Fried Chicken : Which parts are your favorite?

I adore fried chicken. Sure, it's probably just the grease but I could eat the stuff every day. It's my favorite way to have chicken.

What parts do you gravitate to? The legs? Breasts? Thighs? Wings?

I'll happily gobble them all with the exception of the wings. Just can't get into wings.

Jeff

[Robin Garr]

The egg.

The dark meat of course, the white lacks juiciness and flavor.
I'm sorry Robin when I hear vegetarian I see Bourdain's leering grin and his comments about the substance of that word. At least I'm laughing.

Wings RULE! Of course, I'm from Buffalo. Extra crispy - hot and a pitcher of Molson. I often wolf down 15 (sectioned) at a time. That being said, for regular fried chicken I prefer thighs or leg quarters.

[Jenise]

Wings are my favorite! Breasts probably second but one out of three times I might choose a thigh instead. True story: when I was a little girl, we used to go to a place called Sir George's Smorgasbord where I loved the fried chicken. What I really wanted was a breast piece but I found the word too embarrassing to say out loud so I always got a thigh instead.

Funny you should ask, because we had chicken last night. Gene and I were talking about the huge breasts the chickens have now. They are so thick, that I cut the whole breast into fourths these days. I used to love the breasts but not anymore. In fact, we decided not to buy cut up chickens anymore. I will buy the legs, thighs, and wings. Wings are my favorite, because they are small enough to soak up the flavors of the rubs and marinades or just the plain smoky flavor from the grill. I could use the breasts for other things like enchiladas, but I have also found that by the time I cook that thick breast until it is done, the meat is on the dry side. I buy organic chickens and even the smaller ones have the huge breast. Ugh!

For traditional fried chicken, I'd go with the breast to offset the potential fattiness from the preparation. If non-traditional preparations are allowed, then wings come to the fore. My favorite wing preparation is a modification of the Buffalo approach: Wally Wings from Hooligan's in Ormond Beach, FL. They're fried, marinated then grilled and are positively delicious.

Mark Lipton

I have always been a "thigh" guy. Enough said.

Drumsticks, I could live on them!

It's funny -- I grew up eating "white meat" (breast and sometimes thigh) probably because my parents were "spoiling" me by giving me the "good" parts. Of the people I know who prefer dark, like my wife, many come from large families where they really weren't given much choice about which part of the chicken they would be eating. And being in that situation, you get used to it and learn to appreciate it. At any rate I'm used to breast or thigh and really don't enjoy dark meat that's greasy and too strongly flavored. As long as we are talking "fried." For other chicken dishes, like soup/stew, all bets are off and breast is kind of wasted in some of them.

It's funny -- I grew up eating "white meat" (breast and sometimes thigh) probably because my parents were "spoiling" me by giving me the "good" parts. Of the people I know who prefer dark, like my wife, many come from large families where they really weren't given much choice about which part of the chicken they would be eating. And being in that situation, you get used to it and learn to appreciate it. At any rate I'm used to breast or thigh and really don't enjoy dark meat that's greasy and too strongly flavored. As long as we are talking "fried." For other chicken dishes, like soup/stew, all bets are off and breast is kind of wasted in some of them.

You had white thigh meat? COOl!

The thigh is probably my favorite, just edging breast. As noted, the Purdue type chickens have huge breasts, I prefer smaller birds (but we cut to end up with 4 breast pieces if we get a big bird). I tend to like breasts better is coating is spicy. Drumsticks are my least favorite.

As long as it's moist and tender, I like it all.

Wow, all these breasts and thighs... hot thread.

I'm a thigh man. And drumsticks. Max the umami and succulence. Once in a while anyway...

A couple of days ago, given no choice, I had "Broasted" chicken from under a heat lamp. Alrighty then.

I adore fried chicken. Sure, it's probably just the grease but I could eat the stuff every day. It's my favorite way to have chicken.

What parts do you gravitate to? The legs? Breasts? Thighs? Wings?

I'll happily gobble them all with the exception of the wings. Just can't get into wings.

Jeff

When I do wings it's only the drumette(?) part, the teeny drumsticks. I don't want to work hard enough to deal with the tip. Melinda's XXX, mmm.

Thighs! Thighs!

Fortunately my wife is a, um, breast girl. So between the two of us we pick the poultry clean.

BTW, I picked up an old Wear Ever "Chicken Bucket" pressure fryer off eBay probably 10 years ago, and I can't sing its fowl praises enough. Forget the 1800's chuck wagon cast iron dutch oven your Mormon forefathers toted along on the Great Trek West and handed down to you. Forget grandma's pure carbon skillet, the Fryolator, the buttermilk brined, double coated oven roasted lumps, the Korean krispies. NONE of them can hold a wishbone to the magic that is pressure frying.

(My wife won't go near the thing, though. Something about the phrase "risk of exploding pressurized super-heated oil" in the manual put her off of it for some reason.)