OUR TASTERS TAKE ON THE CHICKEN CONTROVERSY AND THE WINNER IS …

“We're going to be adamant on free-range chickens,” newly designated White House chef Walter Schelb told the Washington Times shortly after his appointment in March. “Mrs. Clinton,” he explained, “wants to showcase American food and to promote fresh-grown and organic produce. She envisions the White House as a high profile, educational example where food that promotes general health and well being….will be served.”

The First Lady's nutritional good intentions were not uniformly applauded. Don Tyson, a Clinton campaign contributor, Friend of Bill, and head of Tyson Food, a very large Arkansas poultry processor, was not pleased, nor was the National Broiler Council, a chicken-industry trade association, which fired off a letter to the White House.

“We protest any statement or implication from a spokesperson for the White House that free-range chickens are somehow more nutritious or more wholesome than those chickens produced by the companies that supply over 99.5 percent of America's chicken.” Wrote council president George Watts. “Further, we believe it is inappropriate for the US taxpayers to have to pay significantly higher prices for free-range chickens for the White House when no real benefits are being received for this much higher cost.”

By July, the White House's enthusiasm for free-range chicken seemed to have diminished. Mrs. Clinton's spokesperson, Neel Lattimore, told The Washingtonian that, for the moment, the food served in the White House will remain unchanged. While free-range chicken and organically grown food may be served in the future at the White House, it will not be served exclusively, Lattimore said.

JUST WHAT ARE FREE-RANGE CHICKENS? The US Department of Agriculture defines them as chickens with free access to the outdoors for a significant portion of their lives. “Significant portion is not defined,” says USDA spokesperson Jacque Knight. For the free-range label to be used, the producer must apply to the USDA's food-labeling division, supplying a description of the chickens housing conditions.

“Free-range chicken is just a marketing term,” says the National Broiler Council's Ken May. “Anyone with a door on the chicken coop meets the technical definition of free-range.”

“All chickens, free-range or not, are confined indoors for the first four weeks of life,” May says. “All the chicken has to protect its lungs from the cold is a little down and skin. If a young chick gets cold, it can easily die. A baby chicken needs to be kept at a temperature above 70 degrees.

Most chickens are slaughtered at six to seven weeks of age, so a free-range chicken may be outside for only two to three weeks.”

Some states, such as California, do have more stringent definitions of the term, but most of what is sold as free-range chicken meets the looser federal definition.

Other factors that affect chicken quality include the breed, the feed, and how the chickens are handled, points out Tony Carter of the George L. Wells Meat Company, a Pennsylvania-based poultry distributor. For example, La Belle Rouge, a chicken used by many local restaurants, is from French breeding stock, is raised without antibiotics or growth stimulants, is fed an all-grain diet, and is processed with a European air-chill method. D'Artagnan organic chickens are allowed to roam freely, are fed organically raised grain tested to contain no synthetic herbicides or pesticides, and drink spring water without added chlorine or fluorides. They are raised without antibiotics, hormones, growth stimulants, or tranquilizers. Bell & Evans ships its chickens unwrapped, on ice, to allow for “weeping” and to avoid the accumulation of blood and fluids.

Although May cites a recent Cornell University study concluding that there are no differences in flavor or “sensory attributes” between free-range and other chickens, some local chefs do not agree, Chef Mary Richter of Cities used mostly D'Artagnan chickens. They have better flavor and less fat than supermarket chickens, and they reach her in better condition, she says. They do, however, require more care in cooking “because they have less fat, they dry out more quickly. You have to be careful not to overcook them.

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN FLAVOR BETWEEN free-range and other chicken? We asked Washingtonian food and wine editors Robert Shoffner, David Dorsen, and Thomas Head to take part in a blind tasting of six chickens: three free-range, two leading supermarket brands, and the Bell & Evans chicken sold locally by Fresh Fields and Dean & Deluca.

The tasting was held in the catering kitchen of Fete Accomplie at 3714 Macomb Place, Northwest DC. Chef Greg Brannock roasted the chickens, seasoning them only with salt and pepper. Chickens were identified to the tasters only by number. Each taster gave his first-place chicken one point and his last-place six points, so that the highest-rated chicken had the lowest number of points. The scores:

1. D'Artagnan Free-Range Young Natural Chicken: 5 points. $2.99 a pound. D'Artagnan chickens are grown by Eberly Poultry in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They are approved by the USDA for use of the “free-range” label. The flesh was noticeably darker than that of the other chickens, and the legs larger. Our tasters commented on the “wonderfully buttery quality of the dark meat” and the “excellent skin flavor.” They are available at Sutton Place Gourmet.
2. Bell & Evans The Excellent Chicken, All Natural: 7 points. 99 cents to 1.99 a pound. Bell & Evans, which claims to be the oldest chicken company in America, makes three to six deliveries a week to every store it supplies. Our tasters commented on the “moist white meats,” “butter dark meat,” “excellent flavor,” and “firm texture.” Bell & Evans chickens are available at Fresh Fields and Dena & Deluca.
3. Tyson: 9 points. 79 cents a pound. Our tasters thought the Tyson chicken was superior to the other major supermarket brand, commenting on its “moderately good chicken flavor,” “fresh taste,” and “firm texture.” Available in supermarkets.
4. Penny Royal Free-Range Chicken: 12 points. $1.49 to $1.99 a pound. This is a less-expensive breed, grown and distributed by Wilson Fields of Columbia, Kentucky, which also grows the La Belle Rouge chickens (not available in area retail stores). Penny Royal chickens are grown with “no antibiotics, no growth stimulants, no artificial ingredients.” Our tasters found a “flat flavor in both light and dark meats” and a “dry texture.” Available at Fresh Fields.
5. Perdue: 13 points. $1.25 a pound. The noticeable yellow skin and flesh of Perdue chickens did not seem to enhance the taste. The texture was “mushy” and both light and dark meats were found lacking in flavor. Available in supermarkets.
6. World Safari Free-Range Natural Young Chicken: 17 points. $3.99 a pound. The label claims “no artificial ingredients. Only minimally processed. No antibiotics or growth stimulants administered. Wholesome grain fed.” But our tasters commented on the “mushy texture,” “supermarket taste” and “tough skin.” Available at Safeway.