From Crest to Legs

Posted by

August 16, 2023

On February 24, 2022

Surely you have noticed that buying a whole chicken always works out much cheaper per kilo than buying a part separately (especially the breast!). Intuitively, it may occur to you that this is because the cutting involves time and labor, and this is charged to the customer. You would be partly right, but this is only a very small part of the problem. The main thing is that a farmer does not raise chicken breasts or chicken thighs, he raises whole chickens. When the demand for one part is much higher than the others (and breast is a very good example of this), farmers (and butchers) are forced to amortize the total price of raising/purchasing an animal based on the parts that sell best and sell the rest very cheaply, in some cases even for animal feed or stock cubes.

Therefore, in Pirineu en Boca we are staunch advocates of buying and consuming the whole animal and not just its premium pieces, and we are always looking for ways to use all its parts. One of those ways is to try to convince you to buy the whole animal. Because you save a bundle, because you help small sustainable producers stay profitable (they deserve it!), because you respect that an animal has died to nourish you and the least you can do is to use it all. The choice is yours.

So, what to do with a whole chicken? The most obvious answer is to cook it whole. Even if you don’t eat it in one sitting, you can reuse the leftovers for a multitude of dishes (sautéed, stuffed, etc). And when you’ve taken out all the meat, put the bones to work and make a nice broth with them (with the added benefit of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and many other micronutrients!). Do you prefer it cut? No problem, at Pirineu en Boca we’ll cut it for you on the spot. Here are some suggestions for the different parts:

Crest – Battered, Barbecue, Baked, Steamed
Neck – Broth, Fried, Baked, Baked
Wings – Fried, Baked, Barbecue, Barbecue
Thigh – Fried, Baked, Stew, Barbecue, etc.
Thigh – Barbecue, Baked, Baked, Stuffed
Breasts – Grilled, Breaded, Milanese, Stew, Tacos, Wok etc…
Offal (Liver, Heart, Pedrer) – Broth, Stew, Grilled
Carcass – Broth
Legs – Broth, Grilled

Need a specific recipe for a part you’re not sure how to cook? Write us on our instagram or give us a call and our butchers will recommend one of their recipes.
In the next article we will talk about the differences between industrial chicken and our chicken, and about the history that has led chickens to become the cheapest meat par excellence.

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From Crest to Legs

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