Chicken Quarters - 1st time, not so much a charm

[BethV]

With this Covid-19, I am dependent on groceries getting delivered. I asked for organic chicken leg quarters and got a bag of 9 huge frozen stuck together chicken leg quarters, and a brand that I have never heard of. I don't buy frozen bone in chicken (other than wings). Having no other choice, and dying to try cooking chicken, I went for it.

I marinated it in homemade Italian Dressing (didn't have bottled or I would have used it) overnight. Used rubs and at the end, BBQ sauce.

Bottom line: There was no evidence of the marinade in flavor or texture. The chicken looked great but it was dry (not overcooked...just dry!), and other than the rub and BBQ sauce it was flavorless. I did learn how to cook chicken quarters and feel like I have a new technique down for my next try at this. Love always learning.

Moral of the story...Don't use inferior meats! I'm a stickler for picking out my own meat and I'm very particular. This was not that kind of meat. I should have cooked it up and made chicken salad out of it!

So, today I did just that. I made BBQ Chicken Salad. Lemonade out of lemons! This preparation is really good and full of flavor and texture.

Tonight I am cooking organic chicken halves. I managed to get a whole organic small chicken out of that shopping adventure. Yay!!!

 

[ndfan6464]

Nicely done..always goes to show that just cause it didnt come out as expected the first way theres always a way to make it something else.. done that few times myself...

Chicken is easy to dry out being that it's a lean meat. I always stuff the skin with something. That way it has a constant hydration. That's if I am doing big portions of the chicken..

Another great cook in the books Mrs B!! What's next??

 

[PSU-85]

Moral of the story...Don't use inferior meats!

For many years I used the store brand chicken, most often boneless skinless Breasts. After a number of less than satisfactory meals I started buying Perdue (our only other option). Not sure they’re available on the west coast but they are much better than store brand. I’m sure you have a west coast equivalent that far exceeds anything the stores are selling. You do get what you pay for and for me the extra money spent on Perdue was well worth it.

There are few good butcher shops near me where I can get good quality pork and beef. Used to be a local poultry farm at the one farmers market but sadly they’ve closed down.

 

[BethV]

@PSU-85 We don't have Perdue but we do have Mary's which is good organic chicken. I will see about getting it from Whole Foods. They use to carry it. The fish monger I use has Mary's as well. But with this pandemic, the line out their door is terrible.

Glendale has a lot of Armenian butcher shops but I am just not too sure where the meats come from. I like Costco's meats (premium) and Restaurant Depot has good meats but quantities are large!

 

[BethV]

Nicely done..always goes to show that just cause it didnt come out as expected the first way theres always a way to make it something else.. done that few times myself...

Chicken is easy to dry out being that it's a lean meat. I always stuff the skin with something. That way it has a constant hydration. That's if I am doing big portions of the chicken..

Another great cook in the books Mrs B!! What's next??

Chicken halves on the smoker tonight!

 

[Blues1]

Lemonade out of lemons! Great job. It's great you thought of another way to use them. I've done the same with a dry brisket. Froze and used later in baked beans.

 

[Gotbbq]

With this Covid-19, I am dependent on groceries getting delivered. I asked for organic chicken leg quarters and got a bag of 9 huge frozen stuck together chicken leg quarters, and a brand that I have never heard of. I don't buy frozen bone in chicken (other than wings). Having no other choice, and dying to try cooking chicken, I went for it.

I marinated it in homemade Italian Dressing (didn't have bottled or I would have used it) overnight. Used rubs and at the end, BBQ sauce.

Bottom line: There was no evidence of the marinade in flavor or texture. The chicken looked great but it was dry (not overcooked...just dry!), and other than the rub and BBQ sauce it was flavorless. I did learn how to cook chicken quarters and feel like I have a new technique down for my next try at this. Love always learning.

Moral of the story...Don't use inferior meats! I'm a stickler for picking out my own meat and I'm very particular. This was not that kind of meat. I should have cooked it up and made chicken salad out of it!

So, today I did just that. I made BBQ Chicken Salad. Lemonade out of lemons! This preparation is really good and full of flavor and texture.

Tonight I am cooking organic chicken halves. I managed to get a whole organic small chicken out of that shopping adventure. Yay!!!

There are so many variables involved when you don’t get the things you are used to. You did a great job making it into something good. Creativity 100%. ??

 

[Big T]

Thanks for sharing too! You did great! You know I also experienced something like this in the past and from that point on I have always done this: Soak the bird with 1 gallon of water - 1 cup of kosher salt - 1 cup of sugar - a few pepper corns - a dash of your favorite spices. place in the fridge for 2 to 6 hours, longer is better. Rinse, pat dry and then liberally dust with your favorite rub. hit that smoker at 275 for 30 min. step it up to 350 for about an hour or so...use that temp probe, dark meat for me 185-190F and take out. Breast - 165-170F. This seems to work for me and my family.
Again...thanks for sharing!

 

[BethV]

Thanks for sharing too! You did great! You know I also experienced something like this in the past and from that point on I have always done this: Soak the bird with 1 gallon of water - 1 cup of kosher salt - 1 cup of sugar - a few pepper corns - a dash of your favorite spices. place in the fridge for 2 to 6 hours, longer is better. Rinse, pat dry and then liberally dust with your favorite rub. hit that smoker at 275 for 30 min. step it up to 350 for about an hour or so...use that temp probe, dark meat for me 185-190F and take out. Breast - 165-170F. This seems to work for me and my family.
Again...thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Beth,
You might also consider injecting chicken. Of the injection mixtures I've tried, I like to add a bit of butter, especially for breast meat. I use chicken broth as the base and add spices/herbs and steep on the stove and cool to inject.

 

[BethV]

Beth,
You might also consider injecting chicken. Of the injection mixtures I've tried, I like to add a bit of butter, especially for breast meat. I use chicken broth as the base and add spices/herbs and steep on the stove and cool to inject.

I bought an injector but have not tried using it yet. I never thought of it for chicken. Thank you for the idea.

 

[Lucent]

I had a less than satisfactory chuck roast so instead of tuna noodle casserole we had chuck roast noodle casserole and it was awesome!!