Poultry - chicken breeds/types???

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El Tigre

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Jan 23, 2003
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To an American chicken is just chicken. Chicken breast, chicken wings etc...

But Dominicans know the types of chicken. I am looking for the English name/translation for the following.

My mom goes to the vivero (where they sell live poultry) here in the Bronx to buy fresh chicken on Saturdays. My aunts also do this in the DR. I always hear the terms Pollo Criollo and Pollo Gringo when they are buying. I attempted to ask one of the employees at the vivero how do you say pollo criollo or pollo gringo in English but he didn't know because he doesn't speak English.

I bring lunch from home once in a while and today I brought in Gallina Guisada with some Moro. One of my buddies across from me said "that smells good, what is it" I said "it's hen stew with rice and beans". He fired back "hen stew???" with a puzzled face.

Did any of you expats living in the DR know the different types of chicken when you lived back home? And did you eat hen?

I asked around and most people here have never eaten hen. Only a few of the Americans I work with have had it.
 
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Lambada

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El Tigre said:
Did any of you expats living in the DR know the different types of chicken when you lived back home? And did you eat hen?
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In UK hen was the female and cockerel (rooster) the male is about all I remember. :) We used to have pullets in UK which were young female hens, so yes I've eaten hen. We also had capons, castrated males. I never really liked to ask the word for a capon here in DR thinking of the difficulties I might have explaining it in sign language :cheeky: ..........until I realised that the same word is understood because of the adjective.
 
C

Chip00

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El Tigre said:
To an American chicken is just chicken. Chicken breast, chicken wings etc...

But Dominicans know the types of chicken. I am looking for the English name/translation for the following.

My mom goes to the vivero (where they sell live poultry) here in the Bronx to buy fresh chicken on Saturdays. My aunts also do this in the DR. I always hear the terms Pollo Criollo and Pollo Gringo when they are buying. I attempted to ask one of the employees at the vivero how do you say pollo criollo or pollo gringo in English but he didn't know because he doesn't speak English.

I bring lunch from home once in a while and today I brought in Gallina Guisada with some Moro. One of my buddies across from me said "that smells good, what is it" I said "it's hen stew with rice and beans". He fired back "hen stew???" with a puzzled face.

Did any of you expats living in the DR know the different types of chicken when you lived back home? And did you eat hen?

I asked around and most people here have never eaten hen. Only a few of the Americans I work with have had it.
Click to expand...

The "gringo chicken" is known as a domestic chicken and has been selectively bred to create virile breed that grows fast, etc.

The "gallina" is a chicken of the same family but different breed that hasn't been developed to the same degree.

Also, males are known as roosters and female are hens, regardless of breed.

A lot of people here prefer the gallinas because they say the meat has a lot of flavor. This could be becasue they grown a whole, whole lot slower than the domestic chicken from what I've seen and they eat whatever they find lying around whereas most feed the gringo chicken with feed.
 
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CFA123

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Well, having been blessed with a mother from Georgia who's a truly good cook, I grew up hearing the terms 'roaster, fryer, hen, and stewing' used when referring to types of chickens at the meat markets. Of course, probably few people know the difference today.

Cookbook:Chicken - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks defines the variations and best methods of cooking.

Perhaps this was what you're getting at, El Tigre.

Broiler-fryer - a young, tender chicken about 7 weeks old which weighs 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds (1 to 2 kg) when eviscerated. Cook by any method.

Rock Cornish Game Hen- a small broiler-fryer weighing between 1 and 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kg). Usually stuffed and roasted whole.

Roaster - an older chicken about 3 to 5 months old which weighs 5 to 7 pounds (2.25 to 3.25 kg). It yields more meat per pound than a broiler-fryer. Usually roasted whole.

Roast ChickenCapon - Male chickens about 16 weeks to 8 months old which are surgically unsexed. They weigh about 4 to 7 pounds (1.75 to 3.25 kg) and have generous quantities of tender, light meat. Usually roasted.

Stewing/Baking Hen - a mature laying hen 10 months to 1 1/2 years old. Since the meat is less tender than young chickens, it's best used in moist cooking such as stewing.

Cock or rooster - a mature male chicken with coarse skin and tough, dark meat. Requires long, moist cooking.
 
bob saunders

bob saunders

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Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart

Actually Dominican chickens are a mixture of Rhode Island, Spanish Black White faced, and numerous other breeds. Most city folks don't know or care about the sex, chicken is chicken. Stewing hen is usually tougher old birds as apposed to broiler or friers that are young chickens(almost always hens)
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Pollo gringo is a broiler. Born, fattened and marketed in about 8 weeks or less.
Pollo criollo is a poor bird that has had to hunt and peck it's way in life and may be a year or so old before it has enough meat to be eatable..tough as nails but good for soups and snacochos.

Capons are not seen here inthe DR.

HB
 
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vince1956

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May 24, 2006
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Chicken going cheap

POLLUELO A young chick :bunny: Capons we had one for christmas a lot of money for a large chicken. would have been cheaper to have two normal chickens:bunny: we were robbed never have one again:pirate: BTW do they have turkey in the D/R ?
 
NALs

NALs

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vince1956 said:
BTW do they have turkey in the D/R ?
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Yes, there are turkeys in the DR.

BTW, I was surprised one night while driving in southwestern Connecticut. I was aware of wild deers, which are numerous and dangerous for drivers; but surprise surprise! I almost ran over five gigantic and fat wild turkeys which were crossing the curvy unlit road I was on. It was a complete surprise to see such creatures, since I thought they didn't exist in Connecticut.

-NALs
 
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El Tigre

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Jan 23, 2003
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Wow thanks everyone. You live and you learn.

HB - so when I see pollo criollo in a vivero here or in the DR I can safely assume that those were in a way "wild" chickens that ran around a farm for a year or so?

My mom uses gallina for the sancochos and soups. She has to use the preasurized pot though to make them tender. One time she tried cooking it normally and it took her close to 3 hours to try and get it to be tender and even then it was real hard.
 
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laurapasinifan

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hey Nals Turkeys are one of the biggest species recoverys know to america. They litterly have over run the northeast. They can be delicious, with the exception of their leg meat. Because they walk and run almost everyplace they go and seldom ever fly. Usually just to get up into a tree to roost each night.

bob
 
L

Lambada

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Hillbilly said:
Capons are not seen here inthe DR. HB
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Oh that's why it brought the house down...........they didn't know what I was talking about. :laugh:

It was in the days when we were very new. My Spanish was limited in the extreme. I did my best. The order got yelled through to the back room where they sliced and diced 'the gringa wants a chicken with no ba........' while they all fell about laughing.

Then the slicers and dicers from the back room all came out to take a look at what sort of gringa would make such a very weird request. All I could offer by way of explanation was that the castrated ones tasted better. At least that's what I think I said.............:cheeky:
 
E

El Tigre

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Lambada said:
Oh that's why it brought the house down...........they didn't know what I was talking about. :laugh:

It was in the days when we were very new. My Spanish was limited in the extreme. I did my best. The order got yelled through to the back room where they sliced and diced 'the gringa wants a chicken with no ba........' while they all fell about laughing.

Then the slicers and dicers from the back room all came out to take a look at what sort of gringa would make such a very weird request. All I could offer by way of explanation was that the castrated ones tasted better. At least that's what I think I said.............:cheeky:
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Oh man that must have been an interesting experience. Where you embarrased? I could see the people on the floor (since they had never heard of such a thing).
 
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macocael

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pollo gringo: the white chickens bred for eating. fatter, more tender.

Pollo criollo: the speckled hens you see running around -- tough, but tastier. Generally you cook these in those pressure cookers to tenderize them. Believe me, cooked properly, this is real eating.
 
W

Wanna

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Can you find a 7lb. chicken in the DR? I have only seen very small ones, and would really appreciate a larger.
 
M

M.A.R.

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Wanna said:
Can you find a 7lb. chicken in the DR? I have only seen very small ones, and would really appreciate a larger.
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in this case bigger is not better, I'm sure u can find a well fed one, caged up, that's close to the weight............. but why not cook a 2 or 3 smaller ones instead, free range, no hormones? When I go to the DR now, I see those huge vegetables I run away from those, they do not look natural to me, I rather go look for the small farmer and of course home raised chickens, free ranging.
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Gallinas can be egg layers that are "over the hill", obviously older birds and tougher.
Capons are "fixed" when they are quite young, a surgical process done through a space in the rib cage. Been there, done that!
7 Lb chickens would be tough as nails....

Pollo criollo are almost equivalent to "Range Chickens" ....and as costly...

HB
 
La Profe_1

La Profe_1

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I can occasionally find a five pound or so chicken at the supermercado. It is NOT a hen, and works fine for roasting. The thing is, you never know when one will be available.
 
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