Paul Is Hungry

I like to cook food. Sometimes I even like to take pictures of the results with my phone camera.

[paulishungry]

The great wing debate

Background

I recently participated in a lively debate on Facebook about whether the 'flats' or 'drumettes' are better when it comes to chicken wings. Preferences for taste aside, some claims were made about which of the two have more meat. That's at least one part of the debate which could be settled scientifically. So a few weeks later, I got to work.

Objective

I decided there were two things I was looking for when it come to meatiness of wings: overall meatiness, and value.

Meatiness

This is a calculation of how much cooked meat you get per wing. If you're ordering a certain count of wings and want to get the most meat, this number is for you.

Value

This is a calculation of how much cooked meat you get per unit of raw chicken. If you're buying raw chicken wings to cook, and would prefer your money to go towards meat and not bones, this is your number.

Terminology

flats: the wing section with two bones drumettes: the wing section with one larger bone, which looks like a miniature drumstick cooked meat: meat and skin, no bone or cartilage, after cooking - what most rational people would consider the edible pieces of a chicken wing

Procedure

Preparation

I purchased about 3lb of whole chicken wings, cut off the wing tips, and then separated the wings into flats and drumetts by cutting through the joint. The wings were seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, and a few other spices. I obtained the total weight of both the flats and drumettes using a kitchen scale.

(click images to enlarge)

Cooking

Wings were cooked on a half sheet pan in a 400 degree oven for 60 minutes. They rested on a silicone non-stick mat for the first half of cooking, and were moved onto a wire rack for the second half. They were flipped twice while cooking on the mat to ensure nice crispy skin.

Disassembly

Wings were allowed to cool for 10 minutes, then I removed the meat from the bone. For flats, this was done by pulling off the cartilage ends, then twisting and sliding out the bones, leaving a mostly-intact boneless chicken wing. For the drumetes, I twisted and pulled the meat from the bone.

Since the wings were well-cooked, the meat from each wing was easily separated from the bone in one big piece. Any small pieces leftover were added to the meat pile. Cartilage was added to the discard pile.

I then weighed the total meat obtained from each wing type.

Results

Conclusion

Meatiness

The drumettes are the clear winner when it comes to meatiness, averaging 37.5g of meat per wing compared to only 26.25g for the flats.

Value

Flats have the best value, with 45g of cooked wing meat per 100g of raw chicken. Both types of wings lost about 39% of their weight during the cooking process. The difference came down to bone and cartilage, which is much more prevalent in the drumettes.

Overall

Both the flats and drumettes tasted absolutely delicious.

Future research

This is only one test... a variety of brands of wings from all over the country can be tested, and prepared in several different ways.

Determining other factors, like ease of eating and tenderness of meat, might be possible with the right experiments.

[paulishungry]

Just because you're camping, it doesn't mean you can't cook up a delicious meal.

Shrimp with vegetables served over corn & cheddar grits is a hearty reward for a long day outdoors.

[paulishungry]

Sorrel is a fancy green common in Eastern Europe but incredibly hard to find in where I live. And when it can be found, it is almost prohibitively expensive. So I grew my own.

I cut it into chiffonade, added it to some pressure-cooker pork stock with potatoes, and once everything was tender, pureed with a stick blender. Added more boiled potatoes, sour cream, and a sous vide soft boiled egg, for a modernist twist on an old-country treat I hadn't tasted in over a decade. 

[paulishungry]

The preparation of true modernist cuisine can be a little ridiculous for the home cook. Here's a modernist-lite take on pot roast.

Sear a half pound of chuck steak and set aside. Reduce heat on the pan and cook half of a medium onion with a pinch of salt until translucent, add a finely diced roma tomato and two smashed  cloves of garlic and cook until the onion has caramelized. Deglaze the pan with water (or stock), add a splash of vinegar and a few peppercorns and reduce until most of the liquid is gone.

Put the steak and the oniony sauce stuff into a heavy duty zip-top bag and squeeze out all the air, then (here's the only tricky part) cook all day in a 170 degree water bath. (Or wrap in some foil and braise in a 200 degree oven for some length of time I can't tell you but will probably be a few hours, until the meat is tender.)

When the meat's finished, stash it somewhere warm but drain all of the juice through a sieve and into a saucepan, and reduce that until it makes a nice sauce. Add a bit of cornstarch slurry to thicken if you want, right before serving.

While the juices are reducing, boil some cubed white potatoes and a chopped carrot for a few minutes, then drain and put them back in the pan with a pat of butter to saute for a few more minutes. Dump in more butter, salt, and brown sugar to make a glaze.

Cut up the chuck, put the sauce over top, and the glazed vegetables on the side.

[paulishungry]

If you haven't tried cooking sous vide yet, what are you waiting for? It's as easy as putting a steak in a freezer bag, squeezing out all the air, and placing it in a pot of 130° water for 45 minutes. After that, just sear it on a cast iron skillet that's as hot as you can get it. Served here with Modernist Macaroni and Cheese and steamed broccoli.

This method will suffice until the Sansaire is out on the market.

[paulishungry]

Kotlety Mielone are polish meat cutlets.

Mix together 3/4lb each of ground beef and ground pork with salt, pepper, garlic powder, a beaten egg, some stale bread soaked in milk, and a half of a large onion that's been diced very finely and caramelized.

Form into patties, coat with breadcrumbs, and fry until delicious. Mushroom gravy is optional, but boiled potatoes are a must.

[paulishungry]

I'd been saving up bones (beef, pork, and chicken) in my freezer and finally had enough to make a whole pot of stock. Half the pot went towards vegetable barley soup, the other half to tomato.  I added several fresh seeded and peeled romas and a can of diced, and blended. Finished with croutons, parmesan, scallions, and a gigantic 5-6 count shrimp, grilled.

[paulishungry]

Pan-seared salmon filet with sauteed crimini mushrooms and lemon caper sauce over angel hair. Also fresh parsley from my year-round balcony herb garden.

[paulishungry]

What do you do when you're back home for Christmas and there's no sausage for breakfast? Grind your own.

If the pork you use is too lean, throw some smoked slab bacon in the grinder as well. If the pork you use is not too lean, it still couldn't hurt to throw some smoked slab bacon in there.

PROTIP: Also use browned bulk sausage in delicious stuffing.

[paulishungry]

I absolutely love potato pancakes. You can use a food processor, but an old-fashioned box grater will yield a better texture.

Potato pancakes are great with a variety of toppings, some rather surprising. My favorite is cottage cheese, you can also try honey, sugar, sour cream, ketchup, and Limburger cheese.

[paulishungry]

Soak chicken thighs in buttermilk for a couple of days. Season, coat in flour, and fry.

[paulishungry]

Hot Dog Mac n Cheese Casserole

Boil up some spiral pasta.

Make a Béchamel sauce, add a TON of cheese, and mix it with the pasta.

Put the pasta and sauce into a casserole, add hot dogs and more cheese.

Bake until delicious.

[paulishungry]

When it's cucumber season at the farmers market, buy a bunch and make refrigerator pickles. It's really easy.

[paulishungry]

This is slow food. Brine a chicken all day, then smoke/roast in a Weber with lump charcoal and hickory chips for two hours. Worth the wait.

[paulishungry]

4 ingredient ice cream: milk, cream, sugar, vanilla extract

[paulishungry]

1 skillet full of onions + 1 lb of short ribs + too much mozzarella = french onion soup

[paulishungry]

I always get carried away and make too much. Through the miracles of modern science, however, this soup can be held in suspended animation in my freezer, for the next time I crave potato bacon leek soup.