White chicken meat is less tasty, less nutritious and pricier than brown meat yet most of us love it more. Why? Plus gorgeous recipes using brown meat from the new books of three superb food writers.
I try to use thigh meat, but I was really surprised the other week to find that a kg of thighs ~£8 was priced higher than a kg of breast ~£6 in Waitrose. I don't know how long this has been the case, but sometimes it does sway my decision on which cut to buy. I'll shortly be posting my bbq favourite Chicken Shawarma recipe for which thighs are essential.
I confess that I actually do love the white meat of chicken. However, I also find the idea of buying packages of chicken parts, as opposed to a whole chicken, less and less appealing. In the U.S., supermarkets sell “family size” plastic-wrapped packages of just wings or thighs or breasts that come from who knows how many different chickens. It’s really off-putting. These days I mostly buy the whole bird and cut it up myself, thorough I can understand why those convenience packages are so popular.
I am totally with you, sharing the love for brown meat. My dietician also suggested me to feed my baby not chicken breast but thighs, affirming that, if you do not buy a free range, organic chicken, antibiotics are mainly in the breast. So yet one more reason to appreciate dark meat!
And so happy to see my chicken cacciatore in your newsletter, thank you for sharing it!
I cannot agree more about the pointlessness of chicken breasts, and the curiosity about their appeal. I roasted a quality chicken at the weekend and my partner and I had a slice of breast meat and then dived into the legs. My favourite chicken dishes only use thigh and yet there are people who swear blind that they loathe anything other than breast meat. I always think that they just don’t like chicken then...
Preference for chicken breast is one of life’s great mysteries. Along with cultivated blackberries. In Korea they give it to the dog. The chicken breast not the blackberries. Dogs have to draw the line somewhere.
The link with details of the nutrients was very interesting reading. I shall be trying the chicken cacciatore recipe next week. Thanks
I try to use thigh meat, but I was really surprised the other week to find that a kg of thighs ~£8 was priced higher than a kg of breast ~£6 in Waitrose. I don't know how long this has been the case, but sometimes it does sway my decision on which cut to buy. I'll shortly be posting my bbq favourite Chicken Shawarma recipe for which thighs are essential.
I just restacked this. It's so spot-on!
I confess that I actually do love the white meat of chicken. However, I also find the idea of buying packages of chicken parts, as opposed to a whole chicken, less and less appealing. In the U.S., supermarkets sell “family size” plastic-wrapped packages of just wings or thighs or breasts that come from who knows how many different chickens. It’s really off-putting. These days I mostly buy the whole bird and cut it up myself, thorough I can understand why those convenience packages are so popular.
I am totally with you, sharing the love for brown meat. My dietician also suggested me to feed my baby not chicken breast but thighs, affirming that, if you do not buy a free range, organic chicken, antibiotics are mainly in the breast. So yet one more reason to appreciate dark meat!
And so happy to see my chicken cacciatore in your newsletter, thank you for sharing it!
'Mad' is the right word, Sue. Your post does a great job of exploring this misplaced obsession.
I cannot agree more about the pointlessness of chicken breasts, and the curiosity about their appeal. I roasted a quality chicken at the weekend and my partner and I had a slice of breast meat and then dived into the legs. My favourite chicken dishes only use thigh and yet there are people who swear blind that they loathe anything other than breast meat. I always think that they just don’t like chicken then...
Preference for chicken breast is one of life’s great mysteries. Along with cultivated blackberries. In Korea they give it to the dog. The chicken breast not the blackberries. Dogs have to draw the line somewhere.
Great article - thank you!