Chicken & Two Cultures

I wrote about this ages ago, but didn't post it. I had decided it was just my imagination until I had a conversation with Jane when she was here. De-boning the turkey after Thanksgiving reminded me of it.

I'm not sure if it's a British thing or just Jane and Bill, but they have a different approach to eating meat/poultry off the bone. Bill eats chicken with a knife and fork and I understand this is also Jane's approach to pork chops. Brits tend also to eat pizza and chips (French Fries) with a knife and fork; I will admit it is a bit neater, but not as much fun.

Chris and I, on the other hand, grew up eating with our fingers. We are happy to use cutlery up to a point, but when the going gets tough we just pick it up and chew the remaining the meat off the bones. I guess Chris and I are just uncouth colonials who grew up barbequeing.

I've found that I actually miss the satisfaction of eating with my fingers, but Bill made it known some years ago that he didn't like dishes that had 'small bits of chicken' in them and he thought chicken parts were a waste of time (and I would agree if I had to get all the meat with utensils). This was all a big mystery to me until I found that perhaps his Mom hadn't always been sufficiently careful to avoid the gristle-y bits, cartlege, joints and the like.

I've fallen into the habit of buying chicken breasts at about 4 times the price per pound/kilo that a whole bird costs, just because they are so simple to cook and because of Bill's dislike of 'bits'. Then I began to experiment, being very careful with the de-boning process, and we now eat more whole chicken, chicken off the bone in casseroles, chicken soup with 'bits'. I can't say I much care for the process of picking the meat off the bones for other uses, but my reward is the initial meal when I get the wings and the legs and give them a good chewing, in my barbaric cave woman style.