It is only in the western world that people value the breast as the best part of the chicken. Throughout Asia, dark meat is prized as both the juiciest and the tastiest. In truth, chicken breast becomes dry and tastless when overcooked. If you are going to make a stew or casserole, you are far better of to use the thigh. There is an extra benefit to using thighs in this country. Because most folk want the breast meat, thighs are considerably cheaper. So, juicier, tastier and cheaper? You would think that they would be a staple in every kitchen.
However, the fact that they come with a bone through them and a far greater fat content, means that they are, more often than not, passed over and left on the shelf. Add to this, I have long suspected that people want to be removed from understanding their place in the food chain. Expensive, pre-butchered cuts that no longer resemble any part of a once-living animal, are now preferred over their cheaper, more animal-resembling, cuts of meat. One of my favorite party tricks is to put my hand in the cavity of the chicken, extend its legs downward and make the dead, plucked, bird dance. More often than not, I am shrieked at until I stop.
So, I am going to demonstrate how easy it is to debone and use chicken thighs. In my previous post, I also present some knife skills, along with how to make ham and pea soup. You will be taught how to render them into one-inch chunks, usable for stir-frys, stews and all manner of dishes. Check out my up-coming recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala for and example of such a dish.
A chicken thigh comes wrapped in a great deal of skin. The first thing to do is remove the skin. This is relatively easy if you understand a little bit of chicken anatomy.
Peel the skin back from the flat side of the thigh.
Once you peel it back far enough, you will be able to push your fingers through the hole that forms and pull the rest of the skin back off the thigh.
Once you have pulled the skin all of the way back, you have removed it from the most usable past of the thigh.
Take a sharp knife and cut the skin and fat from the thigh.
Trim any remaining fat away from the thigh.
This leaves you with a beautiful thigh, ready for your favorite one-pot stew. See my version of Greek Chicken Stew on this web-site.
Now you are ready for the second part – removing the bone and chunking. First locate the bone running through the thigh.
With a very sharp knife, run the blade through to the bone along the length of the thigh bone.
Pull the meat away from the bone.
Cut through and cut the first side of meat away from the bone.
Pull the second side of meat away from the bone.
Cut the remaining meat away from the bone.
You are now left with two pieces of usable meat and a bone. I like to put the bones into stews and casseroles for added flavor.
You can now chunk your meat for use in recipes.
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