Heather says:
Some of you may know that I have a weird taste in fiction. One of my favorite authors is Margaret Atwood who specializes in near-future dystopia -think of it as the opposite of utopia. In two of her novels, science has reached a point where the chicken has been engineered to be little more than a mouth that produces meat called chickie nobs. I suppose it’s supposed to be a dark parody of our society. Lots of people I know will only eat the hygenic, pre-frozen 15% sodium solution boneless skinless chicken breasts; I can’t help but wonder how long until someone introduces the chickie nob concept.
Some would say we’re already there. To counter that, I want to challenge you to try something new with chicken.
I believe if you’re only consuming the chicken breast you’re missing out on the best the chicken has to offer. I also think those of us who choose to eat meat ought to be at least mindful of the process, and part of that is not being wasteful.
Did you know that cooking chicken on the bone yields more tender and flavorful chicken?
Bones contain a lot of moisture, and this moisture is released when the chicken is heated. Think of it as internal basting without all that pesky effort. *Note* I do not actually recommend basting as a technique with chicken. It’s more effective just to leave the oven door closed.
What’s the difference between light and dark meat in chicken?
In chicken, white meat is the breast and wings. White meat has less connective tissue and fat than dark meat. White meat can be cooked by many methods, but overcooking will leave it dry due to its lower fat content.
The thighs and legs of a chicken are dark meat. These parts contain more fat and connective tissue than their white meat counterpart. Lower heat and wet cooking methods will give the most tender results IF the bird is mature. In the US most chickens are butchered quite young, so the maturity and tenderness concern is usually a non-issue.
Do you have a recipe for one type of chicken that you would like to use for another?
Great, I found a wonderful chart explaining how to convert chicken recipes and cooking times.
Whole chicken ideas
How to Roast Chicken
This is one of the first recipes a new cook should learn.
Roasting is a great technique that can be used for company meals and simple dinners at home. It's a technique all cooks should master, and the leftovers lead to many other recipes and uses.
Crockpot Friendly Sticky Chicken Recipe
Do you have a whole chicken but can't hang around the kitchen to keep an eye on it? This slow-cooker-friendly recipe may be for you.
How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken, a Knife Skills Tutorial
If you purchase chicken from a local farmer, whole chicken may be your only option. Cutting up the chicken gives you many more options for preparation. For others, sometimes purchasing whole chickens is simply more economical than buying parts.
How to Butterfly or Spatchcock a Chicken
Do you want the flavor of roast chicken in a fraction of the time? Try spatchcocking. It's a great technique to cut the cooking time by drastically increasing the surface area of your poultry. It also sounds dirty to those of us who never matured past twelve, but that's just a bonus.
Recipes for Cut-Up Chicken
Chicken and Dumplings
It's a classic. This version demonstrates rolled or flat noodles, but there's a iink to how to make drop dumplings if you prefer the fluffy variety. The choice is yours.
Chicken Bog Recipe
This classic Peedee dish (that's a region of South Carolina) is from my late friend Andre Pope. Our family makes this recipe all the time. Food is love, and you can hand it down. This recipe is perfect for giving to new moms as a freezer meal or to a family after a loss. It freezes well and just needs cornbread or rolls and a salad or simple vegetable to make it a full meal.
Chicken, Mushrooms, and Peppers. Oh My!
Rich and comforting there's just enough breading to allow the moisture and flavors to marry during the cooking process giving everything a taste of home. Serve with rice, mashed or basked potatoes, and a green salad or roasted broccoli
Chicken, Roasted and Marinated in Balsamic
Tangy with a hint of sweetness this recipe goes well with fall and wither vegetables like squashes, sweet potatoes and anything roasted, beets, Brussels sprouts etc. You'll find yourself making it again and again.
Recipes for Cheap Cuts of Chicken
Chicken Thighs and Legs with Garlic and Brown Sugar
How to Remove a Chicken Thigh Bone – only do this if chicken thighs are somewhere around half the cost of boneless skinless chicken thighs, and then save the bones for stock, which is now more commonly called bone broth. Bone broth may be a trendy term, but knowing how to make it, is an incredibly useful skill as bone broth/stock is used in countless recipes and is also a really healthy addition to your diet as it is full of collagen.
Using All of the Chicken
Save your bones, wing tips, and chicken backs to make homemade stock or bone broth. You don’t have to make the stock the same night you cook the chicken. Keep the leftover bones in a freezer bag or other container in your freezer until you have enough for this project. You can use either raw chicken bones or cooked. Some people even roast the bones prior to making stock to get a darker, richer stock. It’s all up to you.
How to make chicken stock – the Asian method
How to make chicken stock – the French method
More thoughts on making chicken stock
Why does my chicken stock taste like water?
How to Use Leftover Cooked Chicken
Chicken Noodle Soup + How to make dumplings
Chicken Salad– please keep in mind I took that picture well before I knew *anything* about food photography.
A Final Note
If you’re a bit squeamish, know that it really does get a little easier and that familiarity helps. It won’t ever make the process enjoyable, but the more you have to deal with it, the easier it gets.
If you’re pregnant or sick, pass the job on to someone else. I couldn’t bear to deal with poultry during any of my pregnancies. It’s a temporary situation, and it will pass . . . eventually.
One more tip, use disposable gloves when working with raw poultry if it makes you feel better. Ever since 2020, they are so much easier to find, and it is perfectly okay to accommodate your sensory needs. Do what you need to do to accomplish your goals.
Please feel free to share your techniques in the comments.
For grilling chicken, a very simple and tasty marinade is a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, juice from a lemon, and garlic to taste. Don’t worry if you don’t like garlic. While the garlic is what flavors the chicken (the lemon juice and oil just add moisture) it doesn’t taste “garlicky.” Cook the chicken at a temperature of anything between 350 and 400 degrees. No higher than 400! Cook to an internal temperature of between 165 and 170 degrees and your chicken will be so tender you’ll think it’s still raw. It isn’t raw, because you’ve cooked it to the proper temperature, but it’s delicious and moist and tender. Cut the chicken into slices and top a salad with it or eat it as is.
Oryx and Crake was my first Atwood book and it is a very good book, but no, not "happy". The chickie nobs idea is really interesting though, especially (in Oryx and Crake) the main character's reaction to seeing actual chickie nobs in the lab as a child, then eating them with no remorse as a teen.
I'm the only person in my usual group of people to read her. So weird by locale / peers.
I have a question concerning prepping chicken legs. My family LOVES chicken legs but the unsightly blood that sometimes comes along with chicken legs leaves us all a little disgusted. I’ve read about & tried the salt brine method for removing the blood but have had almost no success. Any tips?
I’ll turn the answer into a full post. It has a lot to do with the age of the chicken, how the meat has been stored, and the preparation method.