Life of Val » recipes

How to Cut Up a Chicken

Val — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:18:17 +0000

1. With chicken breast side up, pull each leg away from body, then slice through skin between breast and drumstick.

2. Turn chicken on its side. Bend each leg back until thighbone pops out of its socket. Cut through joint and skin to detach leg completely.

3. With chicken on its sdie, pull each wing away from body. Cut through joint and remove wing.

4. Lift up chicken and cut downward through rib cage and then shoulder joints to separate breast from back (save back for stock).

5. Place breast skin side down. Split center bone using a chopping motion, then slice through meat and skin to separate into 2 pieces.

6. To cut breast havles into quarters, turn each skin side up and cut in half diagonally through bone.

7. To divide the legs, turn each skin side down and cut through joints (along with fat line) to separate thigh from drumstick.

8. You should end up with 6-10 parts, depending on whether you divided the breast halves and legs.

Traversing the anatomy of a chicken sounds easier than it is. But if you practice a little, you’ll be guest starring on Good Eats in no time. I suggest buying a couple whole chickens and setting aside the time and counter space to do them both at once. You will have a much easier time with the second one once you’ve practiced with the first. Freeze the parts you don’t use. Or, apply any of these steps to individual pieces and notice how much you save. Last week, I made a pasta recipe that called for boneless skinless breasts and bought double the amount of breasts with ribs and skin for half the price.

Tuesday: Regenerating Scallions

Val — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:28:00 +0000

You can thank Melissa from “The Next Food Network Star” for this one:

Put your scallions/green onions (does anyone really know the difference?) root side down in a glass of water after you’ve cut them and they will grow back!

I love this trick! I am going to use my re-growth to try and make tempeh fried rice. Tempeh is a fermented soy product that, in my opinion, has a more appealing flavor and texture than tofu. I love living in a college town where vegetarian food is abundant. We are by no means vegetarians, but as my husband’s thesis has revealed to me the environmental impact of raising beef, pork and chicken, I like to cook a few meat-free meals a week. I first tried Artie’s tempeh at Cafe Gardens and bought a brick to cook myself at Ward’s, our local grocery store.

Teachable Tuesday: Crazy Cream Cheese

Val — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:00:00 +0000

I like to spice up plain cream cheese and make my own flavors. For example, a veggie variety might include shredded carrots, red pepper and green onions. I just made a honey-walnut version today, using Tupelo Honey from Lindsay & Danny’s wedding. Use whatever you have laying around (and let me know how it turns out!).

PS- Here’s a coupon for $1 off Philadelphia cream cheese.

Best Blueberry Banana Muffins

Val — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:14:00 +0000

3-5 Handfuls of blueberries

2 Bananas

1 Cup vegetable oil

2 Eggs

3 Cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking soda

1 Teaspoon salt

1 Cup milk

1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 Cups sugar

1 Cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Set water to boil. Beat all ingredients (except blueberries) with a mixer, adding boiling water last. Fold in blueberries. Pour into greased muffin pans. Make 20 minutes or until done.

Or, leave out the blueberries, add walnuts and bake in loaf pans to make the best banana bread ever.

Have you ever tasted straight-up vanilla? Yuck.