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SMART SHOPPING: Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

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Americans cook a lot of chicken breasts–the lean cut accounts for 60 percent of the chicken sold in stores, and the vast majority are boneless and skinless. To find out which brand tastes best, we gathered eight popular brands and tasted them all side by side. Tasters’ comments made clear that texture was paramount (the flavor was more or less the same across the board). The clear winner, Bellw & Evans Air-Chilled Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts, was described as juicy and tender. The key is in the processing; Bell & Evans age their chicken breasts in chilled containers for as long as 12 hours before removing the bones and skin; this prevents the muscles from contracting, which results in more tender meat. This process takes more time, but the texture suffered in brands that skip this step to save money.