Why You Should Buy Whole Chickens
I use chicken a lot at home. It’s an inexpensive protein and very versatile. I buy whole chickens on the weekend and break them down to use for stock and dinner during the week. I do this for a few reasons.
You get a lot out of a whole chicken
One whole chicken will yield two wings, two single lobe breasts, two leg quarters, two chicken tenders, and a backbone. If you aren’t going to use all the pieces, they freeze well. For instance, you can save the wings in a freezer bag and add to the bag every time you cut up a chicken until you have enough to make a dozen. I love chicken wings, but I don’t cook them at home much. I like my wings to come from a sports bar or a pizza place, extra hot, with lots of chunky blue cheese dressing. So, I use the wings and the back bones to make stock.
You can cut the leg quarters into drumsticks and thighs and use them separately, but I usually keep them together. Quarters are great cooked in chicken and rice. I have a recipe for that here.
Breast meat can be cooked in many ways, roasted, grilled, sauteed, breaded and fried. I like to marinate my chicken breast, pan sear it, and finish in the oven.
The tenders are great to make for kids. You can save them in a freezer bag until you have enough to make chicken fingers. You can also cut them up to use in a stir-fry. I often cook them whole and then slice them on top of a salad for dinner, my “healthy meal” of the week.
Whole chickens are smaller birds, which are more tender
Another reason I buy whole chickens is because the breast meat is more tender than what you usually find in the pre-cut section of the grocery store. In the chicken industry, there are different sized birds. Large birds are the most common. The breast meat in larger birds is tougher than smaller birds and can develop a condition known as, “woody breast,” which is characterized by tough, fibrous meat. As large birds are the most common size in the industry, that is what you will typically find in grocery stores in the section with boneless and bone-in breasts. Whole chickens are sold in grocery stores, too and those are mostly medium sized birds. The breast meat you get from breaking down a medium-sized bird will be better than the pre-cut large bird meat down the grocery aisle. It’s also a lot cheaper to buy the whole chicken, and as I mentioned before, it’s not difficult or time consuming once you have a bit of practice.
For a step-by-step video on how to break down a chicken, click here.
Them bones!
Honestly, the leftover bones are the best part of the whole chicken for me because I use them to make stock. The stock is useful in cooking for rice and other grains and in making sauces.
The cartilage in the bones, tendons, and joints breaks down into gelatin. The gelatin gives the stock a nice body and mouthfeel, and if you reduce the stock down, it will thicken—giving you the ability to make some wonderful sauces. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in elevating their cooking learn about the classic French stocks and sauces. By knowing those fundamental techniques that have been proven over the test of time, you give yourself a strong foundation to build off when you want to innovate your own recipes.
It’s important to remember that classic French cuisine was developed for restaurant brigade cooking. So for the home cook, don’t be afraid to improvise with what you have on hand. For me, making stock is a great way to clean out the vegetables in the crisper drawer and use up any leftover bones. I have a simple white stock recipe that I use. Here’s a video on how to make a simple home-made white stock. We will cover stock more in a future blog post.
Let us know how it comes out in the comments below!
Recipe
Simple White Stock
Ingredients - Yields 3 quarts
2-3 lb bones/ trim from chicken, pork, or veal
12 wt oz Aromatic Vegetables, 1/2 inch dice (onion, celery, carrot)
4 qt water
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp whole black pepper
2 each bay leaf
Method:
1. Rinse bones with cold water and place in a stock pot with cold water so the bones are covered by two inches of water.
2. Bring to a boil and then rinse the bones and refill with cold water (this will help remove impurities).
3. Bring to a low simmer and maintain it throughout the cooking process (180–185F) for 4 hours. The bubbles should break the surface of the stock infrequently. The French use the term “fremir” which means, “to tremble” to describe how the bubbles should look.
4. Skim often to remove the foam that forms on top of the water. This is protein that has been heated and denatured, called “scum.” Removing it will result in a clear stock with no impurities that can spoil or sour it.
5. Add vegetables when there is 2 hours of cooking left.
6. Add thyme, black pepper, and bay leaves when there is 45 minutes left.
7. Strain and then cool in an ice bath. Once cool, skim any film off the top of the stock.