Don’t be a Chicken!
Friday, May 9th, 2008
In my house we eat a lot of chicken, often as much as 5 days a week! Depending on how I buy my poultry, it can prove to be pretty expensive at times. Though I love boneless chicken breasts and chicken tenderloins, they are often the most expensive cuts at the supermarket so I am always on the lookout for cheaper ways to buy chicken. It is the frugal maniac in me, what can I say? Even when I get a great deal, I seem to always be on the lookout for a way to make it even greater.
In most cases, buying whole fryers is the way to go, because there is so little prep involved beforehand it is cheaper pound-for-pound. I know when I was first starting out on my own I didn’t buy them all that much, mainly because I didn’t have the slightest idea how to cut up a whole chicken when I didn’t want to cook the whole thing. If you are in the same boat you can rest easy, because I have found a couple of videos that will help you. I only wish I would have had these years ago!
In these two videos, you are guided on a step-by-step process for quartering a whole chicken:
The videos mentioned this, but I need to reiterate something - don’t toss those chicken bones and carcasses! The inedible bits (including fat, bones, tendons and joints) can be tossed into a crock pot for a few hours yielding cup after glorious cup of delicious chicken stock that you can freeze for later use in soups, stews and other recipes. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, check out this recipe for Indonesian style Chicken Breasts courtesy of Stephanie over at Elementary Chef. I made it a few days ago and it was a big hit!
