Why does NYT Cooking love boneless chicken thighs?

[Anonymous]

Woody breast is gross.

[Anonymous]

I used to love thighs but they’re grossing me out lately. So rubbery and fatty 🤮

[Anonymous]

Moist and less expensive but it’s a texture thing for me. They always taste slimy and underdone .

[Anonymous]

Because thighs are better and have more taste.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for responding - I’ve been curious for a while and I guess it’s a matter of taste and experience with chicken thighs having the edge these days. I know I can just substitute breast instead of thighs in recipes, but I find that preparation matters and the recipes are always for baking (well, they say roasting which makes it sound more elegant but basically the same thing) and I think there are better ways to work with chicken breast (grill, air fryer or tenderized and pan seared) and it’s just curious to me that the NYT has written off chicken breast so completely, rather than offer up recipes using some of these techniques. But I guess to each their own and I like many of the NYT non chicken recipes so not all lost.

Hmm. I do wonder if the people who do prefer thighs also like red meats with lots of marbling? I’m not a huge steak eater, but definitely prefer the lean, less fatty cuts which I know is the opposite of what many look for.

[Anonymous]

Maybe most NYC residents don’t have grills.

[Anonymous]

I’m your age and had the same initial response. But I do prefer thighs for anything slow cooked where the chicken falls apart. I use it for 40 clove of garlic chicken and for chicken biryani.
Breasts are infinitely better for something quick cooked in oil like a quick sauté or a scallopini. I also think they are better for home made nuggets—they are coated in egg wash for that so they don’t dry out (plus I put olive oil on top).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to like chicken breasts better but now I like chicken tenders. I loke chicken thighs for some dishes but not all.

[headdesk]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for responding - I’ve been curious for a while and I guess it’s a matter of taste and experience with chicken thighs having the edge these days. I know I can just substitute breast instead of thighs in recipes, but I find that preparation matters and the recipes are always for baking (well, they say roasting which makes it sound more elegant but basically the same thing) and I think there are better ways to work with chicken breast (grill, air fryer or tenderized and pan seared) and it’s just curious to me that the NYT has written off chicken breast so completely, rather than offer up recipes using some of these techniques. But I guess to each their own and I like many of the NYT non chicken recipes so not all lost.

Hmm. I do wonder if the people who do prefer thighs also like red meats with lots of marbling? I’m not a huge steak eater, but definitely prefer the lean, less fatty cuts which I know is the opposite of what many look for.

“Elegant?” You sound like one of the desperate people who start threads asking if eating Mac n cheese is trashy or how can you look old money.

[Anonymous]

Because chicken breasts are considered “less than”. You will also not see many NYT recipes that use garlic powder, or cream-of-X soup, for example.

[Anonymous]

The texture and taste of mass market chicken breasts has gotten more and more disgusting in recent years. It grosses me out to cut it raw because it’s so tough against the knife. When I occasionally treat myself to locally-sourced chicken from a butcher shop, it’s like “oh, right, this is how chicken is supposed to taste!” The breasts are not huge, it’s nice and tender and it actually smells and tastes chicken-y when you cook it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the same age and I used to prefer breast but mainly because I never cooked thighs properly. You almost need to overcook them to get the greasiness out of them. Now I prefer them

+1 I use breasts for most quick-cooked recipes and thighs for longer cooking recipes. Laurie Colwin’s Mustard Baked Thighs (conveniently at the NYT, I see! I got mine out one of her books from the library) are an example of a great thighs recipe.

(I got converted to thighs after my eldest was born. I didn’t know how to cook well then and grabbed a Marie Callender’s of all things for a quick lunch. The sides were pretty forgettable but that baked herb chicken thigh hit just right.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to love thighs but they’re grossing me out lately. So rubbery and fatty 🤮

+1 And I can’t even find skin-on, bone-in thighs anymore. Everything is for maximum convenience at the expense of texture and flavor.

[Anonymous]

It’s weird to me people never had thighs growing up. None of you ever had a whole roasted chicken for dinner growing up? Is a whole roasted chicken a budget saving/economizing thing? We had them all the time. Is the no thighs a white people thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s weird to me people never had thighs growing up. None of you ever had a whole roasted chicken for dinner growing up? Is a whole roasted chicken a budget saving/economizing thing? We had them all the time. Is the no thighs a white people thing?

We had roasted whole chicken sometimes, and my mom would buy cut-up chicken parts with thighs included, but the breast meat was always the most sought after, for some reason. I didn’t start to see boneless, skinless chicken breasts a lot until my mom went back to work and it was all about how fast can this be ready.