Country chicken breast vs Broiler chicken breast: nutrition per 100 g

IFCT 2017 lists the country hen breast with its skin on, and the broiler breast skinless. Skin carries fat, so this is not a perfect like-for-like test, and the country bird's small extra fat is partly the skin. Even so, the numbers answer the question most families ask: whether the costlier naatu kozhi or desi murgi gives more protein. On these figures it does not. Both breasts are lean, high-protein meats, and the differences that people notice in the kitchen are mostly texture and taste.

Country chicken breast has 22.1 g of protein per 100 g and broiler breast 21.8 g, each covering about 40 per cent of a man's daily requirement. Broiler breast ranks 17th of 257 foods for protein. Country chicken has 10.2 g of fat against 9.0 g and 180 kcal against 168 kcal. Its listed saturated fat, 0.42 g against 0.82 g, is lower, though the fatty-acid figures for both look small beside their total fat, so they are best read loosely. Cholesterol is close, 66 mg against 62 mg.

Country chicken has a little more iron, 1.09 mg per 100 g against 0.83 mg, about 1.3 times as much, though both are low; broiler breast ranks last of 14 meats, poultry and eggs for iron. Country chicken also has more potassium, 365 mg against 295 mg, more phosphorus, 222 mg against 178 mg, and less sodium, 23 mg against 37 mg. Zinc is identical at 0.78 mg. Broiler breast has more copper.

Broiler breast is the stronger niacin source, 8.06 mg against 5.62 mg, covering 45 per cent of a man's daily need against 31 per cent. Vitamin B6 is slightly higher in the country bird, 0.59 mg against 0.53 mg, as are folate and vitamin E. Riboflavin is higher in the broiler.

Country chickens range freely, grow slowly and develop firmer, darker, more flavourful meat that needs long, slow cooking. That is why they suit Tamil Nadu's naatu kozhi kuzhambu and pepper fry, Andhra natu kodi pulusu, Kerala nadan kozhi curry and Bengal's deshi murgir jhol. Broilers grow fast, are tender and cheap, and cook quickly in tikka, butter chicken, biryani and stir-fries. Cooking either drives off water, so cooked meat holds more protein per 100 g than raw.