better chicken pieces . . .

C

CookieMonster

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multiple times over the years I've have bought a whole chicken and ....as plans change.... wound up cutting it up into 6/8 pieces.
except when the shelf is bare, I buy the smaller fryer chickens (vs. "roaster" size)

again, just of late, I noticed the pieces - in this case: leg with thigh, breast - were much more tender when cooked than pieces bought 'pre-packaged'
and . . .
remained tender when re-heated (left-overs...)

being empty nesters I try to avoid creating lots of left-overs...so buying 'chicken breast' or 'chicken tenders' or 'boneless thighs' (when I can sneak them in....) helps with the "brown 5 pound of chicken and . . ." kind of recipes.

frequently the pre-packaged pieces
(a) are not especially tender on first cook
(b) get right down hard and tough on re-heat.
and . . . I'm in the chicken shall never go over 140'F camp..... it's not an over cooked issue.

is it me or is cutting up your own from a whole bird a better idea?
 
CookieMonster said:
is it me or is cutting up your own from a whole bird a better idea?
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I've always just assumed that anything like that left until as late as possible is probably better, but I have no scientific or anecdotal evidence to back that up. 😬

I buy chickens in all configurations, from already-cooked rotisserie ones to broiler/fryer ones, boneless-skinless breasts, thighs with bones, quarters, wings, whatever I happen to need at the time and whatever looks good.
 
Difficult question to answer as the welfare standards and methods for farming chicken are different in the UK. I don't think I've noticed any significant difference between a whole chicken and pieces here.

It could be that the whole chicken is fresher than pieces? I mean, maybe chicken pieces keep longer than a whole bird once packaged.
 
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I cannot remember the last time that I bought and cooked a whole chicken. We normally buy strips or individual full breasts on or off the bone. Late last year I started to "velvet" chicken for Chinese dishes or curries, etc. but I tend to forget to do that now.
 
I haven't found any difference and I've cooked and eaten thousands of chickens, whole or in pieces.

I buy market-fresh chicken in a configuration that is closest to what I want to serve so I don't have to do any unnecessary cutting.

Maybe Thomas Keller, Heston Blumenthal or Kenji Lopez-Alt can tell you some scientific difference, but for my intents and purposes there isn't one.
 
..btw, have you read The Food Lab (by J. Kenji Lopez Alt)? I got it recently, and I'll remind myself to go and check it on this topic later (it's an absolutely huge book and I haven't read every page yet) because this is the sort of thing he compares, but one thing that is consistent in his approach is using scientific methods and making sure that things are compared on a like-for-like basis. In your case where you noticed the pieces you cut yourself were more tender, were all the other variables kept the same? Was the recipe identical? Were the chickens slaughtered at the same time? Was one frozen and one fresh? Were cooking times identical? Salt/brining? Resting etc?
 
vernplum said:
..btw, have you read The Food Lab (by J. Kenji Lopez Alt)? I got it recently, and I'll remind myself to go and check it on this topic later (it's an absolutely huge book and I haven't read every page yet) because this is the sort of thing he compares, but one thing that is consistent in his approach is using scientific methods and making sure that things are compared on a like-for-like basis. In your case where you noticed the pieces you cut yourself were more tender, were all the other variables kept the same? Was the recipe identical? Were the chickens slaughtered at the same time? Was one frozen and one fresh? Were cooking times identical? Salt/brining? Resting etc?
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reminder, I'm going to order that book now.
 
TastyReuben
that has been my 'process' as well - buy what you need.....
I tagged the left over pcs - which went into the freezer - we'll see how they do .....

vernplum
"were all the other variables kept the same?"
not even remotely 'the same' - no attempt - simply an observation.

one obvious difference could be the freshness factor. in USA whole birds are blast chilled and kept just below (water) freezing temp. the meat does not freeze, but it's not unusual to find ice inside the bird. pre-processed into parts are not kept as cold.

I shop in a large supermarket, turn-over is good - but shelf space for 'whole birds' is perhaps 1/10th that of shelf space for parts-on-a-tray.
 
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