Chicken is what type of meat

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Skip to main content. Healthy eating. Home Healthy eating. Meat and poultry. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. Why meat and poultry are so good for you Getting the right amount of meat and poultry Healthy ways to cook meat and poultry Cooking meat and poultry safely The best ways to store your meat and poultry Feel good about shopping for meat and poultry Remember….

Why meat and poultry are so good for you Meat and poultry are very good sources of protein , which is important for growth and development. For example: iodine to help your body produce thyroid hormone iron to carry oxygen around your body zinc to keep your immune system strong, your skin healthy, and for growth, development and reproductive health vitamin B12 for your nervous system omega 3 to support heart and brain health.

A standard serve of meat or poultry is: 65 grams cooked lean red meat such as beef, lamb, veal, pork, goat or kangaroo around 90— grams raw 80 grams cooked lean poultry such as chicken or turkey around grams raw. Healthy ways to cook meat and poultry There are so many tasty ways to cook meat and poultry.

Check out these tips: Choose a lean cut of meat or poultry. A trimmed pork chop, a lean rump steak or a chicken breast without skin or crumbs on the outside are a great place to start.

Grill your meat, rather than frying it. Use a low-fat marinade to give your meat and poultry a great flavour. Marinades also tenderise your meat and keep it moist during cooking. When you are roasting meat or poultry, sit it on a metal rack above the roasting pan so the fat drips off.

And when you are slow cooking stews, curries and casseroles, try putting less meat or poultry in and adding more vegetables and pulses. Cooking meat and poultry safely Cooking your meat and poultry properly kills any bacteria. Cook the following meat and poultry all the way through: poultry and game, including chicken, turkey, duck and goose pork offal including liver rissoles and sausages kebabs rolled joints of meat. These include: steaks cutlets roasting cuts.

Give feedback about this page. The red meat and white meat categories also include types of meat such as goat, duck, venison, and rabbit. As part of a balanced diet, many types of meat are good for your health. The nutritional value of meat shows that white and red meat are good sources of protein, vitamins, and nutrients.

There are also some concerns about the impact of eating too much red meat or processed meat in your diet. However, it is also good to remember that the cut of meat and preparation method can greatly impact on how healthy cooked meat is for you. In this article, you will learn about the most common types of meat you can buy.

You will also find out about the healthiest kind of meat and if you should be concerned about consuming meat. Although fish is classed as a type of meat, some people consider it a separate category. Whatever the classification is, the benefits of eating seafood are not addressed in this article. In short, meat is defined as the edible parts of an animal that is used for human consumption.

Meat can include the flesh, fat, muscles, and offal of an animal. The offal is the parts of the animal such as the liver, kidney, and tongue that are often consumed or used as part of a recipe.

Processed meat is a type of meat that most health experts recommend limiting in your diet. Types of meat that have been processed include sausages, salami, canned meats, and bacon. The two main categories of meat are white meat and red meat. What is the difference between the two? The reason meats such as beef, lamb, and venison are red is because they are high in a protein called myoglobin.

This is an iron-rich protein that gives certain types of meat their red color. Pork meat is also classified as red meat because it contains higher levels of myoglobin than white meat such as chicken.

Pork is lighter in color than beef and becomes very light when cooked but it is still red meat. Types of white meat, such as some types of poultry, contain less myoglobin and therefore are white in color. However, because myoglobin occurs in muscles, darker meat from chicken and turkeys is found in their legs and thighs. Chicken is the most common bird or type of poultry that is consumed. The reason why chicken is so popular is due to its versatility and low-fat content.

In fact, some say that chicken is one of the most popular types of white meat in the world. To prepare chicken for consumption, you can grill it, bake it, steam it, roast it, or fry it. Of course, deep fried chicken contains a lot of calories due to the increased fat content. Chicken breast is considered to be one of the healthiest meat choices you can buy. For example, a 3-oz. This serving size also contains 25 g of protein and some iron. Other cuts of chicken meat contain more calories.

For instance, a 3-oz. The benefits of consuming chicken are that it is a cheaper type of meat and contains less fat than beef. Chicken is also a good source of protein with almost the same amount of protein as beef.

One of the main concerns about chicken is the possibility of contamination with bacterial pathogens. Poultry meat can contain Salmonella and E. This is one reason to ensure strict hygiene when preparing chicken for consumption. To minimize the risk of any infection, make sure that chicken is thoroughly cooked, and wash hands and surfaces after handling chicken meat.

It seems that the welfare of chickens is also important for consumers. One study found that people rated chicken welfare above cost when determining which type of chicken to buy.

Turkey is a large poultry bird that is in the same white meat category as chicken. Meat from turkey is a slightly darker meat than chicken but contains fewer calories. Turkey meat, especially the breast, is drier than chicken; however, both of these poultry birds are excellent sources of lean protein. A 3-oz. Similar to chicken, turkey is an excellent source of healthy protein and has good amounts of B-group vitamins.

Of course, when it comes to comparing turkey and chicken, turkey comes out top in terms of size. An average turkey bird weighs about 8 lb. Many of the benefits of eating turkey meat are similar to those of chicken. Turkey breast, drumstick, and wings are an excellent source of lean protein. Being a type of poultry meat, turkey is also prone to harboring infectious pathogens.

Another bird in the white meat category is duck. This breed does well in both cold and hot climates. You can keep them no matter where you lie, as they are extremely adaptable to any changes. Since they are so stress-resistant, they put on weight quickly.

As active layers, you can expect about a hundred eggs per year from these birds. The Chantecler breed is another meat chicken that does well in cold climates. A fantastic dual purpose bird, this chicken lays eggs earliest and also matures to slaughtering age quite rapidly. These birds are suitable for free ranging, preferring to forage in addition to consuming a high-protein feed supplement.

Chanteclers can lay up to eggs per year. Because they are a pure breed, they are less expensive to raise in the long run. You can easily breed multiple generations of this breed without seeing a loss in production or heritage. Delaware chickens are bulky dual purpose chicken breeds, raised specifically for producing a respectable amount of meat while also laying up to eggs each year.

This cross-breed was developed from the Barred Plymouth Rock and the New Hampshire Red, largely to preserve the egg-laying ability and improved meat quality of the two individual breeds.

This breed grows relatively quickly, reaching nearly nine pounds in just 12 weeks. This unique, somewhat bizarre looking bird has soft black feathers and a bizarre green lining.

This chicken originated in China and has feathered legs. While it can lay up to eggs per year, it is just as commonly reared for its meat production abilities.

This chicken can be found in several colors, including blue and black. Males grow up to nine lbs while females are slightly smaller. These birds grow quickly and are one of the most intelligent and quiet chicken breeds you can raise. Dorking chickens are named after the English town of Dorking and mare best known for their tender, fine-textured white meat. These birds are also frequently raised for eggs, producing up to large white eggs each year.

They are calm and adapt easily to most settings, preferring to forage to find their food. Kosher Kings are decent meat chickens with a gorgeous appearance. These birds have black and white striped plumage and are similar in appearance to the popular Barred Rock. Roosters of this breed tend to grow much more quickly than the females, but the females are decent layers if you keep them to maturity.

Originating from heritage breeds, these birds can be a bit more difficult to find at hatcheries but they mature more quickly than most heritage breeds. A classic American dual-purpose breed, the New Hampshire Red is yet another chicken that produces prolific quantities of eggs as well as tasty meat.

This bird matures relatively quickly and is often used as a broiler species. There are both standard and bantam varieties of New Hampshire Red chickens, with both producing exceptional products for backyard chicken farmers. These chickens tolerate challenging weather conditions and are known to be both broody and quiet. Because you will butcher most breeds of meat birds before they reach sexual maturity, the sex of your chickens is not a factor.

Therefore, you can often purchase meat chicks at a much lower price than you can purchase egg layers — they do not need to be sexed before they are shipped to you. The coop for your meat birds will be virtually identical to the one you might already have for your laying hens if you already raise chickens.

However, what you need to keep in mind is that you will probably be raising a higher volume of meat chickens than egg layers, so your coop size will need to increase dramatically. In some cases, you might find that you need to raise 50, , or even chickens in a season to meet the needs of your family. You just need a temporary shelter. Many people believe — erroneously — that raising meat chickens on pasture will cause the meat to be stringy, tough, and inedible.

While you can easily keep meat chickens in confinement or even in a coop with a small run attached, meat birds raised on pasture will be happier and healthier.

Studies have shown that birds raised on pasture produce meat that is tender and also higher in omega-3s and other nutrients. To make sure the meat of your chickens has an appropriate fat to meat ratio, you should provide them with consistent feed and room to roam. While this produces an optimal ratio of meat to fat, it can be difficult to maintain and monitor. Giving your chickens room to forage will allow them to eat enough to become plump but not so much that the tender meat turns to lumps of fat.

Give your chickens plenty of water, too. Ideally, this should be on the other side of the pen or coop from the food so that they are forced to exercise.