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I am very frustrated with the declining quality of chicken breasts, ribeye steaks, New York steaks, and ribeye roasts lately.

Last night I made Honey Mustard Chicken Breasts (Outback Steakhouse copycat), a recipe I’ve successfully made many times in the past. It has always produced excellent results with very little effort. This time, however, the chicken was extremely tough, flavorless, and had what many describe as a “woody” texture. I couldn’t even finish a third of the breast.

 I also purchased a ribeye roast—now priced at over $100—for our New Year’s Eve dinner. I prepared it exactly as I have before using Cook’s Illustrated’s “Best Prime Rib” recipe, which I’ve made at least four times successfully. In the past, I’ve cooked the entire roast and portioned it into 4–5 future meals without issue. This time, the meat turned out tough and lacking flavor. I was deeply disappointed, especially given the cost. I’ve since been using the leftovers in soups and braises to try to soften the texture.

 Both the chicken and beef were purchased at Costco, and I no longer want to buy ribeye roasts, steaks, or chicken breasts there.

 I have found some good online sources for beef and pork, but can anyone recommend reliable sources for high-quality chicken breasts?

We have great success with Bell & Evans chicken.  We buy it at Whole Foods, but other stores probably carry them as well.

Have you tried connecting with local producers?  We have gotten our meat from a CCSA for 15 years. It's expensive, so we eat less, but it tastes amazing.  Maybe try looking at a farmer's market or local food grocer.  

Zeph

Thanks for the suggestions. I still have two packages of Costco chicken breasts to use. Will definitely  check out Bill Evans. I also see Joyce Farms on Amazon. I like give that a try too. Eight  1 lb breast tenders are going for $54. 

Will be checking those sources. I read that bird flu is causing the issues of trying to grow them too quickly. 

I like 44 farms for harder to find beef items like outside skirt, hanger,etc. $200 order is free shipping. 

Another source I should check is Rocky brand from Petaluma. These are available locally at Safeway and Andronico. 

I am using one of the two remaining Kirkland chicken breasts packages  tonight and I think I will marinate in shio koji today to seeif it will improve the woody stringy quality. But sfter these two from Kirkland, no more purchases. 

Originally Posted by: Rinshin

I think I will marinate in shio koji today to seeif it will improve the woody stringy quality. But sfter these two from Kirkland, no more purchases. 

In terms of woody stringy; one of the things I might try is to velvet the meat. It may not penetrate whole or half breasts, but it works with sliced meat.

Originally Posted by: JimCampbell

 

In terms of woody stringy; one of the things I might try is to velvet the meat. It may not penetrate whole or half breasts, but it works with sliced meat.

 

Last night I made Okinawan garlic fried chicken and they came out great. The breasts were sliced diagonally  into about 1- 1 1/2"  strips wide and marinated in copious amount of minced garlic paste, ginger paste, sugar, salt, sake and small amount of soy sauce for at least 4 hours. Then they went through the standard Japanese style fried food prep using panko, ie flour first, dipped in what is called batter ie egg, milk and flour, then panko. Double fried. 

No sign of wooden texture and these came out so well flavored, perfect interior texture, and crisp outside. I think slicing pieces disgonally as well as this marinade stopped it from becoming stringy and wooden.

When they turned out wooden in the past, they were sliced horizontally to make them flatter for making things like chicken parmesan, chicken picatta, and Outback style honey mustard chicken. 

I have one more Kirkland brand chicken breast in the freezer and I plan to use the similar slicing method next time. And rethink the marinade options. 

so, velveting might work as long as you slice the pieces diagonally. Will try that next. 

Originally Posted by: Rinshin

I am very frustrated with the declining quality of chicken breasts, ribeye steaks, New York steaks, and ribeye roasts lately.

Last night I made Honey Mustard Chicken Breasts (Outback Steakhouse copycat), a recipe I’ve successfully made many times in the past. It has always produced excellent results with very little effort. This time, however, the chicken was extremely tough, flavorless, and had what many describe as a “woody” texture. I couldn’t even finish a third of the breast.

 I also purchased a ribeye roast—now priced at over $100—for our New Year’s Eve dinner. I prepared it exactly as I have before using Cook’s Illustrated’s “Best Prime Rib” recipe, which I’ve made at least four times successfully. In the past, I’ve cooked the entire roast and portioned it into 4–5 future meals without issue. This time, the meat turned out tough and lacking flavor. I was deeply disappointed, especially given the cost. I’ve since been using the leftovers in soups and braises to try to soften the texture.

 Both the chicken and beef were purchased at Costco, and I no longer want to buy ribeye roasts, steaks, or chicken breasts there.

 I have found some good online sources for beef and pork, but can anyone recommend reliable sources for high-quality chicken breasts?

No answer just commiserating - I have been finding chicken tough and woody for a while.  I have not found an reliable new source but i am starting to look at local farms.  Recipes that I used for years with success now aren't working as well because the meat is poor quality.  

You can return meat or poultry that is of inferior quality to costoco for a full refund. If enough people did that one would expect that they would examine the quality a little more closely. I know they have their own poultry farms for the rotissarie chickens, but I'm not sure if that is also the same source for the frozen cuts.