Cook with the less common parts of a chicken for a change
If you like eating chicken, hopefully you discovered long ago that it’s not only economical but also delicious to prepare more than just those clinical chicken breasts at home, and instead make use of what a whole chicken has to offer. So chicken thighs, legs and wings, or of course roasting a whole chicken in the oven. That really is one of the most delicious things there is, and it’s smart from a budget perspective too, because you can eat it for days.
And yet, what we generally know as ‘the whole chicken’ isn’t really the whole chicken at all, of course. Did you know that other, less common parts of the chicken are also routinely used in many cuisines?
Plenty to do with chicken
If you do want to prepare chicken breast, by the way, first try these tips for really tender chicken breast. And are you going for chicken thighs? Good choice! Very flavorful and more affordable than breast, and here you’ll find plenty of inspiration for cooking with boneless chicken thighs. Most of us also know what to do with chicken legs and drumsticks (season generously, brown them, and then finish cooking them in a sauté pan or oven), and with chicken wings and those little bones, you can make a truly moreish snack with a good marinade. But that’s generally about it, right, for most people at home? Oh yes, and making stock from the bones, of course!
For toast and gravy
And most people have heard of chicken livers too—you can fry them and eat them on toast. But what about the other (edible) organs of a chicken? At some butchers, when you buy a whole chicken, you’re given a little bag of organs. One thing you can do with them is make a rich gravy, like in the video below. Turkey is used here, admittedly, but the idea is the same and you can follow along easily (using slightly smaller quantities, so 1 tablespoon of flour and 240 ml of stock)!
Less common parts
Cockscombs, and the wattle that hangs beneath the beak, are also eaten in some cuisines. In Japan, they’re used for a particular type of yakitori called kanmuri, and they’re also used in the Italian stew cibrèo. In the Chinese dim sum tradition, chicken feet are eaten, and it might be good to know that when you order them, you really do get the ‘feet’.
Chicken necks can also be deep-fried and eaten as a snack; for example, in the Filipino cuisine. They’re also very suitable for using with the rest of the carcass when making stock. And, last but not least, the chicken skin. That can be deep-fried too, and is often exactly what a true lover of crispy fried chicken wants to tuck into first (separately).
So there you have it: if you want to use as much as possible of a slaughtered animal, there are still plenty of options. Bon appétit!
Also read:
- 8 tips for the most delicious chicken soup
- Recipe from the world’s most famous noodle bar Wagamama: chicken katsu sando
- Chicken thighs with satay sauce
