What's the difference?

[labradors]

Two soup mixes:



The first one is "Chicken with Fideos" (super-thin noodles) and the second one is "Hen with fideos."

Likewise, the supermarkets sell chickens as chickens, but there is one brand that says "hen" on the label.

Since a hen IS a chicken, why would they differentiate. I have heard that hens are tougher and should be cooked longer, but really don't know what other differences there are (apart from the gender, of course).

BTW, these are NOT "Cornish hens" or "game hens" - just hens.

[Cubangirl]

You are not the only one who has asked. Diferencia entre el caldo de pollo y el caldo de gallina

[cjs]

I always thought hens were best for stewing purposes.

[labradors]

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You are not the only one who has asked. Diferencia entre el caldo de pollo y el caldo de gallina

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Thanks, Cubana. Hadn't checked "Yahoo Answers," since I gave it up a long time ago because of the great number of incorrect answers and misinformation I had found there. It had gotten to the point that the only answers on there that I was sure I could trust are the ones where I already KNEW the answer. Otherwise, I have seen many, many, many times when the "Best answer, chosen by the asker" was NOT the correct answer. Unfortunately, with pre-packaged, dehydrated soup mixes that already contain other spices, etc., it wouldn't be possible to know if that particular Yahoo Answer about the colour of the broth due to the addition of yellow pigmentation to the rooster feed and not the hen feed is accurate or not, but it sounds a bit shaky. Even if there IS a colour difference, it would seem strange that someone would use specially pigmented feed for one gender of chickens just for the purpose of getting differently coloured meat and broth. If different feed produced BETTER-tasting (i.e. not just differently coloured) meat and broth, then I could see that, but then why not use that to improve both genders? Thus, it seems there are still unanswered questions.

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I always thought hens were best for stewing purposes.

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Is it that hens are better for stewing than roosters are or that hens are better for stewing that for other methods of cooking? Also, why would that make enough of a difference that they would even bother labelling a soup product "hen" vs "chicken" when that product uses dry bouillon to produce a broth but doesn't have any chunks of meat in it?

[cjs]

heavier, fattier, meatier - I grew up knowing about stewing hens and fryers (young, but sex doesn't matter, I don't think) those were the two chickens to buy.

[labradors]

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heavier, fattier, meatier

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The hens?

Also, is the hen meat tougher? I have heard that, as well.

[cjs]

yes, all of the above - they used them for layers a year or so and then on to being stewing hens. tougher.

[labradors]

Thanks.

[Gourmet_Mom]

Hens are usually larger. This makes sense that they are tougher since they're older. Like Jean, I grew up with these two types of birds. We stewed hens for chicken pastry and used most of the meat for chicken salad.

The difference in your product doesn't make sense, though....unless the hen product has a "stronger", richer flavor.