What can I do with piles of chicken skin?

[Afterburner]

So, continuing down my path towards actually cooking real food for dinner every night instead of microwaving Hot Pockets for dinner every night, tonight I mangled...er...deboned a whole chicken.

Skinless, boneless chicken breasts: $3.99/lb

Whole chicken (which, after a suitable amount of work, contains, in addition to other stuff, 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts): $0.89/lb (it was on sale)

The economic argument here is compelling.

But I digress.

Anyhow, since I was cutting this chicken up for the express purpose of having two (2) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, I removed the skin. And then...had no clue what to do with it.

I had asked my foodie friend if skin was good for stock, and he said "Not really. It adds more fat than it adds flavor, and you're just gonna hafta skim that out anyways."

And I can't throw it into the trashcan because I have a dog who will gladly dig it out.

And I'm a little hesitant to throw it down the disposal.

So what can I do with this stuff?

[petite tête de chou]

Yum!

[Behemoth]

Salt it, bake it until crispy and then use it on top of salads or (let's be honest) eat it straight out of the oven like a potato chip.

But why on earth would you want a boneless, skinless chicken breast?

edit: oops, I was too slow. Great minds think alike, I guess.

Edited January 26, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[Susan in FL]

Send it to me.

[wattacetti]

I doubt there's adequate material there to say, render chicken fat from it, so it's going to be crackling or nothing.

Behemoth is however, right: chicken breast with the skin on allows you to do things like keep the chicken breast moist while cooking, having something to slip flavoring agents under and adding another texture and related flavor to the final dish.

Unless you're doing something like microwaving the pieces straight, keep the skins on the next chicken you section.

[torakris]

chicken skin makes great yakitori! Thread it onto a skewer brush it with some yakitori sauce and grill.

I also once saw a recipe for a pseudo Peking duck, made by cooking chicken skins until crisp then adding then to Chinese style pancakes with some hoisin sauce, cucumbers and scallions....

[wattacetti]

I also once saw a recipe for a pseudo Peking duck, made by cooking chicken skins until crisp then adding then to Chinese style pancakes with some hoisin sauce, cucumbers and scallions....

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That's a cool idea and beats that heck out of trying to inflate a chicken. What did they use to substitute for the slivers of duck meat? Slivers of chicken I presume…

[torakris]

I also once saw a recipe for a pseudo Peking duck, made by cooking chicken skins until crisp then adding then to Chinese style pancakes with some hoisin sauce, cucumbers and scallions....

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That's a cool idea and beats that heck out of trying to inflate a chicken. What did they use to substitute for the slivers of duck meat? Slivers of chicken I presume…

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nothing! it was just chicken skin and nothing else...

[CityCook]

you can render it over med-high heat and save the fat that runs out; this is what Jews call "Schmaltz," and it is a valuable cooking medium and ingredient. Use it instead of butter the next time you make roux, and you will introduce a nice chicken flavor to your dish. Use it to fry in, as long as you're not using super high heat (the schmaltz doesn't have a really high smoke point, as is the case with a lot of saturated fats).

[iriee]

render it with salt like everyone says. then crush it over pasta,,,rissoto or a good chicken and dumpling. i use it pureed into a ravioli filling ,,,but maybe a crush it into a meatball filling or spring roll. hmmmmmm the ideas are there,,,just think intense chicken flavor.enjoy!

[Ling]

^I agree! I just made schmaltz last week, and then I poured the fat over potato wedges. Roast at 450 for about 45 minutes (with lots of salt and pepper) and you have the BEST potatoes you've ever eaten!

[akur23]

Render it and use it instead of pork for soups (I use it in split pea instead of ham).

[Daddy-A]

Damn ... I need to upload some pictures here.

Peppyre and I did duck confit last week, and the duck fat she picked up from the butcher was riddled with little bits of duck skin. Once the fat was rendered (and happily confit-ing the duck legs) we took the bits of skin, spread them out on a cookie sheet, and put them under the broiler for a bit to get them all crispy.

The result was little, Freeto-sized bits of crispy duck skin ... some with bits of meat still attached. I've conditioned myself over the last 10 years to not eat poultry skin (fat issues) but this was just too damn good! At the very least I have a bag of really fancy dog treats!

A.

[CaliPoutine]

Damn ... I need to upload some pictures here. 

Peppyre and I did duck confit last week, and the duck fat she picked up from the butcher was riddled with little bits of duck skin.  Once the fat was rendered (and happily confit-ing the duck legs) we took the bits of skin, spread them out on a cookie sheet, and put them under the broiler for a bit to get them all crispy.

The result was little, Freeto-sized bits of crispy duck skin ... some with bits of meat still attached.  I've conditioned myself over the last 10 years to not eat poultry skin (fat issues) but this was just too damn good!  At the very least I have a bag of really fancy dog treats!

A.

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Ok, forget the chicken skin, Im drooling over the fabulous kitchens you designed.

[Tonyy13]

Absolutely!!! I have been waiting for this post, what a great thing. We used to serve a chicken skin salad for staff meal at my restaurant in Provi before we closed. It consisted of heriloom tomato scrap wedges, thin red onion, roasted corn, balsmac vinaigrette, large soft crutons of toasted bread (think panzanella) and then these gorgeous pieces of deep fried until crispy chicken skin. It was the best!! We do really need a drooling smillee...

[deltadoc]

I know what McDonald's does with chicken skins! They magically turn them into Chicken nuggets, for that High Cholesterol diet.

doc

[SobaAddict70]

Salt it, bake it until crispy and then use it on top of salads or (let's be honest) eat it straight out of the oven like a potato chip.

But why on earth would you want a boneless, skinless chicken breast?

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Why on earth, indeed?

edit: it occurs to me that Behemoth and others may not know that particular eGullet in-joke....so click here, here, here, and here.

Soba

[lovebenton0]

And yes, you are going to skim the fat off your chicken stock but the fat still imparts flavor. Think of it this way -- you don't skin your chicken before making stock. I throw all that in a bag in the freezer, rescued carcass parts, bones, skin. When I've collected as much as I want I make stock. A little -- just enough for a meal if I need it -- or a full load.

[budrichard]

When whole chickens go on sale, I purchase them two at a tiime. Save the wings for Buffalo Style, debone (don't forget the oysters!) , the carcass and leg thigh bones of the two birds are the base for chicken soup of whatever ethnic variety you want. The rest of the boneless meat can be used any way you want. The skin is rendered and the Schmaltz used as described. The cracklins ala duck are used as is or on salads. Had duck Pomme Frites the other night!

After the soup is done, you can debone the cooked chicken that was left on the bones and use it in a chicken dish like tetrazinni. Only problem is that it is mushy. We always add uncooked chicken to our stock about 30 minutes before serving. The texture of the chicken is much better than letting it cook for a couple of hours in the stock. -Dick

[Soup]

I've been buying whole birds this winter and cutting it myself. I find it cheaper and I have the carcass left over to make some great stock (I have pot going right now). But I don't use skin in my stock (I wonder it will improve it?). Anyway what can I do with the left over chicken skin? I have a bunch saved in a zip lock bag in my freezer.

Soup

[prasantrin]

Fry it and eat it as a snack (like pork rinds). Personally, I like it sprinkled with a bit of salt and Fiipino-style garlic and chile vinegar and eaten with freshly cooked rice. But if I don't have rice, I'll dip it in ketchup.

Then you can use the fat rendered from the frying for other good stuff like making hash browns or similar.

[Chef Jonny]

If you're a bit worried about too much fat in your stock, here's a trick you can use to still add the chicken skin. In a deep pan with parchment layed out and flowing over the edges(this will create a lot of smoke and excess fat...), put a wire tray inside the pan, the skin on top and roast the skin until it's nice and crispy. You'll notice a lot of fat rendered off - it's your discression if you want to keep that or feed it to the wildlife. Then, add that to the stock - it'll create a very nice flavor to the broth.

[scubadoo97]

I was recently boning a batch of chicken thighs and took a few of the skins and scraped most of the fat out with a knife then placed them in a hot pan to further render any fat and crisp them up. No grease on the tongue and they were really good. My wife refused to even try one. Oh well.

[Nicholas Ellan]

Last time I had this problem, we wrapped prawns in chicken skin and deep-fried them. Ridiculous, but tasty.

Seconding rendering them - you end up with tasty chicken fat and tasty chicken cracklings. It's not duck, but it'll do.

[heidih]

Last time I had this problem, we wrapped prawns in chicken skin and deep-fried them. Ridiculous, but tasty.

Brilliant! It is on "the list"