The BEST piece of chicken is . . .

[Mai72]

It's murder?

It's the holocaust all over again. Thinks about it. When we eat an animal we have rotting flesh in our stomachs.

But, It's all so delicious.

 

[zinfamous]

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of the leg but it's all about how it's used. My favorite chicken dish is the Empress Chicken at the Golden Buddha Chinese restaurant in Decatur, GA, near Emory University. It's butterflied chicken drumsticks fried crisp and covered in this awesome garlic/soy spice sauce. It is ridiculously good. Best I've had anywhere.

that looks delicious. For me it's not the leg meat, which is certainly fine, it's just dealing with the whole leg. I hate dealing with the cartilage and tendons. Prepping it to be used boneless in a stir fry or rice dish is just time consuming. I just always prefer thighs for that.

My favorite is always going to be the breast, when fried proper it just beats all others imo, but I recognize the thigh as the BEST part for more reasons beyond frying. I think legs qualify for the same reason, I just don't like bothering with them. It's easy enough to buy packets of thighs for very cheap.

 

[zinfamous]

Depends. I do a blackened chicken alfredo and pound chicken breasts to tenderize and to cook evenly. I do wings smoked then deep fried, and a deep fried chicken too. Sometimes the boned in breasts are pretty big and I'll sous vide them a bit then finish by battering/breading/whatever and deep frying.

Oh I do that too. nothing wrong with boneless breast, and yes--you need to pound them flat and sear quick and hot. It's delicious.

I was merely commenting on the hatred of bones, as if they have some magic ability to make actual meat disgusting. It's lunacy!

 

[madoka]

I was merely commenting on the hatred of bones, as if they have some magic ability to make actual meat disgusting. It's lunacy!

Bones actually have a magical ability to make meat taste better! Boneless chicken doesn't taste as good to me.

 

[lxskllr]

Bones actually have a magical ability to make meat taste better! Boneless chicken doesn't taste as good to me.

I suspect it's the processing. Removing the meat from the bones means more handling, and more air exposure, as well as rinsing off the juices. There's also the "shell factor". I made a half serious thread asking if nuts in the shell actually taste better, or only seem that way. I think I'm on the side of them only appearing to taste better. The work involved makes them more special.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I suspect it's the processing. Removing the meat from the bones means more handling, and more air exposure, as well as rinsing off the juices. There's also the "shell factor". I made a half serious thread asking if nuts in the shell actually taste better, or only seem that way. I think I'm on the side of them only appearing to taste better. The work involved makes them more special.

It's neither of those things. Bone conducts heat differently than meat does and differently than open air does. The meat nearer the bone will be cooked less, retain more juices and taste better than the meat away from the bones which is cooking more, losing juices and drying out sooner.

 

[gorobei]

I suspect it's the processing. Removing the meat from the bones means more handling, and more air exposure, as well as rinsing off the juices. There's also the "shell factor". I made a half serious thread asking if nuts in the shell actually taste better, or only seem that way. I think I'm on the side of them only appearing to taste better. The work involved makes them more special.

the majority of beef/pork/poultry/etc flavor comes from fat. cooking and rendering the fat adds tons to flavor of the meat. the marrow in the bone is another source of fat/flavor which is released by the heat, which is why cooking on the bone is considered a better method for generating natural flavor.

 

[Ns1]

Ok so the thing about chicken breast is that it's good when cooked properly, but it cannot be reheated because breast immediately dies when reheated.


*exceptions may apply for chicken breast pieces and not whole chicken breast

 

[Superself]

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of the leg but it's all about how it's used. My favorite chicken dish is the Empress Chicken at the Golden Buddha Chinese restaurant in Decatur, GA, near Emory University. It's butterflied chicken drumsticks fried crisp and covered in this awesome garlic/soy spice sauce. It is ridiculously good. Best I've had anywhere.

LOL you can get that at any hole in the wall Chinese restaurant. Simply ask for fried chicken wings with garlic sauce.

 

[TallBill]

LOL

 

[ponyo]

LOL you can get that at any hole in the wall Chinese restaurant. Simply ask for fried chicken wings with garlic sauce.

Um, no. it's not typical Chinese dish so you won't find it in regular Chinese restaurants. It's Korean Chinese dish so you have to seek out specific Korean-Chinese restaurant for this dish. Go to your hole in the wall Chinese restaurant and ask for kkanpunggi and let me know what they say. They will have no clue.

Wings give this dish different texture and taste profile. I've had versions that used wings and it can't compare to legs for this dish. And this is not simply garlic sauce. This is Chinese dish modified for Korean taste with Korean ingredients so it's completely unique and not found in typical Chinese restaurant.

 

[ponyo]

This is fried chicken on crack. All butterflied drumstick.

 

[Ns1]

This is fried chicken on crack. All butterflied drumstick.

Ive never seen this before. Must find now.

 

[Ken g6]

Fried chicken breasts are hard to do properly, but there are places that can keep them moist and it's an amazing meal when they do it.

It's true, I was thinking only of fried chicken. I don't suppose any of those good chicken places are chains?

 

[HeXen]

I prefer legs but no one ever gives you enough, usually it's a mix when all I want are a bunch of legs, enough to fill me up anyway. Get a big bucket of chicken and I'm lucky to find 3 legs in there. So I usually just buy boneless breast and marinade it, then cook it in the crock pot with some kind of sauce....always comes out perfect.

 

[Chaotic42]

It's true, I was thinking only of fried chicken. I don't suppose any of those good chicken places are chains?

Not that I'm aware of. Popeyes and Church's *can* do it properly, but it seems rare. Usually the best fried chicken I'd get was from gas stations in the South. I really miss living down there.

 

[lxskllr]

I prefer legs but no one ever gives you enough, usually it's a mix when all I want are a bunch of legs, enough to fill me up anyway. Get a big bucket of chicken and I'm lucky to find 3 legs in there. So I usually just buy boneless breast and marinade it, then cook it in the crock pot with some kind of sauce....always comes out perfect.

They need to genetically engineer a chicken to have extra legs. Swapping out the wings is an obvious first step. They can then start working on the octochicken.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

They need to genetically engineer a chicken to have extra legs. Swapping out the wings is an obvious first step. They can then start working on the octochicken.

Yes! And a double-bellied pig.

 

[madoka]

They need to genetically engineer a chicken to have extra legs. Swapping out the wings is an obvious first step. They can then start working on the octochicken.

Half way there!

 

[Ns1]

It's true, I was thinking only of fried chicken. I don't suppose any of those good chicken places are chains?

If you have one by you, Gus Fried Chicken will do you a proper fried chicken breast.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Chicken thighs are the most versatile and flavorful. How they're cooked makes a big difference though. Personally, I like to grill thighs to cook them through, then char them slightly before adding them to simmer sauces for Indian or Thai food. They're really good on salads, with bbq sauce, etc...

I like wings because the bone meat is more tender than breast meat. I like grilling wings too (20 or so minutes), but you have to be careful not to let the skin drip and start a grease fire in the grill. They're not as good when they're covered in black oily soot and it's easy to do if you don't watch them closely. After they're grilled you can toss them in sauce or eat them plain. I like shaking cajun seasoning or cayenne pepper on them.

Chicken breasts are ok for cooking. I learned that not all commercially sold chicken is the same. There are definitely different qualities. I buy from the Fresh Market and like their stuff better than the pre-packaged breasts you see in all the other stores around here. It cooks better (texture), tastes better, and is sometimes cheaper even... I wish I could get that quality at other places because I don't particularly like these organic type food stores...they're overpriced on most other things.

 

[clamum]

Despite being a full blooded ass man, when it comes to chickens the breast is the best, by far. The other parts can be thrown away for all I care, when compared to the breastesis. Someone needs to invent a chicken that's just made of breasts... f'ing brill.

 

[Slacker]

AdSense gone wild...

 

[zinfamous]

If you have one by you, Gus Fried Chicken will do you a proper fried chicken breast.

don't say these things. I dedicate much willpower to limiting my Gus's to once per month, which is very hard because it's only 2 blocks away.

 

[robvas]

Anything other than breast