# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**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 17, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/81 "2016-04-17T23:45:32Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > My favorite unintentionally hilarious moment on a reality show ever: Jamie Oliver trying to gross kids out with knee slappingly over the top loaded language and theatrics about the horrors of mechanically separated chicken[…and the kids aren’t buying it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKwL5G5HbGA). 😃 (Generally speaking, I adore Jamie Oliver, but he and I part ways on the topic of mechanically separated chicken.) I love that. People getting grossed out at things like mechanically separated meat and “pink slime” can cause a lot of good edible protein to be wasted. It’s bad economically and environmentally. Why is rib meat, or skin, or even tendons, any grosser than breasts or legs or wings? It’s all edible and contains some amount of nutrition. Okay, meat may not be the healthiest thing in the world, but why are some bits more unacceptable than others? From what I can see, the rejection of the left over bits has as much to do with a yuck factor as it has to do with health concerns. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/82 "2016-04-17T23:54:03Z")
People use freak out at “pink slime” or MSM have never done real from-scratch cooking, don’t know where Jell-O comes from, and certainly never made sausage. I use all the leftover carcass bits to make soup stock, basically a more primitive technique for extracting nutrition from leftovers and scraps than MSM. Gelatin is cooked down skin, bone, and cartilage. Provided “pink slime” and MSM are made from wholesome carcasses and the result is appropriately handled it’s just another type of food. I fully support keeping an eye on production methods and improving them. I also fully support fully utilizing any animals we slaughter for food on ethical grounds. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/83 "2016-04-18T01:57:13Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > People use freak out at “pink slime” or MSM have never done real from-scratch cooking, don’t know where Jell-O comes from, and certainly never made sausage. > > I use all the leftover carcass bits to make soup stock, basically a more primitive technique for extracting nutrition from leftovers and scraps than MSM. Gelatin is cooked down skin, bone, and cartilage. > > Provided “pink slime” and MSM are made from wholesome carcasses and the result is appropriately handled it’s just another type of food. I fully support keeping an eye on production methods and improving them. I also fully support fully utilizing any animals we slaughter for food on ethical grounds. Right? How many of us were slack jawed in awe in elementary school when we learned that those wise and nature tuned “Native Americans used every part of the buffalo\*,” and yet we go ewwwww at using every part of the chicken? Whatevs. \*Which is only kind of true, as I understand it. They used every part of the buffalo in some way, but not every part of every buffalo. ---
**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 18, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/84 "2016-04-18T02:25:25Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Right? How many of us were slack jawed in awe in elementary school when we learned that those wise and nature tuned “Native Americans used every part of the buffalo\*,” and yet we go ewwwww at using every part of the chicken? Whatevs. > > \*Which is only kind of true, as I understand it. They used every part of the buffalo in some way, but not every part of every buffalo. Of course. How many buffalo femurs can one tribe use? You’d have a constant need for meat but tent poles (or whatever femurs were used for) last a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/85 "2016-04-18T02:39:13Z")
I’ve heard of steppe cultures using bones for fuel for fire, but not sure the North American natives did that. Might have used them to supplement buffalo dung or whatever else they used for fires. ---
**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 18, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/86 "2016-04-18T02:55:04Z")
You can burn bones? I mean, I know that they can get burnt, we’ve all burnt meat at some time or another, but I’m surprised that they can be burned for fuel. I suppose the marrow could dry out and burn, but I’d think that you remove that for food, or cook them in soup or whatever. I can see bones being used for ornamentation, tools, weapons, and perhaps structurally, but I never thought of them as fuel. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/87 "2016-04-18T02:57:28Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Or… just cut portion size. I’d rather have half as much chicken thigh than chicken breast. But breast can be pretty good if it’s not overcooked. Check out sous vide. I’m on my phone but I will post a link later. FWIW: [How to Cook Sous Vide Chicken Breast | The Food Lab](http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html) Friend of mine has sous vide but so far we’ve just done steaks. I would like to try chicken. Might put some life into the boring old chicken breast. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/88 "2016-04-18T03:31:46Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > You can burn bones? I mean, I know that they can get burnt, we’ve all burnt meat at some time or another, but I’m surprised that they can be burned for fuel. I suppose the marrow could dry out and burn, but I’d think that you remove that for food, or cook them in soup or whatever. I can see bones being used for ornamentation, tools, weapons, and perhaps structurally, but I never thought of them as fuel. They do burn better dry than “wet”. I don’t see an intrinsic problem to splitting a big bone like a femur, extracting the marrow, then drying and burning what’s left. No reason you can’t use a bone for stock, then remove it, dry it out, and burn that. In other words, you could use them for both food and fuel. There’s evidence for both prehistoric use of bones as fuel, and their use as such by arctic peoples who have little wood or animal dung for burning. ---
**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 18, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/89 "2016-04-18T03:42:05Z")
Broken femur… ::drool:: ---
**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 18, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/90 "2016-04-18T03:47:02Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > They do burn better dry than “wet”. > > I don’t see an intrinsic problem to splitting a big bone like a femur, extracting the marrow, then drying and burning what’s left. No reason you can’t use a bone for stock, then remove it, dry it out, and burn that. In other words, you could use them for both food and fuel. > > There’s evidence for both prehistoric use of bones as fuel, and their use as such by arctic peoples who have little wood or animal dung for burning. My point was that I didn’t think that bone itself could be used as a fuel, since it’s mostly calcium. I would have thought that it would be like trying to burn rocks (other than coal). But what do I know? I’m not a chemist. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/91 "2016-04-18T09:44:03Z")
Apparently there’s enough carbon-based material in bones for them to work as fuel. As I said, I’m not familar with the details. ---
**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 18, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/92 "2016-04-18T14:52:22Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Apparently there’s enough carbon-based material in bones for them to work as fuel. As I said, I’m not familar with the details. I wasn’t doubting you, just surprised. I’ve learned something. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294/93 "2016-04-18T16:56:52Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > By “rear end”, do you mean the tail? I love the tail on a roast chicken. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Aka **“the pope’s nose.”** It’s not just a Russian thing. I know of a good number of folks who consider it a prized part of the chicken. It seems exactly like something I’d love, but I am indifferent to it. I will save the oysters on a roast chicken for myself, though. 🙂 In England – where that part of the bird is also sometimes relished – it’s called “the parson’s nose”. With our mainly-Protestant heritage, I suppose that figures… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-poultry-white-meat-touted-as-superior-to-dark-meat/751294.md?page=4)