make ground chicken. If I weren't connected with the
industry, I would have thought that to get ground chicken,
you just put it in a grinder the way you do to get
hamburger, and that would be it. Ah, but it's not so! The
fibers of chicken meat are shorter and more delicate than
beef. To get the right texture took a full year of
experimentation and fine tuning at Perdue. The skilled and
knowledgeable food scientists working on the project had to
discover which parts of the bird tasted best in hamburger,
what size holes the meat should be forced through in the
grinding machine, what temperature would be best, and so
on. A difference of a mere 2 degrees in the meat's
temperature meant the difference between a desirable
texture and one that was merely passable.
I remember when the food scientists were first
developing the ground chicken, that hundreds of people,
including me, were involved in the taste testings. I also
remember the first time Frank and I tried ground chicken
outside of the laboratory. It happened at a barbecue at
his son's house. Jim and Jan Perdue had chicken hamburgers
and beef hamburgers grilling side by side, and Frank beamed
like a kid with a new toy when he saw how the chicken
burgers stayed plump and didn't shrink. Meanwhile the
hamburgers, being 20% fat, were dwindling into hockey
pucks.
Basic Cooking Guide for Burgers:
Saute: Shape one package fresh ground chicken into
patties. Saute in a small amount of oil over high heat, 1
to 2 minutes on each side to brown. Reduce heat to medium
and continue to cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side until