Prepping Chicken

hz80408 · April 2011

I know a lot of you buy in bulk and freeze...Saturday when I went to the store chicken was on sale for $1.99/lb, which is unheard of! I usually pay $3.99 and if I'm lucky $2.99/lb.

So I stocked up and bought 2 packages, total of about 9 pounds. Then at home I "prepped" them by cutting off the fat and gross red/bloody parts, then wrapped and froze.

DH had 2 friends over and they were both shocked to see my cut off all of the fat. They said they usually leave it on for cooking to add flavor and then cut off while eating. What do you do?

chantico23 · April 2011

I cut it off, and also rinse the chicken and pat it dry. I dislike the texture of the fat once it is cooked. It's not like it melts away. It turns into rubbery weirdness. Yuck! I also gag at thought of any blood on my chicken, so I definitely cut that off as well. At Trader Joe's they have kosher chicken, which is already completely trimmed and free of any blood. We don't have a Trader Joe's here, but when I was visiting my sister in CA that's all I bought. Sooo nice to not have to worry about doing any of that myself.

hz80408 · April 2011

erindworley:
I cut it off, and also rinse the chicken and pat it dry. I dislike the texture of the fat once it is cooked. It's not like it melts away. It turns into rubbery weirdness. Yuck! I also gag at thought of any blood on my chicken, so I definitely cut that off as well. At Trader Joe's they have kosher chicken, which is already completely trimmed and free of any blood. We don't have a Trader Joe's here, but when I was visiting my sister in CA that's all I bought. Sooo nice to not have to worry about doing any of that myself.

Ooo, I wonder what the price difference is? Although I don't mind cutting the chicken myself to save the money

Nukke · April 2011

it totally depends on what I'm cooking. Sometimes the meal requires the skin, and sometimes not.

Mia2700 · April 2011

We joke that we should buy 10lbs so that we can actually have enough chicken to eat after we clean it. He and I are both crazycakes about cleaning the chicken prior to cooking. We clean every piece of fat, blood, vein, weird that we can find lol

MC22 · April 2011

I am suuuuuuuper picky about chicken, and typically won't order it in restaurants because they just don't clean it right. Chris is also not allowed to clean the chicken we eat.

He often gives me a hard time because I cut so much off of the chicken that there's about half of it sitting there to be thrown away. I cut out any veins, fat, skin looking stuff (you know that white-ish film on top?), the tendon (or whatever) that runs through the middle...I mean, they're pretty small when I get done with them!

So I don't think you're weird at all for cutting it all off. I would have to disagree with your friends

But this also comes from someone who was raised to remove those white things attached to the yolk when you crack an egg. My mom convinced my sister and I that they were the lungs (because it grossed her out, and she knew it would work on us), which isn't even possible since the eggs are not fertilized.

hz80408 · April 2011

MC22:

I am suuuuuuuper picky about chicken, and typically won't order it in restaurants because they just don't clean it right. Chris is also not allowed to clean the chicken we eat.

He often gives me a hard time because I cut so much off of the chicken that there's about half of it sitting there to be thrown away. I cut out any veins, fat, skin looking stuff (you know that white-ish film on top?), the tendon (or whatever) that runs through the middle...I mean, they're pretty small when I get done with them!

So I don't think you're weird at all for cutting it all off. I would have to disagree with your friends

But this also comes from someone who was raised to remove those white things attached to the yolk when you crack an egg. My mom convinced my sister and I that they were the lungs (because it grossed her out, and she knew it would work on us), which isn't even possible since the eggs are not fertilized.

Lol, Ben refuses to touch any raw meat, unless it's to transfer onto the grill.

I cut off a lot too! I swear that of the 8#s I bought, we threw out at least a pound of scraps.

Haha, the eggs thing is really funny!

chantico23 · April 2011

MC22:
But this also comes from someone who was raised to remove those white things attached to the yolk when you crack an egg. My mom convinced my sister and I that they were the lungs (because it grossed her out, and she knew it would work on us), which isn't even possible since the eggs are not fertilized.

Eww! The Chalaza! I have to remove that also. It completely grosses me out!

MC22 · April 2011

Ha! Chris would totally clean the chicken if I let him, but the one time I did allow it, assuming he'd consider how picky I am, I found a small piece of bone during my "inspection" before he put it on the grill. So that put an end to that.

Although, I think that Chris does things like that sometimes so the chance of me ever asking him to do that task again is eliminated.

A man once told me that he royally messed up a load of laundry once, on purpose, so that he'd never have to do it again. He said all he had to do was buy his wife some new clothes to replace what he messed up, and that was worth it to him to not have to do it again. There was also an Everybody Loves Raymond episode where he did something simliar (can't remember the task).

So I'm pretty convinced that if those men could come up with it and actually do it, my husband would, too. If he didn't do all the work outside, I might complain.

MC22 · April 2011

erindworley:

Eww! The Chalaza! I have to remove that also. It completely grosses me out!

Ha! Seriously never guessed anyone else would remove this! And had no idea there was a name for it. I still remove it in scrambled eggs, but will leave it if I'm baking a cake or something.

chantico23 · April 2011

MC22:
erindworley:

Eww! The Chalaza! I have to remove that also. It completely grosses me out!

Ha! Seriously never guessed anyone else would remove this! And had no idea there was a name for it. I still remove it in scrambled eggs, but will leave it if I'm baking a cake or something.

I've read that chefs often remove it when baking or making custards because it can impact the texture of the dish.

MC22 · April 2011

erindworley:

I've read that chefs often remove it when baking or making custards because it can impact the texture of the dish.

Oh, nice. Guess I should be doing the opposite of what I do now! I can just see them in scrambled eggs, so it grosses me out in a huge way.

I'm kind of getting sick to my stomach just reading through this post, talking about raw chicken and chalaza (now that I know the name!). You can all guess what won't be on the menu at our house tonight!

Good thing I still can't cook at home, since that means no chance of me having to do this at least for the rest of this week and probably next week, too.

pondering_gal · April 2011

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, anyone...

But I think with chicken, it's fine to cut the fat off. And with beef, you're supposed to leave the fat on, as your DH said, for flavor.

hz80408 · April 2011

pondering_gal:
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, anyone...

But I think with chicken, it's fine to cut the fat off. And with beef, you're supposed to leave the fat on, as your DH said, for flavor.

I'd believe this.

What about pork?

Xan921 · April 2011

I buy chicken in bulk like a mad woman. Sometimes the stores will have it on sale for $1.79/lb, then I really stock up. I cut all of the fat/gross/weirdness off of ours as well. Jason doesn't clean it as good as I do, so I typically go over it again once he's 'finished'. I cannot stand any kind of fat on my meat...except for the hubby

lol

Mia2700 · April 2011

Xan921:
I buy chicken in bulk like a mad woman. Sometimes the stores will have it on sale for $1.79/lb, then I really stock up. I cut all of the fat/gross/weirdness off of ours as well. Jason doesn't clean it as good as I do, so I typically go over it again once he's 'finished'. I cannot stand any kind of fat on my meat...except for the hubby lol

Yes

Boynton1286 · April 2011

I don't cut mine off before but I do cut every ounce of grossness off before I cook the chicken. I also buy in bulk and have found that if you buy freezer paper and wrap the chicken in the freezer paper and then put it in the bag it stays a lot fresher. I had never heard of freezer paper until my friend recommended it and after using it I wouldn't do it any other way.

hz80408 · April 2011

Boynton1286:
I don't cut mine off before but I do cut every ounce of grossness off before I cook the chicken. I also buy in bulk and have found that if you buy freezer paper and wrap the chicken in the freezer paper and then put it in the bag it stays a lot fresher. I had never heard of freezer paper until my friend recommended it and after using it I wouldn't do it any other way.

What is freezer paper?

I cut, wrap in Press N Seal wrap, and then put in freezer bag.

Although thanks to Erin's suggestion, I'm going to start rinsing it also.

Boynton1286 · April 2011

hz80408:
Boynton1286:
I don't cut mine off before but I do cut every ounce of grossness off before I cook the chicken. I also buy in bulk and have found that if you buy freezer paper and wrap the chicken in the freezer paper and then put it in the bag it stays a lot fresher. I had never heard of freezer paper until my friend recommended it and after using it I wouldn't do it any other way.
What is freezer paper? It is like butcher paper (the stuff they wrap the meat in at Fareway), it is paper-like on one side and plastic-y on the other. I just put the chicken on the plastic side and then wrap it like a present and tape it shut.
I cut, wrap in Press N Seal wrap, and then put in freezer bag.
Although thanks to Erin's suggestion, I'm going to start rinsing it also.

Prepping Chicken

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