Chicken question

Puggles

Puggles

"I don't like things I hate"
Joined
16 Jun 2018
Local time
11:49 AM
Messages
2,375
Location
Detroit
Hello from Detroit!

I enjoy cooking and have since I was able to learn from watching my mom as a little boy, so I have a lot of experience but no formal training. I'm like the "Hendrix" of cooking. I can follow recipes and like making my own versions of things.

I have a question about chicken that I just don't understand. Are there different kinds of chicken that you can buy in the store? I don't mean chicken recipes. I mean the already butchered chicken that you buy from the grocery store?

I ask this because when I buy chicken in the sealed packages (like a dozen drumsticks, or assorted pieces, leg, thigh, breast etc.) I always get a very low yield of the amount that is actually edible. I'm not referring to cooking incorrect and not being able to eat it because I overcooked it or stuff like that. It seems more like there is just a lot of tendons and cartilage and stuff you can't eat and there is very little meat on each piece.

I only get about a 50% yield from each piece (if I'm lucky) and I have to throw the rest away from it being inedible.

Everywhere I go to eat anything chicken (restaurants, fast food etc.) I can eat it as if it were ribs, 90% yield, down to the bone, but that's never the case when I buy chicken and cook it myself. The chicken I can buy from the grocery store always seems to be a great price for what you get. Is this like fake chicken or something?

So back to my question, am I buying some type of bargain type of chicken? I always thought chicken was chicken and the only difference is how you prepare it, or the recipe you use as if it was a "ubiquitous" meat.

Is there a certain "type" that I have to ask for that is only available upon request or something?

Me and my girlfriend just cooked a meal together tonight and we got such a low amount of actual meat for the size of the drumsticks, it was very disappointing. If I can't figure this out, I'm just gonna stop cooking with chicken because it doesn't seem worth it.

The following link is the type of chicken I'm referring to.
https://www.meijer.com/product/groc...2/t2-9973/t3/t3-192/t4/t4-477/24084300000.uts

Any help is appreciated.
 
Hi @Puggles and welcome to CookingBites. We have quite a few other members in your area.

The chicken in the photo is drumsticks (the bottom part of the chickens legs) and is usually the cheapest part - because it really doesn't have a lot of meat on it. What you really need to get is thighs, legs or breasts. A lot of folk buy breast meat simply because it is the most lean and you get a good amount of meat. However, it is probably the least tastiest part of the chicken. Whole legs or thighs will give you a better yield of meat. My personal preference is for thighs, which cooked correctly are tender, moist and tasty.

Alternatively, why not buy a whole chicken and cook it whole or learn how to joint it yourself?
 
Thanks for the reply, but this doesn't just apply to the drumsticks, it applies to other parts of the chicken from this brand as well. Might it be the brand? If so, how would that differ from other brands? Is there such a thing as "cheaper meat"? How would that be? Are those chickens not fed as well as others? Even different pieces of chicken from that same brand have a crappy yield.
 
Well here in the UK the welfare standards for chickens are higher than that in the US (due to EU legislation). But even here there are chickens which are really not as good as others - and yes its partly diet or the way they are raised, even the breed. Most people here will opt for free range if they can afford it. These chickens are more expensive but do taste better.

Can you get free range chicken where you are?
 
I regularly buy packs of frozen chicken portions (usually legs and drumsticks) and also chicken wings, but I buy the cheapest possible grade A chicken because I feed it to the dog :laugh: Having said that, the drumsticks are usually better, if usually a little small, with no waste at all other than the bone, and I often cook those for myself too. However, if I want chicken for a meal I would rather buy a decent whole chicken and joint it myself. I have occasionally bought chicken breasts from the supermarket, but they don't have a lot of flavour and are really only suitable for a dish such as curry or chicken Kievs where plenty of flavour is added. Many years ago my parents used to rear their own chickens, and these tasted completely different from what you would get in a supermarket now, so presumably it's all down to the food the chickens get. I find corn fed chickens to be rather tasty.
 
Thank you for the replies. I'll try to find another brand of chicken to buy from now on. I have always been curious about getting some cornish game hens and doing beer can chicken. (There is nothing better than the smell of burnt hops, it's intoxicating to me). Does anyone have a good recipe?
 
Either whole or breasts and thighs only here. Thighs for tandoori chicken, breasts for buttermilk southern fried chicken or just plain roast chicken, the wee kids get brown meat and adults the white meat, just IMHO .

Russ
 
I use the American clicker dust made by Williams and baste with sucklebusters chipotle sauce. I use lager beer, kingfisher brand. I do mine on the BBQ. I'll try post a pic.

Russ
Puggles said:
Thank you for the replies. I'll try to find another brand of chicken to buy from now on. I have always been curious about getting some cornish game hens and doing beer can chicken. (There is nothing better than the smell of burnt hops, it's intoxicating to me). Does anyone have a good recipe?
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OMG Rascal, that looks amazing, that is exactly how I would do mine!:chef::hungry:
 
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