Chicken

[Mike]

What's with all the chicken breast propaganda? Chicken breasts suck. They are an inferior cut of meat. Yeah, I get that white meat's supposedly a leaner and healthier option, but just means that dark meat tastes better. And I've always known that dark meat tastes better. That's why at Thanksgiving or any gathering around a KFC bucket, I'm always going for legs and thighs. Hell, even wings are only good because they're covered with buffalo sauce or some equivalent, and they only became popular because they were originally so goddam cheap. Plus, I was on an Indian "comfort food" kick for a while, and a bunch of them revolve around rice and veggies and some heavily spiced sauce cooked around chicken thighs. As a result, I've been subbing in thighs for breasts whenever feasible. Breasts are still good when its going to be diced or shredded to be mixed with other stuff but otherwise, thighs all the way.

So last night I'm making chicken sandwiches that call for brining in buttermilk and pickle juice. Recipe calls for breasts, and you need to pound them and flatten them. And I thought, fuck that, I'm gonna try thighs. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs were way cheaper than breasts, and when I opened them up and trimmed off the fat, they didn't even need reshaping. They made perfect sandwich patties.

And holy crap if these weren't the greatest chicken sandwiches ever.

[Kyle]

Yeah- dark meat is definitely better, but the American consumer by far prefers chicken breast. My wife won't eat dark meat. But I also know from my kids that work at grocery stores, that they have trouble selling the dark meat because of the overwhelming popularity of chicken breast. Which is why when I go to the store early on a Saturday, I can often find pre-seasoned drumsticks or chicken quarters for 25% off their already cheap price. With those, I can feed the eight adults in my house for around $10-$15 for the protein. Pork will run me about 50% more, and beef is double to triple the cost. HOWEVER, if you buy cheap ass frozen chicken breasts (as opposed to fresh thighs and quarters I was talking about before), they run about the same cost- but they're also injected with water and are inferior cuts. HOWEVER, I like using those cheap chicken breasts for things like shredded chicken tacos or any recipe where the chicken is going to sit in a slow cooker for eight hours.

[Phoebe]

According to Jacques Pepin, the superior cut of chicken is the thigh, and I think his word on this matter is law. So it's good that we all agree. And yes, they are by far the cheapest (same as legs, which I also love - and if you're going to make a chicken wing as a snack, for the love of Pete why wouldn't you put that same sauce on a leg and actually get some meat with your food?). Chicken thighs save lives! Something like that.

[Mike]

Hmm. I thought there'd be some pushback on this. Someone describing the health benefits of low-fat, flavorless white meat.

Glad to see wiser heads have prevailed.