White Meat vs. Dark Meat

The differences in color between white meat and dark meat reflect the fact that different cuts of chicken or turkey meat come from different types of muscle.


Dark meat cuts, such as the thighs and drumsticks come from frequently-used muscles needed for walking and standing. These muscles use more oxygen and contain more fat and iron. The iron in the muscles is located in a protein called myoglobin. The myoglobin gives dark meat its darker color.

White meat cuts, such as the breast, breast tenders, and wings, come from muscles that are used less frequently. These muscles primarily use a carbohydrate called glycogen for energy, and they do not need as much oxygen. There is less iron and myoglobin in these muscles, so the meat is lighter in color.

Experts note that there are also slight differences between white meat and dark meat in nutritional value. All chicken contains valuable protein, niacin, biotin, and vitamins B6 and B12, but dark meat tends to be slightly higher in calories due to the fact that it contains more fat. The extra fat in dark meat also gives it a stronger flavor and makes it juicier.

Chicken Facts

Here is something to cluck about. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization concluded that, as of 2014, the world has about 21 billion chickens, which produce the 79 billion eggs eaten by Americans every year. As the human population grew by 80 percent between 1970 and 2008, the global chicken population grew by 262 percent. That makes three chickens for every human on earth.

Fried Chicken Tips

Vodka is much more volatile than water, which is the main component of buttermilk, pickle juice, or pretty much any other fried chicken marinade. As such, it evaporates much more rapidly and violently. This helps drive moisture off the crust of the chicken faster, while also creating bigger vapor bubbles, adding surface area to the crust. Both of these mean crisper, lighter fried chicken. Only about two tablespoons of vodka is needed.

Brine helps chicken retain moisture. As chicken sits in a brine, the salt dissolves proteins in the meat's muscle structure, loosening it and allowing it to retain more moisture as it cooks. Brined chickens lose 30 to 40% less moisture than un-brined chickens. Add half an ounce of salt for every cup of marinade.

For each cup of dredging flour called for in the recipe, drizzle about two tablespoons of marinade/liquid into it. After drizzling, work it into the flour with fingers or a whisk then add the chicken pieces to coat. This process makes little chunks, which make chicken crispier.

White Meat, Dark Meat

White meat is white because of the chicken's lack of exercise. White muscle is suitable only for short, ineffectual bursts of activity such as, for chickens, flying.

Dark meat, which avian myologists (bird muscle scientists) refer to as "red muscle," is used for sustained activity, mainly walking. The dark color comes from a chemical compound in the muscle called myoglobin, which plays a key role in oxygen transport. That's why the chicken's leg meat and thigh meat are dark and its breast meat (primary flight muscles) is white.

Other birds, such as ducks and geese, have red muscle (dark meat) throughout.

Capons, Chickens, Cockerels, Hens, and Roosters

A capon is a rooster or cockerel that has been castrated. This culinary practice existed in ancient China and Europe. Romans castrated roosters to double their size. Capon meat is more moist, tender, and flavorful than that of a cockerel or a hen and is less gamey tasting.

Chickens are a domesticated fowl, bred primarily as a source of food, including meat and eggs. In the UK and Ireland adult male chickens over the age of 12 months are primarily known as cocks. In the US, Australia, and Canada they are more commonly called roosters. Males less than a year old are cockerels.

Hens are female chickens over a year old and younger females are called pullets. In the egg-laying industry, a pullet becomes a hen when she begins to lay eggs at 16 to 20 weeks of age. Chicken eggs vary in color depending on the hen, ranging from bright white to shades of brown, blue, green, and purple.

Here is a quick summary. Roosters generally crow and hens generally cluck. All capons, cockerals, hens, and roosters are chicken. All capons, cockerals, and roosters are male. All hens and pullets are female. All cocks are not chicken, but also the male of other species, such as cock sparrows. "Roosting" is the action of perching to sleep and is done by both chicken sexes.

During the course of the 2014 Super Bowl, American consumers devoured a total of 1.25 billion chicken wingettes and drumettes (the wing tips were sent to Asia). There is a chicken sound app for smartphones that can be used as a ringtone, or just to irritate those around you.

Eight More Egg Facts

We all know dinosaurs laid eggs. Ostriches and turkeys also lay eggs, but the ones we eat most often are chicken eggs.
Eggs take about 24 to 26 hours to form inside a hen.
An average hen can lay 250 to 270 eggs per year.
In China, approximately 390 billion eggs are produced a year, while the US produces about 75 billion eggs a year.
An egg shell is made of calcium carbonate and makes up 9-12 percent of an egg's total weight. It contains pores that allow oxygen in and carbon dioxide and moisture out.
The blood sometimes seen in an egg comes from the rupture of small blood vessels in the yolk. It does not indicate the egg is unsafe to eat.
An average person on Earth consumes 173 eggs a year (less than one chicken lays).
The world record for eating hard-boiled eggs is 65 in 6min 40sec, by Sonya Thomas in 2003. She would have eaten more but they ran out of eggs.
Here is the big answer to the big question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. The egg came first, because dinosaurs laid eggs before chickens evolved.

The truth About Egg Yolk Color

Americans eggs tend to have bright yellow yolks, because of what they feed feed the hens. Egg yolk color is almost entirely influenced by its diet. If you feed yellow corn it shows and if you feed birds white corn, the egg yolks are more white. In South America, hens that peck at red annatto seeds lay eggs with yolks ranging from pink to orange to deep reddish.

The yellow color in egg yolks, as well yellowish chicken skin and fat, comes from pigments found in plants.

In most parts of the world, diners prefer their yolks with a bit more color so commercial feeds often contain lutein as an additive, although yellow maize, soybeans, carrots, and alfafa powder will also add the color.

Many egg eaters assume that darker yolks are a sign of higher nutritional value. That is not true. Although chicken feed does influence the nutritional value of birds and their eggs, researchers say yolk color does not tell you anything about nutritional value. When it comes to taste, slap a few eggs next to a huge hunk of bacon and the taste becomes awesome, regardless of yolk color.

Double Chicken

 KFC Double Down Sandwich - Two pieces of bacon and two slices of cheese smothered with the Colonel’s Sauce and two fried chicken patties as buns. Mmmm!