Road Trip: Difeo's Poultry

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Where do I go when I want high quality poultry? In Akron, there's an excellent answer to that question: Difeo's Poultry. I have read that the reason their poultry is so good is that it's never been frozen, unlike almost everything you get at your local megamart. You can really taste the difference. When I'm cooking a simple roast chicken, where I don't have any elaborate seasonings that hide the quality of the bird, I make a point to head downtown and buy it from them.

While poultry is their specialty, that's not all they sell; they have a full-service butcher counter and a prepared food counter. But it's the poultry counter that keeps bringing me back. Wings, legs, breasts, drumsticks; necks, backs, feet; chicken, cornish game hens, turkeys...they have it all. And, the on-site staff will cut it to your specifications. You can order whole chickens and have them quartered or butterflied for you.
*I tend to cook mine whole, and I'm good at cutting up chicken, so I've never used this service. They always look disappointed when I say "no thanks, I'll take it just like that."

Difeos poultry
1073 Grant St
Akron, OH 44311
(330) 773-7881
difeoandsons.com

My top five list of favorite things they sell are, in no particular order:

1. Whole 3.5lbs chickens: They sell chicken for different prices per pound, depending on the size. When I'm roasting a whole chicken, I want a 3.5 to 4lb bird.

2. Chicken wings: Much better than the frozen bags you get at your local megamart when you've got a hankering for wings.

3. Chicken legs: When it comes to chicken, I've gone over to the "dark side" - I prefer dark meat to white meat. These are great for barbecued chicken.

4. Cornish game hens: For my most popular recipe.

5. Chicken backs and chicken feet: I always pick up some backs and feet when I'm there, to add some gelatin to my stock.

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