topic Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems. in Kitchen

Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

nomar — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 20:12:48 GMT

I know brands are different in different areas of the country. My brand of breast and tenders was always good in the 3# frozen bag. The last 3 bags of that brand and two new brands I tried have had tendons running through or along edges of the meat. They are so tough they have to be cut out of the meat, thus ruining the meat other than for using as chunks in a recipe. Just today I decided to start emailing the distributor of these products to see if there is an answer. Is anyone else experiencing this? I am getting so leary of our food products anymore that it concerns me about just what are we eating.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

gazelle77 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 20:14:36 GMT

I find the ones in the bag that are frozen are so processed they turn out mushy and tasteless. It is partly all the salt, water and chemicals they shoot into them to make them have more weight. I will not buy these anymore and just buy fresh chicken breasts. Cut them myself.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

bells4me — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 20:29:58 GMT

I don't buy frozen.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

nomar — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 22:19:44 GMT

You are right about that gazelle77. I feed some of the breast to my dog also and all that sodium and who knows what else, is not good for her either. Sometimes one has to write it out in order to wake up and see the problem. We have mennonite raised chickens brought into one of our local stores and I believe I will start buying them. I really do not expect any answer from the companies about those horrible bagged ones I have been getting. Our food situation in this country is getting out of hand with what is being sold to us.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

depglass — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 22:49:15 GMT

Those tendons gross me out. I bought one bag, threw them out and never re-bought. Its some kind of miracle that I'm not a vegetarian. I won't even cook chicken anymore, I buy that sodium loaded version from the deli.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

piperbay — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 23:00:07 GMT

I don't buy the frozen chicken breasts anymore either. No matter how I cooked them they came out tough. The only ones I buy now are the bone in breast. Cheaper and more flavor IMO.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

peachesncream — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 23:01:17 GMT

On 1/20/2014 gazelle77 said:
I find the ones in the bag that are frozen are so processed they turn out mushy and tasteless. It is partly all the salt, water and chemicals they shoot into them to make them have more weight. I will not buy these anymore and just buy fresh chicken breasts. Cut them myself.

This is what I do - buy fresh breasts and cut them lengthwise - for any recipe that calls for chicken tenders.

I've tried frozen chicken products, but they always disappoint. I buy plain chicken breasts on sale and freeze them myself.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

Marsha2003 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 23:22:10 GMT

I gave up on frozen chicken. Now, I buy a larger pack of fresh and freeze a few breasts individually for those times when I can't get to the market.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

luvdavid — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 18:26:44 GMT

"Springer Mountain" Chicken is one of the best. Then freeze it yourself. It is pricey, but no chemicals.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

ceh — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 04:56:37 GMT

I don't like the tendon either. I always wonder how people can cook them and enjoy them. I've never bought tenders that haven't had the tendon. What I do is buy the fresh breasts and cut the tender off just at the tendon. Then I cut the tendon off. I then freeze the breasts and tenders separately to use in separate dishes. I even save bits of meat that are in between the fat and grizzle and use them in stir frys when I have enough. It takes a little time when I first purchase the chicken, but then they're ready when I want them and I know they won't be tough.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

AnneMary — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 06:27:58 GMT

I'm glad I saw this. I bought my first (large) bag of frozen plain tenders at Costco a couple of weeks ago. Don't know why I bought them as I usually buy whole, breasts, thighs, etc., but I thought they might be different. And they sure are. I was so disappointed. They are very thin pieces with tendons running thru at least half of them. I only fixed them once and breaded them thinking it might make them a little more 'substantial". Big mistake. You couldn't taste any chicken. It was too thin.

I thought maybe I just got a weirdo batch of them or something until I read what you guys have written. Live and learn, and even at my (older.....much older!) age, I'm not too old to learn: buy my fresh breasts and cut my own tenders. I threw them out after reading all your comments. No use trying to save something that doesn't even taste, and gads.....those tendons!!!

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

madcity411 — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 02:18:34 GMT

On 1/20/2014 piperbay said:
I don't buy the frozen chicken breasts anymore either. No matter how I cooked them they came out tough. The only ones I buy now are the bone in breast. Cheaper and more flavor IMO.

Hi Piperbay. I cook chicken breast in a Rocket Grill, which use parchment cooking bags, and the result is juicy, flavorfull everytime. I agree, that bone-in chicken parts have more flavor, but I have found using pressure cooking and other methods using cooking bags including oven baking, the results are alway great!!

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

ennui1 — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 08:06:03 GMT

On 1/21/2014 ceh said:
I even save bits of meat that are in between the fat and grizzle and use them in stir frys when I have enough.

Oh! Gristle.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

Harpa — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 00:57:53 GMT

I never buy store chicken anymore; I get it at a local farm market. But sure enough, when I get tenders, the tendon is on most of the time. I just use my kitchen sheers to cut it out before freezing or using fresh.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

Deadeye Daisy — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:16:17 GMT

Why not just buy whole chickens and cut them up? Far less costly. Takes less than 3 minutes to cut up a whole chicken. Also means you have the wing tips, backs, neck, and bones (if you're boning the breast and thighs) to toss in freezer until you have enough to make stock.

Easiest way is to buy 5 or 6 chickens at a time, and do the cutting all at once, then freeze.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

nyc1 — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 14:59:25 GMT

Buy a FOODSAVER and do it yourself. I typically hate food that has been frozen due to freezer burn, but the Foodsaver is excellent and will prevent the freezer burn (as long as you freeze the item for a reasonable amount of time). I've had several and have used Foodsavers for about 25 years and always recommend it to friends.

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

vonIam — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 19:52:29 GMT

Don't know what happened to my post

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

vonIam — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 19:58:01 GMT

On 1/22/2014 madcity411 said:
On 1/20/2014 piperbay said:
I don't buy the frozen chicken breasts anymore either. No matter how I cooked them they came out tough. The only ones I buy now are the bone in breast. Cheaper and more flavor IMO.

Hi Piperbay. I cook chicken breast in a Rocket Grill, which use parchment cooking bags, and the result is juicy, flavorfull everytime. I agree, that bone-in chicken parts have more flavor, but I have found using pressure cooking and other methods using cooking bags including oven baking, the results are alway great!!

Madcity, are you able to cook sandwiches such as grilled cheese in your rocket grill without squishing the heck out of the bread?

Re: Frozen chicken breast/tenders problems.

Poodlepet2 — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 00:36:52 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Oz sounded the alarm about our chicken being processed in China-and it's going to appear everywhere, from canned soups and frozen chicken products to restaurants. I don't know when this is going into effect but we found a local butcher. To our delight, he might be just a few pennies more, but a) we are supporting a local small business b)we are supporting a hard-working local farmer c) we are thinking our chicken is much fresher because it did not have to travel too far at all d) it's probably a little healthier than the mass produced big name brands and was probably inspected more carefully-ie-by our local butcher whose reputation depends on quality.

Poodlepet