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stevenmoreso t1_j43bnaz wrote

Reply to comment by RandoCalrissian11 in TIL Duck is considered a red meat by culinary standards. by BertyBert1

This is a little confusing. Do you just mean birds that fly?

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DrunkenFailer t1_j43h6p6 wrote

Yes, chickens and turkeys don't really fly so their breast muscle doesn't get used. That's why the breast is white meat and the leg quarter (while not considered "red meat") is dark meat with a different flavor, texture and fat content.

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CapedBaldyman t1_j44qve1 wrote

let's talk about muscles. this will be a vastly oversimplification but muscles are either "red" or "white" and that has to do with how much myoglobin (oxygen carrying molecule stored in muscles) they have. Red muscles are great for low impact but high endurance use - think marathoning at a steady pace whereas white muscle are fast twitch, very explosive, but piss poor endurance. A perfect example of this is a crocodile. If you look at a picture of a croc you'll generally see some big bulbous muscles at the base of the lower jaw - these are HUGE white muscles that bring the top of the croc's jaw crashing down with tremendous force and speed. HOWEVER, the strength of the bite reduces dramatically dropping as much as 50% within the 1st few seconds. If you compare it to the muscles that hold a croc's top jaw up, they are these two tiny muscle bands that can stay open for a very long time and that's because they're almost purple they're so oxygenated.

This is why the other folks are talking about oxygen for turkeys and chickens.

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RandoCalrissian11 t1_j43kybl wrote

Not quite. Turkeys fly, just not very well. They don’t get oxygen when moving their wings so the meat is very white. Same with chickens.

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MrMcSwifty t1_j44h97r wrote

> Turkeys fly, just not very well.

Wild turkeys, sure, but as far as I'm aware, domestic turkeys are way too fat to fly really at all, which is indeed why their breast meat is white instead of "red."

On that note, I've often heard people say wild turkey meat is garbage compared to farm raised, which now makes me wonder if that's actually because they are just over-cooking it to domestic white meat turkey temps!

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Mmcx125 t1_j4531mh wrote

Could well be diet, the wild turkeys around me regularly eat actual garbage.

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RandoCalrissian11 t1_j45t7gu wrote

Wild Turkey is much better than domestic. Having eaten a lot of it, I don’t even see a comparison. It’s very white meat also. Has nothing to do with domestication, it’s how the blood circulates.

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thisischemistry t1_j46reri wrote

> I've often heard people say wild turkey meat is garbage compared to farm raised

Wild turkey has a "gamey" flavor which many people associate with it being "off" and not as good. Farm-raised has a "cleaner" flavor, more like farm-raised chicken. Some people like the wild flavor, some people like the domesticated flavor.

It's similar to the differences between venison and beef or mutton and lamb. Both venison and mutton have a ton of flavor but some people don't like that flavor, they prefer the lighter flavors of farm-raised beef or lamb.

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