If you want to save some money at the checkout counter, reconsider dark meat.
Americans have some crazy ideas about food. They learn everything they know from advertisements and availability on the grocery shelves. After all, if it is sold at my local store, then it is good to eat, right?
How in the world did we get to the point that we actually think a chicken breast is somehow better than a thigh or leg?
Losing Sight Of The Rest Of The Chicken
Before the 1960's, whole chickens were the norm. Every new wife's cookbook included directions for stuffing and roasting a bird, usually how to cut it up for frying, and everyone knew how to make chicken soup from an actual chicken. As time passed, mandatory inspections forced manufacturers to discard substandard carcasses unless they found another way to use them. They did, and the chopped and formed chicken was born.
Misconceptions About Dark Meat
There were numerous misconceptions that had threads of truth running through them. These misconceptions only needed a sprinkling of good advertising dollars to make Americans believe them. Some of the biggest ones are:
Dark meat is tough - Simply not true. Historically, chickens were truly free range on the farm. When the hen stopped laying productively, or the rooster became too aggressive, they were butchered and eaten. Because they were not confined in cages too small to move around in, their muscles were used . Working muscle is dark meat, and can be tougher than breast meat. Any good cook worth her salt, knew this and prepared the bird to compensate by stewing or cooking for long periods of time to increase tenderness. Nowadays, chickens are confined and their muscles atrophy, hence no toughness.
Dark meat is fattening - Although the Ad agencies would have you believe this, the truth is that the difference is negligible. According to the Department of Agriculture, 100 grams of breast contains 0.56 grams of saturated fat and 114 calories. 100 grams of dark meat contains 1 gram of saturated fat and 119 calories.
Dark meat is also higher in iron, zinc and other nutrients.
Dark meat is somehow lesser quality - If you judge quality on price then this misconception is understandable. The reality is that the dark meat and light meat come from the same bird. If the entire bird is good quality, then no matter how you cut it, the meat is great. I would also add that chicken breast looks the least like an actual animal than a chicken leg. This helps widen the distance between meat eaters and their perception of what meat is.
How Do I Cook Dark Meat?
One thing about parts other than the breast, they usually contain the bone and skin. To use, the skin removes easily by hand, and usually the bone is easy enough to cut away. If you are not interested in getting that hands on, boneless/skinless thighs are readily available and far less expensive than chicken breasts.
Cook dark meat the same as you would a chicken breast, with a couple of changes: Dark meat is not as dry and tasteless, so you do not need to worry about so much seasoning and keeping the meat from drying out so rapidly. If you are cooking meat with the bone in, it does cook slower(the bone also adds more flavor), so take that into consideration when you time your meal.
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