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=290897807

Chicken Breast (90%), Water, Salt, Dextrose

VincePP

Forever21 wrote: »

I don't buy frozen chicken so am I safe buying the fresh free range fillets from lidl, like I pay between €7 & €7.95 for 3 fillets that has a bord bia sticker & comes from co Monaghan. Am I safe enough or where can we get ones that are not water injected.

Fresh chicken rarely has water added.

Fresh chicken just like all animals and humans NATURALLY have 70%+ moisture content.

Without water it would be dry, dehydrated and inedible.

I really can't believe how so many people believe the utter sh1te written in the media as if its Gospel.

rubadub

VincePP wrote: »

I really can't believe how so many people believe the utter sh1te written in the media as if its Gospel.

I can't believe how many people MISREAD it, the link in the OP was about frozen chicken.

here is an fsai report on chicken, once again frozen chicken

https://www.fsai.ie/uploadedFiles/Monitoring_and_Enforcement/Monitoring/Surveillance/Poultry_Labelling_Report2.pdf

Here are some tips for people who want to try it, and the potential benefits of injection over immersion. video in the link
http://www.insearchofheston.com/2014/04/how-to-make-hestons-perfect-sunday-lunch-roast-chicken-recipe-from-heston-at-home-and-in-search-of-perfection-best-version/

The problem with Heston’s immersion brining is that it’s going to make the skin hold onto water as well as the meat. And the more moisture the skin contains the harder its going to be for you to crisp it up.

Plus, immersion brining is really awkward because you need a massive container to hold the chicken and the brine. It’ll take up all the space in your fridge and be heavy and difficult to handle as well. To top things off you’ll have to waste anything up to two extra hours rinsing the bird in fresh water to get rid of the excess salt. Basically, immersion brining is something only a complete arsehole would demand that you do.

How do we get around these problems, but still reap the succulent benefits of brined meat? Injection brining.


The meat’s gonna soak up a percentage of the salt and water you sit it in. So the solution is to inject only as much brine as you need directly into the flesh of the chicken. Here’s Modernist Cuisine’s Scott Heimendinger to tell you more about how this process works:


So, not only is injecting your brine going to give you all the benefits of Heston’s method, it’s going to help ensure your skin is delightfully crisp too.

Make a 6% brine (thats 6g of salt for every 100g of water), you’ll want about 200g of water for a standard sized chicken. Like Scott says in the video above you’ll want to inject the brine evenly around the chicken, working slowly and gently to avoid bursting the muscles. We use a specifically-designed meat injection syringe, you can actually buy these off eBay for about a tenner. You’ll be able to see the meat swelling with the brine.

horrifying stuff!

FortySeven

I thought it was well known that meat is pumped full of brine to add weight these days?

I've seen documentaries about this over the years and read loads of articles. If you want to feel disgusted just google pink slime and read how they make that filler for processed products. Yummy!

My biggest gripe with all this added water is rashers. It is practically impossible to fry a rasher anymore. There is so much water coming out it just ends up broiled. Tis not the same. :mad:

rubadub

FortySeven wrote: »

My biggest gripe with all this added water is rashers. It is practically impossible to fry a rasher anymore. There is so much water coming out it just ends up broiled. Tis not the same. :mad:

You can check the nutritional values on products to see how much is added, the drier it is the higher the protein & fat content should be, be careful to compare uncooked weights.

Some dry out steaks in the fridge, so I imagine rashers can be too. you leave them uncovered on a plate. Some do it in the freezer too. They usually have a drying effect on the air so dry out meats. If you ever left a pack of mince open or a block of cheese you will notice it dries out a lot. You could track how much it dried out by weighing before and after.

I have a airfryer which is great for bacon, I think the continuous stream of hot air drives the moisture out.

VincePP

FortySeven wrote: »

I thought it was well known that meat is pumped full of brine to add weight these days?

I've seen documentaries about this over the years and read loads of articles. If you want to feel disgusted just google pink slime and read how they make that filler for processed products. Yummy!

My biggest gripe with all this added water is rashers. It is practically impossible to fry a rasher anymore. There is so much water coming out it just ends up broiled. Tis not the same. :mad:

Fresh Meat isn't pumped wih brine in Europe - however diffesent story in USA. The problem is people reead artiocles and view videaos of USA standards and assume its the same elsewhere.

As foer rashers - its simple, buy dry cured. More expensive, but far tastier

brightspark

VincePP wrote: »

Fresh Meat isn't pumped wih brine in Europe -[x/QUOTE]

What makes you think that?

As others have said the brine is often there for a good reason, and not a huge perecentage of the final weight as might be assumed.

regi3457

brightspark wrote: »

VincePP wrote: »

Fresh Meat isn't pumped wih brine in Europe -[x/QUOTE]

then what is this? from the angle it may be hard to tell but this liquid is pure water from the chicken, there is about 150ml of liquid here or about 2/3 of a cup and I am cooking 3,5 chicken breasts. Care to explain where the water there comes from?

Also, I just want to add that these chicken fillets were purchased from Tesco and the packet says NO ADDED WATER

Speedwell

regi3457 wrote: »

brightspark wrote: »

then what is this? from the angle it may be hard to tell but this liquid is pure water from the chicken, there is about 150ml of liquid here or about 2/3 of a cup and I am cooking 3,5 chicken breasts. Care to explain where the water there comes from?

Also, I just want to add that these chicken fillets were purchased from Tesco and the packet says NO ADDED WATER

Based on my experience cooking chicken breasts here and abroad, I think Tesco is telling porkies.

regi3457

Speedwell wrote: »

regi3457 wrote: »

Based on my experience cooking chicken breasts here and abroad, I think Tesco is telling porkies.

what are porkies?

Speedwell

regi3457 wrote: »

Speedwell wrote: »

what are porkies?

I picked it up from my British boss, sorry. Cockney rhyming slang, "porkie pies"/"lies". I'm a Yank immigrant and my "adopt the local language" filters are pretty open right now.

brightspark

Please amend you post Speedwell, that quote is from Regi3457

Speedwell

brightspark wrote: »

Please amend you post Speedwell, that quote is from Regi3457

How odd. I am not sure how that happened (I only clicked the "quote" button) and I do not know how to fix it.

VincePP

regi3457 wrote: »

brightspark wrote: »

then what is this? from the angle it may be hard to tell but this liquid is pure water from the chicken, there is about 150ml of liquid here or about 2/3 of a cup and I am cooking 3,5 chicken breasts. Care to explain where the water there comes from?

Also, I just want to add that these chicken fillets were purchased from Tesco and the packet says NO ADDED WATER

FFS - ITS NATURAL.

Every animal / human is made up of approx 70% water.

If i took the best free range organic chicken you could produce, you'd have moisture coming from it.

regi3457

VincePP wrote: »

regi3457 wrote: »

FFS - ITS NATURAL.

Every animal / human is made up of approx 70% water.

If i took the best free range organic chicken you could produce, you'd have moisture coming from it.

Ok so going to go buy some organic chicken from another source and will post a photo tomorrow and we will see....

my guess is that you - the consumer - has been eating water injected chicken so long that now actually believes this is normal, even after finding this thread

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

regi3457 wrote: »

VincePP wrote: »

Ok so going to go buy some organic chicken from another source and will post a photo tomorrow and we will see....

my guess is that you - the consumer - has been eating water injected chicken so long that now actually believes this is normal, even after finding this thread

We reared our own organic hens for years and water still came out in slow coming.

regi3457

Robert Orange Taffy wrote: »

regi3457 wrote: »

We reared our own organic hens for years and water still came out in slow coming.

if 150 ml of water came out from 3 of your chicken breasts, I would say you were doing something wrong

If anybody out there cooking some chicken breasts this weekend, if you could send a photo please or let us know how much water is coming out! Especially if you feel your chicken breasts are top quality... That would make for a nice test IMO.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

regi3457 wrote: »

if 150 ml of water came out from 3 of your chicken breasts, I would say you were doing something wrong

Then you'd say wrong. Been there, did it with our own organic chicken. It happens.

Forever21

image.jpegOk guys 3 fresh Irish chicken fillets which I put a mix that I made myself on them before I popped into oven , the mix I made was honey 2 teaspoons of brown sauce & garlic , obviously the mix liquidity so here's the end result.

Forever21

image.jpegSorry wrong image, here the right one

rubadub

regi3457 wrote: »

Ok so going to go buy some organic chicken from another source and will post a photo tomorrow and we will see.

You would have to get the same weight of chicken and cook in the exact same manner, cut to the same size etc. You had 3.5 fillets in that pan, that is quite a lot, you will notice far more liquid with large amounts of meat, be it chicken or mince meat etc. With smaller amounts on the same large pan there is far more surface area so the liquid readily boils off as it comes out. So I would expect to see far less than 1/2 the liquid in pan if cooking 1/2 the amount of chicken.

A more foolproof and repeatable test would be to get 10g of chicken of each type and cook it out for hours until bone dry and then weigh it. This still would not be clear evidence that water was added as they could have naturally had different water content to begin with, or one may have been dried out a little. It would tell you which has more "dry matter" in it which is what you might be more interested in anyway.

regi3457

Forever21 wrote: »

image.jpegOk guys 3 fresh Irish chicken fillets which I put a mix that I made myself on them before I popped into oven , the mix I made was honey 2 teaspoons of brown sauce & garlic , obviously the mix liquidity so here's the end result.

thanks for sharing, how much liquid came out of them? Also, it is hard comparing because with my pan-fry photo I posted I took it right after the chicken "leaked". Had I kept frying (or in my case boiling) the chicken a lot of the liquid would have evaporated so I guess it would be hard to say how yours differs