Chicken Backs

[fimbul]

Not sure this is really a DC Area only sorta thread, but it was a local experience, so....

I started assisting the Fundamental Culinary Techniques classes at L'Academie de Cuisine last night (I'm a volunteer asistant, just in it for the experience -- in return for helping out, assistants can take half-priced classes later on). My first task upon arriving early at the kitchen was cleaning chicken backs. Having just read Malawry's cooking school diary earlier, I remembered her descriptions of doing much the same thing, in the same kitchen, and could only chuckle to myself. It's a strange feeling to feel the cyber-world and the real one overlap.

Strangely, I find I don't mind cleaning chicken backs. It's one of those mundane, menial tasks that allows you to let your mind wander... at least until your hands go numb from being immersed in cold chicken parts for long periods of time.

Just thought I'd share.

[Malawry]

Chicken backs really bothered me initially, but now I don't even pay attention to what they are when I'm working on them. It would be silly to get upset about it, especially since I now eat things like chicken on a somewhat regular basis.

Were you at the Gaithersburg school? Or the Bethesda one?

[fimbul]

I was in Gaithersburg. The Fundamental Culinary Techniques class is billed as a "continuing education" type thingy. It's taught by Chef Susan Watterson and is aimed at folks who may or may not be thinking of cooking for a living, so I guess they want to use their more profession facility.

As for the chicken backs, I wasn't too bothered, since I'm squarely in the omnivorous camp and I'm a cheap bastard -- this means I eat fowl and refuse to pay extra for pieces when I can buy a whole bird and cut it up myself, so I'm comfortable with the mess. The only thing daunting about last night's task was the sheer number of chicken backs. The poor guy I was working with seemed a bit upset, though, when I mentioned that the dark bits we were clearing away were kidneys. I felt bad.

[Malawry]

Could be worse. Chef Peter once tossed a squab head at me after we were teasing him about beheading the poor creatures.

I've heard Chef Susan's classes are pretty good. Will you be assisting this class for its entire run? (*mutters "sucker" under breath*) Lots of people who assist do so because they want to take the classes but don't feel the expense is justifiable. It used to be possible to volunteer your way through the full-time program (I know at least one person who completed the program this way a long time ago) but I don't think they do this anymore. Fulltime students clean their own chicken backs.

Did you by any chance attend the party for assistants in Gaithersburg on Sunday, December 8? If so, I was the chick hawking Chef Somchet's egg rolls. If not, well, you'll get invited to the same party next December but I will not be there.

[Dave the Cook]

First cooking job I ever had (25 years ago) was to thaw, shell, devein and butterfly 100 pounds of frozen U-10 shrimp. Icy, hand- and head-numbing miserable work. It also precipitated an allergy that persists to this day -- if I shell raw shrimp my hands swell up and itch like crazy. I feel for you.

BTW, cheap bastards rule.

[Stone]

I cooked a Christmas dinner in Puerto Vallarta one year. We picked up some cut up chicken parts in a supermarket -- displayed as per U.S.-usual in a foam tray covered with plastic wrap. When I get them home and opened the wrap, I let out a howl when I saw that the neck and head were still attached, but folded under the rest of the chicken. Hell, I once worked for a vet and assisted with all types of operations on dogs and cats, but I had the hardest time touching that chicken neck.

[Dave the Cook]

According to SuzanneF, chicken heads float.

[Malawry]

I beheaded a case of squabs for the Christmas Great dinners at school. After a while I got to enjoy the satisfying crunch of my chef's knife through the upper vertebrae.

Dude, I used to be a vegetarian. What happened?

I do cases of U-10 shrimp at work now, Dave. I dunno which are weirder: the ones that look like they went on a hunger strike (so I have to hunt to find the vein) or the ones who look like they dined on Plutonium (with the safety orange veins to prove it). I wear gloves when I do them. No desire to develop a shellfish intolerance. That seems to happen to a lot of people.

[fimbul]

I've heard Chef Susan's classes are pretty good. Will you be assisting this class for its entire run? (*mutters "sucker" under breath*)

I am indeed assisting for the whole run (20 weeks). I took the class last semester, and figured I could codify what I learned by coming back and doing it all again.

It's not too bad a gig; I enjoy being in a kitchen no matter what I'm doing, and, since I'm still waffling as to whether or not to take the full professional class, I figure this will give me more experience on which to base my decision. (Me? I don't do snap decisions well.) Though, if I could volunteer my way through the whole program, my decision might be made a lot easier. At least part of what's holding me back is the pricetag.

Since this is my first assisting job, I wasn't at the December 8th thing. I'll look forward to next year's though.

[fimbul]

According to SuzanneF, chicken heads float. 

They do seem to. I've ended up making a sort-of catch all fowl stock a couple of times from the bones of squabs, pheasant, and regular supermarket chicken. I saw no reason not to toss the squab heads into the stock pot with the rest, and the heads always seemed to find their way to the top.

The only fowl that's ever really squicked me was a black chicken. I saw it in the Korean grocery store near work and thought, "Wow! A *BLACK* chicken! I gotta buy it!" After a couple weeks of eyeing the thing in my freezer, I realized, "Um... That's a black chicken. It looks like ass. I have to eat it."

When I finally did thaw it and eat it, I ignored everything I read, all of which told me to turn the thing into soup. I, like a doofus, spatchcocked it and roasted it. Ever seen black fat (glistening on black meat, under black skin)? *shudder*

It too came with its head on, which also ended up in a stock pot. That was also gross.

From now on, I only eat chicken-colored chicken.

Edited January 23, 2003 by fimbul (log)

[Dave the Cook]

the ones who look like they dined on Plutonium (with the safety orange veins to prove it).

So that's what those are. Thanks.

I wear gloves when I do them. No desire to develop a shellfish intolerance. That seems to happen to a lot of people.

This was back in the day -- when gloves were for tourists.

"Wow! A *BLACK* chicken! I gotta buy it!" After a couple weeks of eyeing the thing in my freezer, I realized, "Um... That's a black chicken. It looks like ass. I have to eat it."

Edited January 23, 2003 by Dave the Cook (log)

[guajolote]

the dark bits we were clearing away were kidneys.

So that's what those are. Did you save the kidneys to make something with them? That is my favorite part of the chicken. When I'm carving a whole chicken I reach inside and snag those two little bits for myself before anyone else can eat them.

[fimbul]

Did you save the kidneys to make something with them? That is my favorite part of the chicken. When I'm carving a whole chicken I reach inside and snag those two little bits for myself before anyone else can eat them.

You know... It never occured to me to save them. We were told to just toss the kidneys out last night, and, in my own experience, well, it's just not something I ever thought of. Most probably, this is because the only time I ever hear anyone refer to a chicken kidney is when they tell me to remove and discard it. I suspect the kidneys are small enough so that most folks don't feel they're worth the trouble of preparing separately (plus they tend to smear a bit if you pull them off raw), so they fall by the wayside.

I'll nibble on one next time I roast a chicken though.

[coastcat]

I must admit that I cringed when Malawry wrote about cleaning chicken backs. But it wasn't because of the cleaning part - I was more horrified by those wonderful chicken backs being relegated to stock! When I cut up whole chickens, the backs are saved as "cook's treat". They're wonderful roasted (450F) with salt/pepper or a mild spice rub, with the skin patted dry and then oiled to crisp it up a bit. The neck and gizzard go into the roasting pan, too. And that's lunch.

(But I've always tossed the kidneys... never even occurred to me to taste them. Perhaps next time?)