Whipping Post / First Chicken Trim

Balls Casten

Balls Casten

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Ok guys, our team has never trimmed chicken pre cook. We would just purchase several packs then pick the 6 that looked similar in size.

Here is my first attempt …. Whip away! Honest and constructive criticism please.
 
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The shape looks pretty to me. Looks like you did a nice job squaring off the meat.

Did you shave off the fat under the skin? The ends of the skin look a little chubby, especially on that bottom left one. Those folded over ends will stay flabby and tough because the skin's doubled over along the edges. Shaving the fat will keep reduce that effect.
 
Professor Salt said:
The shape looks pretty to me. Looks like you did a nice job squaring off the meat.

Did you shave off the fat under the skin? The ends of the skin look a little chubby, especially on that bottom left one. Those folded over ends will stay flabby and tough because the skin's doubled over along the edges. Shaving the fat will keep reduce that effect.
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thank you, that looks worse than it is. How much will the skin shrink when cooked? I tried to leave as much skin as I could without large hunks of skin overlaping.

Yes I did try to scrape the fat off th skin as much as possible.

One piece, the skin fell 90% off when I washed it. Will the skin adhear to the meat or is that a piece I should not us for comps?
 
If you pin the skin to the bottom with toothpicks the skin will shrink by becoming thinner vs. smaller and thicker. Be sure to count the number of toothpicks you put in and account for all of them when you remove them. Don't use colored ones or they will dye the meat.
 
Balls Casten said:
We would just purchase several packs then pick the 6 that looked similar in size.
Click to expand...
This jumped out at me. Only six?
We tend to find that you never really know how each piece is going to trim out or cook up, so poor VQ goes ahead and trims everything we've got (except for the ones that are obviously too tiny, or whatever). From those I select the best-matching to cook, then another round of elimination comes after cooking.
 
DivaHerself said:
This jumped out at me. Only six?
We tend to find that you never really know how each piece is going to trim out or cook up, so poor VQ goes ahead and trims everything we've got (except for the ones that are obviously too tiny, or whatever). From those I select the best-matching to cook, then another round of elimination comes after cooking.
Click to expand...

Excuse me, yes we will cook 12 or 18, sometimes more then chose 6. But we did not trim anything. But thats changing this year. Well at least until we start drinking and say screw it. :wink:
 
Big George's BBQ said:
They look pretty good. Would like to see the finished product
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Cooking them tonight, will post pics AFTER I'm done eating.

They are not stuffed, I pulled some of the skin back and trimed fat and some meat so that all were of equal size. Some I could get tooth picks in and some the skin would not streach that far.
 
One option I've used is skewers, usually two metal ones will do three to four pieces. No worry about leaving them and a added bonus is the skin likes the heat transfer. Now I just trim longer skin and cook at higher temps. Nice trim for starting out. Steve.
 
VGuilford said:
Just ask Jeff@kc about the shaving technique. He's a master with the lady Schick.
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Ummm that's Jeff IN KC. The other one is just some funny as hell farker who won the American Royal! :lol: Anyway, when you scrape the fat off the bottom of the skin, you have to work it until it's rice paper thin. In fact, I try to be able to clearly see the color of the meat through the skin when I wrap it around. You need a very sharp paring knife to make it work and therein lies the problem - a very sharp knife is risky as you tend to accidently slice holes in the skin when you get it thin. Pretty frustrating to get a piece you shape nicely, get it trimmed properly and all of the sudden ruin it with a big ol' hole right on top. :roll:
 
Jeff_in_KC said:
In fact, I try to be able to clearly see the color of the meat through the skin when I wrap it around. You need a very sharp paring knife to make it work and therein lies the problem - a very sharp knife is risky as you tend to accidently slice holes in the skin when you get it thin.
Click to expand...
So do you pull the skin entirely off to do this?
 
Balls Casten said:
So do you pull the skin entirely off to do this?
Click to expand...

Not usually... I try to get the most I can on each side without the skin coming off. Usually that's almost to the top of the thigh. That seems to be where the most fat is anyway. Sometimes it just happens that it all comes off while working with it. I look for places to keep it attached even if it's just a couple of points. But I use toothpicks so that it stretches the skin even tighter and thinner when it draws up during cooking. Again, this is a crap shoot and due to my methods, I usually cook a couple dozen pieces "just in case".
 
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