Wise Bread Reloaded: How to Prepare and Enjoy Our Modern, Monstrously Large Chickens

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After fifty years of diligent effort, chicken breeders have managed to create a chicken that is more than four times bigger than its mid-century predecessor. Yesterday's rooster weighed just about two pounds. Today's enormous version, which is called the "Ross 308 broiler," weighs more than nine pounds.

During that half century of growth, chicken occupied a bigger and bigger place at the American table. Once a distant third behind pork and beef, chicken now resides at the head of the table, with Americans consuming more than 80 pounds of chicken each per year.

That's a lot of nuggets!

If nuggets aren't your thing, Wise Bread has you covered with several suggestions about how to prepare and enjoy today's comically large Ross 308.

What to Do With Giant Chicken Legs

Camilla Cheung takes you on a tour of the world with this collection of 15 Chicken Leg and Thigh Recipes From Around the World.

Eat for a Week — or Two!

Today's chickens are so large you can Get a Week's Worth of Dinners Out of One Chicken. In fact, the chicken Max Wong used in her article was just a four pounder — not a nearly 10 pounder like the Ross 308.

Wheel Away a Giant Rotisserie Chicken

You may need a cart to get a giant cooked chicken out of the supermarket, but when you do, Camilla Cheung shares with you 25 Things to Do With Rotisserie Chicken. Number 25? Make stock.

Make Gallons of Chicken Stock (And Use It for Dumplings)

Well maybe not gallons, but plenty enough! What will you do with it? Janey Osterlind came up with 25 Tasty Ways to Use Chicken Stock — including dumplings, of course.

Or DIY Your Own Giant Chicken… Eggs

Squicked out by the thought of eating industrial sized, manufactured giant chickens? Let Linsey Knerl explain How to Raise Backyard Chickens. These chickens are mostly about the eggs, but yes, you can eat your backyard chickens, too.

Additional photo credits: adactio, Terrazzo, Wonderlane, The Freelance Farmer

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Guest's picture
Guest

That the author and publisher of this article would fail to address the cruel and unhealthy practices that is necessary to factory farm these animals is in my opinion unconscionable.

Guest's picture
Chris

Chicken is so good for your body, so it's good it's popularity has been rising in spite of the price (many boneless skinless breasts in Canada cost $6-7)!