Buying Chicken

Several kinds of chicken are available in supermarkets and butcher shops throughout the United States. The most common are broilers or small roasters, which weigh from 3 to 4 pounds. These are good, inexpensive all-purpose birds for making soups, but if you need to feed a crowd or want something more impressive, roasting chickens of up to 7 pounds can be found.

Stewing hens are good for making broth but not much else. There was a day when an old hen provided passable flesh after a few hours of cooking, but the hens available now are specially bred for egg laying, and their meat is always tough and dry.