Chicken Meat Comparison

Cornish Cross Broiler vs. Rainbow-Ranger Broiler

We recently cooked a leg quarter from a Cornish cross chicken (see images below) and one from a rainbow-ranger chicken at the same time with the same cooking method and tasted them side-by-side to see how the meats compared. The meat was from chickens which we raised with our natural methods. The results of the comparison were fascinating to me.

I cooked the leg quarters with no seasoning; completely plain, in a Traeger pellet grill with the temperature of the grill at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until the internal temperature of the meat reached 165 degrees in the thickest part. I kept it simple in order to accurately analyze the flavor of the meat itself, unaltered by a marinade or seasoning.

This is what my dad and I concluded: both meats were delicious and juicy, but the Cornish cross was very tender and had excellent mouth feel, while the rainbow-ranger was a good bit chewier. However, the flavor of the rainbow-ranger was much greater and richer than that of the Cornish cross. I really enjoyed both of them, but if I had to say which I would rather eat, it would be the rainbow-ranger. The texture was by no means unacceptable to me, and definitely worth tolerating for the flavor.

This test opened my eyes wider to how greatly one broiler meat can vary from another and has me excited to continue to improve the chicken that we produce. There are many factors like feed-ration, pasture diversity, length of growing time, breed type, and others that factor into the nutrition density and flavor of chicken; both of which things are high priorities for us. The chicken which we currently offer for sale is of the Cornish cross type, but I do expect the options to increase in the future, at which point, the breed type will be specified.

Cornish Cross Broiler

Rainbow Ranger Broiler

Vocabulary -

Broiler: a chicken bred for efficient growth and intended for meat; not eggs.