# Why is poultry white meat touted as superior to dark meat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294 "2016-04-05T21:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/21 "2016-04-06T05:45:48Z")
For me, it depends on the dish. For a stew, I much prefer dark meat, bone in. If I’m making pasta primavera and want to add a bit of chicken, it’s boneless, skinless breast all the way. Fried chicken? So good, I like them both! It’s also a lot easier to ruin breast meat. You have to cook it just right, whereas thigh meat is very forgiving. Cook the thigh an extra 10 minutes and it’s no big deal. Do that to the breast, and it’s dry and tasteless. (Of course, turkey beats chicken, hands down!!!) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/22 "2016-04-06T06:23:33Z")
I recall reading somewhere that when blindfolded so that they couldn’t see what they were eating, people generally prefer dark meat despite their belief that they like white meat better. Some dark meat is fine, and I often make stews using whole chickens so I happily use both dark and light. But in some cases I really do prefer white meat. Dark meat can have an oddly grainy, tough texture. However, living in Indonesia I suspect that the chicken I get is substantially different from US chicken, so my observations may not apply to what many posters are eating. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/23 "2016-04-06T07:25:14Z")
I don’t even know what you’re all talking about. I thought it was all white. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/24 "2016-04-06T09:56:24Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I’ve noticed on cooking shows that they always use the dark meat, and rarely the white. I supposed it’s for the juicy and flavor. For me, when I eat bird, I don’t want bird flavor. I prefer the bird meat to simply be a carrier of whatever sauce or seasoning I put on it. That’s why I like the white. An interestingly paradoxical “take” on the issue, on your part. More often, one hears laments to the effect that modern mass-farmed chicken is pretty tasteless – hence the need for elaborate, spicy, etc. ways of cooking it, to impart some flavour ! (I’m another in the camp of preferring dark meat, by the way.) ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/25 "2016-04-06T10:58:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, the breast is white and everything else (including coveted wings) is dark? Hmmmmm… I was to understand that “white meat” and “dark meat” are Victorian-era euphemisms for “breast” and “leg/thigh” – words that no civilized person would dare utter, even culinarily. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/26 "2016-04-06T11:36:56Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > An interestingly paradoxical “take” on the issue, on your part. More often, one hears laments to the effect that modern mass-farmed chicken is pretty tasteless – hence the need for elaborate, spicy, etc. ways of cooking it, to impart some flavour ! (I’m another in the camp of preferring dark meat, by the way.) Lots of cooking shows talk about brining poultry. I’ve tried it, works great. Now, I rarely cook any chicken, white or dark, without first soaking it in a brine. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/27 "2016-04-06T12:53:16Z")
Have you guys ever bought kosher chicken? It’s like a whole different animal, especially if you keep it salted overnight before cooking. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/28 "2016-04-06T14:06:58Z")
I’ve never thought of white meat as tastier. What is is is healthier (less fatty) and can be cut up into cutlets/nuggets of solid meat, rather than needing to be ground up and mushed together to get that shape effect. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/29 "2016-04-06T14:12:21Z")
These things come and go. When I was a lad, eggs were almost always white. Then, somehow, the idea got about that brown eggs were more “natural” (this may have coincided with growing concern over battery farming chickens), so now pretty well all eggs on sale are brown (irrespective of the circumstances of the chickens). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/30 "2016-04-06T14:45:17Z")
I’m surprised no on one yet has quipped: Is there another part of the chicken besides the wings? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/31 "2016-04-06T14:49:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > For me, it depends on the dish. For a stew, I much prefer dark meat, bone in. If I’m making pasta primavera and want to add a bit of chicken, it’s boneless, skinless breast all the way. > > Fried chicken? So good, I like them both! > > It’s also a lot easier to ruin breast meat. You have to cook it just right, whereas thigh meat is very forgiving. Cook the thigh an extra 10 minutes and it’s no big deal. Do that to the breast, and it’s dry and tasteless. > > (Of course, turkey beats chicken, hands down!!!) Yeah, for a quick stir fry I will generally use breast (although thigh does work well, too), but for anything that has to stew or braise, it has to be thigh and/or legs for me. Breadth just becomes dry and stringy if you stew it. A better approach would be to Do the bulk of the stew with dark meat and add breast later so it still picks up the stew’s chicken flavor but doesn’t overcook. Then again, it seems many people don’t care as long as there’s enough sauce–to me, the sauce doesn’t save that dry stringy texture. Same deal with pork loin vs pork shoulder. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/32 "2016-04-06T14:57:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > You see it all the time: “Made with 100% white meat chicken;” “Contains premium breast meat turkey.” Personally, I prefer dark meat; it’s moister and more flavorful. But I can’t find products that contain only dark. > > Why has the dark meat been relegated to the back of the bus? I agree with you about dark meat. It has much more flavor. For some reason a lot of people prefer the white meat, and it doesn’t seem to be about fat. Over the years I’ve gotten the impression that many people, at least here in the US, don’t like strongly flavored food. I see the same thing with seafood. People seem to prefer bland white colored fish and complain that certain types taste “too fishy”. Personally I like my fish to taste like fish and my chicken to taste like chicken, but apparently I’m weird. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/33 "2016-04-06T14:58:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > A better approach would be to > Do the bulk of the stew with dark meat and add breast later so it still picks up the stew’s chicken flavor but doesn’t overcook. Which is exactly what I’ve learned to do over the years. If you use boneless breasts, which I do, they only need about 10 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/34 "2016-04-06T15:03:14Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > These things come and go. When I was a lad, eggs were almost always white. Then, somehow, the idea got about that brown eggs were more “natural” (this may have coincided with growing concern over battery farming chickens), so now pretty well all eggs on sale are brown (irrespective of the circumstances of the chickens). That may be true where you are, but in the US, at least in the mid-Atlantic area, white eggs are the norm, although brown aren’t hard to come by. My understanding is that brown vs white is strictly a matter of breed and has nothing to do with “natural”, or “organic” or battery farming, but some people here do think that they’re somehow better than the white ones. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/35 "2016-04-06T15:05:19Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > White meat has fewer calories, more protein, and less fat than dark meat. Both are fairly good for you in the grand scheme of things, but breast meat is slightly better. Which one is “slightly better” depends on your dietary needs and habits. For someone who habitually overeats, “fewer calories, more protein, and less fat” is probably better. For someone who is chronically malnourished, “fewer calories, more protein, and less fat” is probably worse. If you have healthy eating habits then I don’t see how one is any better than the other. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/36 "2016-04-06T15:13:04Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, the breast is white and everything else (including coveted wings) is dark? No no no. Breasts and wings are white, legs and thighs are dark. The discussion here has focused on breasts and largely ignored wings, but no one has claimed wings are dark. And they aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/37 "2016-04-06T15:20:23Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I’m pretty sure the biggest factor in the idea that it’s superior is the lower fat thing. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Nah, breast of chicken has been considered more refined and elegant eating than the other parts since way before low-fat diets became popular. Agreed. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, before anyone ever used the words “low” and “fat” in the same sentence, white meat was considered more desirable (east coast U.S.). > [@](#): > > We in these days of industrially produced battery poultry tend to forget that **in the days when all chickens were more or less free-range, their leg muscles grew rather tough and stringy as they walked about, particularly as they got older.** The soft and tender young dark meat of today’s farmed chickens is substantially different from the chewy drumsticks of a hen of a certain age back in the day. Breast meat was originally preferred because it was noticeably more tender and fine-textured than the chicken’s walking muscles. That makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/38 "2016-04-06T15:22:21Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t even know what you’re all talking about. I thought it was all white. The dark meat isn’t very dark, but when cooked leg and thigh meat is noticeably darker than breast and wing meat. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/39 "2016-04-06T15:23:47Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > My understanding is that brown vs white is strictly a matter of breed and has nothing to do with “natural”, or “organic” or battery farming… That is correct. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/40 "2016-04-06T15:25:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m surprised no on one yet has quipped: Is there another part of the chicken besides the wings? My dad grew up on a small farm where kids were not coddled. When dinner was chicken, the kids got the neck, back, and wings. As a result, his favorite part has always been the wings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294.md?page=3)