# White or dark meat?



## Constance (Oct 27, 2006)

I fixed a simple chicken dish last night that I have been making since I was 18 years old. I used to cut up whole chickens, but in the last 20 years, I've used  chicken breasts, usually bone-in, because that's what my husband likes. All the dish involves is putting chicken in a baking dish, sprinkling with pepper, and spreading a can of undiluted Golden Mushroom soup over the top. Cover and bake at 350 or so until tender. Add vegetables in with the chicken for a one dish meal. 

I had been craving chicken, but yesterday when I went to the deep freeze, the first thing I came to was a bag with 3 huge leg quarters, and I didn't feel like digging deeper. 
I fixed the dish the same way as usual, pretty much. I did have to use 2 cansThe potatoes cooked under the chicken, so they could soak up the juices, and about the last half hour of cooking, I added a can of drained mushrooms, and a can of drained Allen's Kentucky Wonder Beans. 

Kim said it was by far the best I'd every fixed that dish. My girlfriend ate with us, and had two plates full (she's a white meat eater, also). 

So, my question is this: Have any of you white meat eaters ever tried dark meat?


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## Andy M. (Oct 27, 2006)

I really enjoy both white and dark. When I do a whole chicken, I start with a breast and a thigh.  Never mind where I stop.


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## thymeless (Oct 27, 2006)

I generally prefer dark meat, but white meat's good too.

thymeless


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## skilletlicker (Oct 27, 2006)

Constance said:
			
		

> So, my question is this: Have any of you white meat eaters ever tried dark meat?


I used to think I hated dark chicken meat.  The reason was it was occasionally undercooked, for my taste at least.  Breasts get so dry and rubbery if over cooked that the cooks in my youth tended to undercook the rest of the bird.


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## licia (Oct 27, 2006)

I really enjoy the flavor that cooking with real chicken pieces give a dish, but I still cannot eat chicken thighs. I prefer breasts, but will eat a drumstick in a pinch.


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## Half Baked (Oct 27, 2006)

Now that's funny, I wouldn't eat a drumstick but love thighs and breasts.  It just depends on what I'm cooking that makes me choose.

I think I really prefer dark meat but I cook it so long that I can take the sections off w/o having to deal with the tendons and ligaments *shudder*.

Breasts are just so easy to use that I usually use those for expediency.


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## GB (Oct 27, 2006)

I used to only eat dark meat. Now I prefer white (if it is cooked right), but I still love dark as well.


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## auntdot (Oct 27, 2006)

Also prefer thighs, but usually use the drumsticks for stock.

Not very long ago could often find hindquarters at 29 cents a pound.  Would separate the thighs for cooking and make a great stock, broth, or soup from the drumsticks.

Breasts to me are best with the bone in because it keeps them moist and they are not as easy to overcook.  

Usually tear down a chicken myself because of all the good parts that can be put into the stock pot.


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## pdswife (Oct 27, 2006)

I've always liked the dark meat better.  It seems more flavorful and moist to me.


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## middie (Oct 27, 2006)

I'm not a dark meat fan at all.
Give me the white.


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## TATTRAT (Oct 27, 2006)

I prefer dark meat. It is always jucier and more flavorfull.


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## subfuscpersona (Oct 27, 2006)

I like dark meat for longer cooking dishes (like stew, chicken 'n rice, etc) - I think the dark meat stands up better to longer cooking and it has more flavor. For a quick sautee or stir fry, where the flavors are more delicate, I go for white meat.



			
				auntdot said:
			
		

> Also prefer thighs, but usually use the drumsticks for stock...Not very long ago could often find hindquarters at 29 cents a pound.  Would separate the thighs for cooking and make a great stock, broth, or soup from the drumsticks.


I do the same thing! Those packages make great chicken stock. Wish I could find them at 29 cents per pound - even on sale the cheapest I can find them now is 50 cents a pound.


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## JoAnn L. (Oct 27, 2006)

Believe it or not, the first thing I go for are the wings. Of course, I don't like them dry or over cooked, but when they are cooked right, yum.


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## kadesma (Oct 27, 2006)

_If chicken is fried or roasted, I love the wings and legs, theighs the best. If making a next day sandwich with chicken or turkey, I like the white meat sliced thin and on bread with butter, mayo and cranberry sauce..I like the looks of the white in a pot pie and soup, but for me the dark has the most flavor and moistness._

_kadesma _


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## kitchenelf (Oct 27, 2006)

My first pick would be the dark meat - then it would be bone-in white - then if it's boneless skinless I prefer it pounded out as in a marsala dish.

My favorite all-time part is the oysters on the back, which are dark.


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## bullseye (Oct 28, 2006)

The breast is OK if not overdone, but I prefer the leg, especially the thigh.


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## Barb L. (Oct 28, 2006)

kadesma said:
			
		

> _If chicken is fried or roasted, I love the wings and legs, theighs the best. If making a next day sandwich with chicken or turkey, I like the white meat sliced thin and on bread with butter, mayo and cranberry sauce..I like the looks of the white in a pot pie and soup, but for me the dark has the most flavor and moistness._
> 
> _kadesma _


 I feel the same and eat these the same -more flavor!


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## VeraBlue (Oct 28, 2006)

I've always prefered the dark meat.  First, there's more fat so it's juicier, and second, there's almost always a bone to gnaw on.


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## VeraBlue (Oct 28, 2006)

kitchenelf said:
			
		

> My first pick would be the dark meat - then it would be bone-in white - then if it's boneless skinless I prefer it pounded out as in a marsala dish.
> 
> My favorite all-time part is the oysters on the back, which are dark.



I never tell anyone about the oysters in the back...there are only two..and if I say anything, everyone will want one


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## buckytom (Oct 28, 2006)

i like both white and dark. certain dishes just work better with one or the other. sometimes all white is just too bland and dry. sometimes, dark meat would just be too greasy.


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## Nicholas Mosher (Oct 28, 2006)

I like both!  I think different cooking techniques and flavor combinations work best with certain cuts though.  For example, I like my Chicken Parmesean with breaded/pan-fried butterflied breasts while I _love_ making a homemade gravy loaded with hunks of dark meat over mashed taters.  For a chicken sandwich, again, I like butterflied breasts grilled/sauteed - but for many hot n' spicy stir-fry dishes I like dark meat.

I usully buy whole birds, debone the breast and thighs, then use the body/wings/drumsticks/giblets (excluding liver) for stock.  An exception would be when I quarter the bird for roast chicken.


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## urmaniac13 (Oct 28, 2006)

For a long time I was strictly a "boneless-skinless chicken breast and nothing else" person.  All my former impression about dark meat was being of weird spongy texture, oily, with an unpleasant strange smell.
Cristiano was always in disagreement with my observation, and when we were at an Indian restaurant one time, I tried a Tandoori which was made with thigh meats.  It was really flavourful, good firm but tender texture, not at all spongy.  I really liked it.  Then Cristiano pointed out, that probably all my bad experience with dark meats are from eating those badly raised/fattened chicken a la KFC, and the meat from chickens that had been healthily cared for are of much higher quality.
So Cris got more thighs from a butcher with good reputation, and made a roast, and yes indeed, it was bursting with flavour with pleasant texture.
So by now I figured out, it all depends on the quality of the meat.  If it comes from a good source, dark meat can be also very tasty.


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## BreezyCooking (Oct 28, 2006)

I second KitchenElf's preferences:  dark meat first, bone-in white second, & boneless white if it's pounded into thin cutlets.


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## Andy M. (Oct 28, 2006)

VeraBlue said:
			
		

> I never tell anyone about the oysters in the back...there are only two..and if I say anything, everyone will want one


 

I agree 100%!  Sharing is very overrated.

Just tell them it's dark meat and they'll leave you alone.


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## Katie H (Oct 28, 2006)

kitchenelf said:
			
		

> My first pick would be the dark meat - then it would be bone-in white - then if it's boneless skinless I prefer it pounded out as in a marsala dish.
> 
> My favorite all-time part is the oysters on the back, which are dark.



All the above.  Although, I used to be a dipped and dyed dark meat eater until the last couple of years.  I've been coming around to eating white meat a variety of ways and am enjoying it.

Oh, and, yes...the oysters.  Love those tasty little morsels.  The only oysters I'll eat and could make a pig of myself.  Someone should develop poultry that produces multiple oysters.  Yum!


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