- Drumstick. The drumstick is a firm favorite for barbecuing or frying, either in batter or rolled in bread crumbs. …
- Wing. Wings do not supply very much meat, but are ideal and very popular party or finger food. …
- Thigh. The thigh is suitable for casseroling and other slow-cooking methods. …
- Leg. …
- Breast or Fillet.
Boneless Chicken Breast
What it is: Boneless, skinless chicken breast is one of the most popular and the most expensive cuts of chicken. It’s an ultra-lean cut with little fat and a very mild flavor.
Poultry refers to the edible flesh, with adhering bones, of any bird that is commonly used as food. Types of poultry include chickens, ducks, geese, turkey, quail, pheasant. All poultry is processed in a similar manner. It is either cooked whole or segmented in a number of ways depending on how it is to be used.
All segments of small, young poultry can be prepared using dry heat cooking methods. Older birds, once they stop laying eggs, are butchered and marketed as stewing hens or boiling fowl. These birds need moist heat preparation and are ideal for pot pies, stews, and soups. All poultry should be fully cooked to at least 74°C (165°F) to eliminate the presence of salmonella.
A bird can be split in half lengthwise through the backbones and keel bone, or it can be split into a front quarter and a hind quarter. The front quarter of the bird contains the breast and wing meats, while the hindquarter contains the legs. It is common to further break the poultry into segments.
For maximum yield and precise processing, poultry can be segmented by cutting through the soft natural joints of the bird. The term 8-cut chicken is used to describe a chicken segmented into two drumsticks, two thighs, and both breasts split in half across the rib bone (one half may contain the wing). This procedure is always done with the bone in. These segments can be processed further to boneless skinless cuts if desired. Figure 29 shows a fully segmented frying chicken, and Table 37 lists the common chicken cuts.
