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It used to be that the cheapest and tastiest
chicken you could buy was the whole chicken.
This is no longer the case. With all of the
low-fat and weight loss paranoia around
today, chicken breasts have become as
popular and available as sirloin steaks used
to be in the 1960's, when meat and potatoes
were the rule. In this new century, chicken
and broccoli are the most popular dish,
usually boneless skinless chicken breasts at
outrageous prices.
This demand for chicken breasts has it's
positive side. It means that stores are
almost giving away the legs and thighs that
are cut off of the platinum priced breasts.
I have seen chicken leg quarters, as they
are called, go as cheaply as 27¢ a pound.
Yes, 27¢ a pound. Now if that isn't almost
free, I don't know what is. The thing about
leg quarters is that they have all of the
skin, fat, bone and chicken backs still
attached to them. Which means they need a
little more handling in the kitchen than
those dainty little breasts. But if I can
get leg quarters for under 50¢ a pound
always, and often under 29¢ a pound, then it
seems to me that a little extra work in the
kitchen is worth it, considering I save
between 4 and 5 dollars for every pound of
chicken flesh I liberate.
Chicken Recipes
Chicken Tips and Tricks
In order to process chicken leg quarters in
your own kitchen, you need a small sharp
knife, a little patience, and a willingness
to get your hands gooey with chicken flesh.
Each leg quarter can be divided by wiggling
the thigh and leg to see where the joint is.
You use that small knife of yours to sever
the two pieces right between that joint.
Sometimes you can use your hands to sort of
break the two pieces of chicken apart there
at the joint, and then just use your knife
to cut through the meat and tendon
maintaining the attachment. If you like, you
can cut the back off of the chicken thigh
too. I always do. Grab a hold of the
straight edged bony side of the thigh, and
break it off of the rest of the chicken
quarter with strong fingers. The thigh bone
will have a socket in the chicken back, and
you use your small knife to cut through the
meat and fat which is still holding it all
together. It will seem logical once you have
the chicken leg quarter sitting on the
counter in front of you. Save the backs and
use them to make chicken noodle soup, or
chicken broth. They have quite a bit of meat
on them, if you pick them over carefully.
Chicken thighs are very easy to bone. They
only have one big bone in the middle. To
remove it, you just pry it out of the flesh
with strong fingers. It takes almost no
work. Boneless chicken thighs can be used in
any recipe for boneless chicken breasts, and
at less than a quarter of the cost.
To remove the skin from the chicken just
pull down from the thigh, sort of ripping it
off when you get to the handle part of the
leg. I remove the skin first, before doing
any other work to the chicken. All of those
recipes you have which call for 3 pounds of
chicken pieces, or a 3 pound chicken cut
into pieces, can be prepared using only the
leg quarters. It takes about 4 leg quarters
to make 3 pounds of chicken. Skin the
chicken if desired, and then cut each
quarter at the joint, and break off the
backs. This will give you 8 pieces of nice
meaty chicken, or about the equivalent of
one chicken, cut into pieces. In my recipes
I detail which ones do best with chicken
quarters, and exactly how to prepare them
for the recipe.
The only other type of chicken I buy
regularly is whole fryers and roasters when
they go on sale for a really good price.
Then I buy at least 5 to go into the
freezer. Whole chickens are really nice for
company dinners, Sunday suppers and special
times when a roast chicken looks really
pretty in the center of the table. They are
always more expensive than leg quarters on
sale, and as far as I am concerned, much
more difficult to cut into attractive
pieces. Should you ever find a super sale on
them though, give cutting them up a try. If
they aren't pretty, you can always boil them
and make Chicken & Dumplings, or Creamed
Chicken.
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