Michelin-starred chef David Chang says he’s disgusted by Costco’s ‘inedible’ rotisserie chicken
Celebrity chef David Chang criticized Costco’s rotisserie chicken during a recent episode of his podcast “The David Chang Show.”
On Jan. 9, Chang, the founder of Michelin-starred restaurant Momofuku Ko, described the chicken as “disgusting,” “not good” and “not seasoned.”
“The reason why it’s important to have it properly seasoned is, you might eat it the next day cold — and it’s got to taste good cold,” he explained.
“And there’s something about all the nitrates and all the crap they pump into that chicken that makes that chicken breast even more disgusting the next day when it’s cold… It’s inedible. It really is,” he continued.
Moreover, he takes issue with the product’s packaging. He claims that two of the chickens he purchased were “packaged in one giant package together,” and he needed to freeze both of the birds because “once you pop open that plastic it’s going to be a geyser of chicken juice all over the place.”
In the roughly two-hour podcast episode, Chang jokingly said that Costco shoppers waiting for the rotisserie chickens to be stocked in-store make him think of “a Gold Rush jailbreak.”
“It’s like they’re doing commodity trading in Chicago,” he said. “I was like, ‘What is going on?'”
He also joked that “80 billion chickens are processed in the world. I think every year 40 billion of them are because of Costco.”
According to Business Insider, Costco opened a $450 million facility in Nebraska in 2019 which processes around two million birds every week.
Despite his criticism of Costco’s rotisserie chicken, Chang did praise the store’s brisket. He purchased it for $49 and said that it would sell for $149 at a place like Whole Foods because of its quality.
For anyone wondering where to find the best rotisserie chicken, Chang recommended paying a visit to Sprouts Alhambra in California.
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