Supermarket Roasted Chicken

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I like the rotisserie chickens at my store. They stamp the time they are cooked on the label, and keep them hot enough in the meantime. I bring it home, stick it in the fridge if it's not time for dinner, then just heat it up according to their directions. I've never had a problem.
 
Thanks for the tips, guys. Monday night we're having chicken quesadillas using a Costco rotisserie checken we bought Saturday.
 
Since I received my (dare I admit it??) Ron Popeil Showtime Rotisserie (which makes the very best rotisserie poultry, by the way), I haven't bought any store rotisserie birds, but before that I'd also have to vote for CostCo. Their birds have always been hot with crisp skin & juicy meat.
 
They are very tasty, but loaded with sodium so a no, no in our house, because of my husband's heart condition.
 
Our local Fred Meyer changes the chickens every hour so they don't get TOO dry, but I still don't really care for them. There's a fine line between a good chicken and a hockey puck chicken, and sitting under a heat lamp isn't going to keep it on the good side.

The bacterial aspect...eh, honestly I wouldn't even care about that even if the chickens tasted alright to me. I've always held the belief that this whole "unclean, unclean!" hysteria regarding uncooked chicken, room temperature chicken etc. is highly overrated. With seafood I'll buy into the craze, but chicken, beef, pork? Hard to buy into that when you can think back to your childhood years and remmeber eating some (what is referred to today as) truly hazardous poultry and always being fine...and don't even get me started on my college years where my fratmates' laziness with cleanup and storage expanded the 5 second rule to the 5 hour rule for all in the house.
 
Poppinfresh said:
Hard to buy into that when you can think back to your childhood years and remmeber eating some (what is referred to today as) truly hazardous poultry and always being fine...
The difference being that chickens were handled differently back then (obviously depending on when your childhood actually was). The major scare comes from the way the chickens are processed now, which was different years ago. that is why it used to be much safer than it is today.

yeah it is rare that you will get sick, but one it happens to you just once you will be wishing you had taken every precaution at that point, but then it will be too late.
 
I've bought them but sometimes they can be a bit too salty tasting. My store dates them with the time also which I like but since I've gotten my Showtime Rotisserie, I've been making my own and they are much better.
 
Ahh - another Ron Popeil Showtime Rotisserie fan!!! You know, I've had people laugh at me for having one - but boy do they stop laughing when they taste my chicken, & my duck, & my rock cornish hens, & my turkey drumsticks, & my trout, etc., etc., etc.

When my husband first gave it to me I figured I'd use it a couple of times & then it would end up in the basement along with other rarely used gadgets. Never happened. After using it, it now has a place of honor on my small ever-crowded countertop.
 
Breezy,
I thought it was corny too and for the longest time wondered about it and finally gave in and bought one. I think it was well worth the money and I use it all the time, I especially like the way the poultry comes out. Mine has a place of honor on the counter too! If not I'd be constantly bringing it out and who wants to bother with that!
 
Poppinfresh said:
The bacterial aspect...eh, honestly I wouldn't even care about that even if the chickens tasted alright to me.


Hmmmmmm. IMO, you should probably care . Chicken held at lower than 140 accumulates bacteria that multiply very fast. Even if the chicken was "clean" when you cooked it, it can go downhill very fast if not held properly after cooking -- and it still probably would taste good.

Foodbourne illness that you get this way is more annoying than serious, but it's still not fun. paritcularly when you are on the golf course (happened to me last fall:( ).

It's against the law to hold perishable foods at between 40 and 140. That said, you can't always trust restaurants/stores to handle food properly.

Here at work, they recently attached little thermometers to the coolersd where they keep juices/milk/yogurt, etc. The thermometer on the cooler with Gatorade and juice and soda says its 37 degrees. But the one on the milk product cooler says its 48 degrees! When i pointed that out to them, they just :rolleyes: and said there was nothing they could do about it.:sick:
 
I'm not sure if you can still access it via internet, but not too long ago there was a long in-depth article in The Washington Post on the safety of prepared food - including rotisserie chicken - at major supermarkets.

If I recall correctly, CostCo & WalMart were close to the top; Safeway was rock bottom, or close to it. Everyone else wavered inbetween.
 
Ditto what Andy said. Costco chickens are very good. It's more worthwhile to buy a Coscto roast chicken for dinner than to go through the trouble of preparing one at home. You just have to worry about making the side dishes. And they are stored very hot, and only for a limited time in the warmers.
 
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