The other day I decided to roast a chicken.

Seems like an easy enough thing to decide, but once I got to the store my mission turned out to be more difficult than you might imagine.

The meat case held many types of chickens. I found a whole chicken labeled "natural" and another labeled "free range." Visualizing healthy chickens running around a sunny barnyard, I picked up the free-range chicken package.

Although that free range chicken could have spent hours every day flitting around the barnyard, the odds are it hadn't. That's because free-range poultry's definition doesn't necessarily have to match my vision. Here's why.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to be labeled as "free range" or "free roaming," a chicken must have "... been allowed access to the outside." Essentially, a door to the outside must be available and open for that chicken. The USDA doesn't mandate that the chickens actually go out through that door, or for that matter whether that door must remain open all day. Operative word: access.

The label on that "natural" chicken stated that it was raised without added hormones. That's a good thing. But the poultry folks didn't do that voluntarily. No. Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in poultry (the USDA approves hormones for only beef cattle and lamb).

So then what does "natural" mean? In the case of that chicken, it means there's no artificial ingredients or added color and that it's minimally processed (a process which does not fundamentally alter the raw chicken). All good.

But, chicken broth can be added to that processed chicken which adds water weight and since chicken broth is made with chicken, "natural" may still appear on the label.

At this point it seemed to me that the more expensive "free range" chicken and the less expensive "natural" chicken delivered about the same thing. The only difference: the free-range chicken may have had the opportunity to shake its tail-feathers in the sunlight; no guarantee, though, that it ever needed to don sunglasses.

If I wanted a chicken raised in a manner I considered healthier with the possibility of tasting better, I'd have to opt for a certified organic chicken.

I headed to a natural foods store in search of that organic chicken and when I found it, I also found a hefty price tag.

Seems we pay the price for that organic chicken to live on 100-percent organic feed, have access to the outdoors and be free of hormones and antibiotics (all USDA rules). Additionally, during processing, organic chickens may not be mingled with nonorganic chickens.

I ponied up the nearly $14 and took my chicken home for a taste test. I quartered and roasted my organic chicken simply: no brine, no butter rubs; just a rubdown with olive oil and a few grinds of pepper. I prefer a high heat method because it takes less time and produces a great looking chicken.

To my palate, I got what I paid for: This home-roasted organic chicken tasted better than other chickens I've roasted. Try it and let me know what you think.

Don Mauer's "Lean and Lovin' It" column appears every other Wednesday. Don welcomes comments, suggestions and recipe makeover requests at leanwizard@aol.com.

Roast chicken quarters

1 chicken (3 to 3 1/2 pounds), quartered (discard wing tips)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper



Place oven rack in upper middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Line a heavy-duty jellyroll pan or low-sided baking pan with foil and set aside.

Rinse chicken well under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Add olive oil and pepper to a medium bowl and whisk together until combined. Add chicken quarters to the bowl and stir and toss until well coated. Arrange chicken in prepared pan, skin sides up, without pieces touching.

Roast, uncovered, until chicken is golden and cooked through, about 30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast quarter registers 160 degrees and the thickest part of the thigh quarter registers 170 degrees.

Remove pan from oven and let chicken rest 5-10 minutes, tented with foil. Serve chicken with pan juices. Serves four.

Cooks' note: If you don't want to quarter a whole chicken, you can buy pre-cut chicken quarters. The olive oil remains on the skin and it is not calculated in the nutrition facts.

Nutrition values per serving (light meat; skin removed after roasting): 185 calories (23.5 percent from fat), 4.8 g fat (1.4 g saturated), 0 carbohydrates, 0 fiber, 33.1 g protein, 91 mg cholesterol, 82 mg sodium.

Nutrition values per serving (dark meat; skin removed after roasting): 205 calories (42.8 percent from fat), 9.7 g fat (2.7 g saturated), 0 carbohydrates, 0 fiber, 27.4 g protein, 93 mg cholesterol, 93 mg sodium.