Goose breast, unlike chicken and turkey breast, is dark meat. In fact, it's quite dark, with a considerably stronger flavor than dark leg meat from more familiar poultry.

Duck breasts may be purchased with or without the skin. Removing the skin reduces the fat and calorie content of the duck. A 3-oz. serving of skinless duck breast contains 119 calories and 3 g of fat, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. A 3-oz.

Since thin chicken breasts cook substantially faster than traditional breasts or thicker cuts of meat, its easy to get dinner on the table quickly. It's also easy to overcook the meat, which would leave you with a flavorless, leathery main dish.

Though technically a dark meat, chicken thighs are an agreeable middle ground for lovers of dark or white meat. They're more tender, flavorful and juicy than white meat, without a pronounced dark-meat taste.

A Cornish hen is a small fryer that weighs 1 to 2 lbs. Like all forms of chicken, Cornish hens need to be properly handled to avoid food-borne illness. Part of this process is the defrosting of a frozen bird. The microwave allows you to thaw your hen immediately before cooking it.

Duck is not typical food fare but has become more mainstream in American cuisine. It is a fatty bird because it swims and needs the fat to help keep it buoyant in the water. Duck is considered dark meat since it flies and therefore uses more muscle.

A well-roasted duck breast offers your palate a remarkably appealing combination of flavors and textures. The meat itself is dark, lean and flavorful, while the golden skin provides a crisp and richer complement.

A Cornish game hen, or Poussin, is a young hybrid chicken sold whole at many grocers. Despite its name, Cornish game hens can be either male or female and are domestically raised. The bird consists of all white meat that is more succulent than that from a full-grown chicken.