With apologies to my vegetarian readers. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow with a recipe for winter squash quiche.
Recently I compared the advantages of cooking fresh over bulk cooking and freezing. Today I consider cooking whole chickens versus chicken parts.
Advantages of Cooking Whole Chickens
- Usually costs more, if bought in parts
- Cutting raw chicken is time-consuming and messy; easier to cut when cooked.
- Whole roast chicken comes out much juicier, with tender white meat
- Carcass can more easily be saved for soup.
- More economical as you can cut off as much as needed, not limited to standard 8 parts (although raw chicken can also be cut creatively).
- May be served stuffed, but may be risky as the stuffing may not reach a safe temperature.
- Impressive appearance
Advantages of Cooking Chicken Parts
- No need to cut just before serving, under time pressure or in front of guests.
- Parts take up less room in the oven, refrigerator, or freezer.
- Choose which pieces can be used for each meal, or cook s parts some parts in different recipes.
- If you buy only the parts your family likes, you won’t be left with the unpopular pieces.
- Collect parts and freeze, like wings for barbecuing, necks for soup, or breasts for stir-fries and chicken salad.
- Less cooking time
If you like chicken, do you buy it whole or in parts?
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We buy whole chickens cut into parts only because it’s cheaper than a whole chicken (riddle me that one). I prefer the fanciness of a whole intact chicken but it *is* nice not to have to cut it…
I prefer to cook – and eat – whole chickens.
I always buy whole chickens because of the difference in price. Cut up chicken can be as much as 4-6 shekels more per kilo. Since I always skin chicken when I bake it in parts it really doesn’t add much time to the preparation.
I usually make it in parts. When I make it whole I do it in the slow cooker when I don’t have time to prepare complicated meals or I’m just fed up of the same recipes. The preparation time for the slow cooker is less than 15 minutes, then it takes 5-6 hours to cook so I can run errands while the dinner cooks
We usually buy whole chicken because it’s much cheaper, and I cau it at home, then split it for meals (we’re not big meat eaters so one chicken is soup plus two meals worth of meat).
I do buy parts too when they’re on offer for extra meals (how much soup can I make per week…)or we have guests.
I buy thighs at Costco & am happy with that because I can cut off the backs & use them for stock. I generally bake all 9-10 pieces at once & serve them over the course of the week. When I bake a whole chicken for company, my husband gets “stuck” with a breast… When that is the attitude, any cost savings is better spent elsewhere.
(We generally eat the thighs plain with steamed vegetables also served plain.)
Do you have a chicken salad recipe that does not use mayonnaise &/or celery?
Elisheva–maybe because of reduced storage costs?
Nathalie and Raquel-thanks for the tips.
aviva_hadas: Try an Italian dressing. Celery is optional.
(off-topic I know) aviva_hadas the greek salad dressing you can find on this website (last year’s shavuos post) is great on everything including chicken salad. Or if you don’t want to make a more complex dressing, 1 part lemon juice to 1 part olive oil plus salt to taste will get you far.
Substitute the celery for any vegetables you like.
Also good on potato salad.
I love to cook a whole chicken for Shabbat. I then use the carcass for soup. For quick dinners when I am running around after school, I like chicken cutlets as they cook faster.
We buy whole chicken to save costs and also because a whole chicken tastes so much better, IMO. I’m blessed to have an in-house (read husband) chicken cleaner. He skins the chickens, defats them (I use the fat for shmaltz) and gives me pristine, naked chickens which I season and sauce and roast in Kookie bags so they don’t dry out.