Tips for making bargain-buy chicken taste great

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Right up front I'll admit that the 10-pound package of chicken quarters is not appealing.

The chicken is stuffed into a thick, barely translucent plastic bag. There is no way to tell much about the chicken pieces inside. And there is a little liquid in the bottom of the bag indicating that the chickens have lost some moisture in defrosting.

But, if there is not much liquid and the price is reasonable, don't pass up such bargain buys on chicken. This is a deal.

Leg-thigh quarters may be selling for 25 cents a pound -- but the challenge is that these value-priced chicken quarters may be packaged only in 10-pound bags.

You have to re-portion the chicken to make the bulk-buy practical. But don't complain. You are getting a lot of chicken for $2.50. When you get the chicken home, immediately repackage it to fit your cooking needs.

What you will find when you slit open the bag is that the chicken quarters are large, meaning the chicken pieces are cut from slightly older chickens. The meat is plump, smells fresh, but there are wedges of excess fat or excess fat tags that should be trimmed from the chicken quarters.

Most of the quarters also have pieces of what I think are chicken liver still attached. You'll want to remove as much fat as possible and the bits of liver before washing each chicken quarter. When washed, drop the cleaned chicken in a plastic freezer bag and seal. If you use the quart-size bags, you will be able to fit only one leg-thigh quarter in each bag.

Freeze all the chicken quarters you don't want to cook today or tomorrow. There have been 11 leg-thigh quarters in the 10-pound bags I've purchased.

Next, you'll want to think about how to cook the leg-thigh quarters.

I tried simple roasting and oven barbecuing; the results were not satisfying. The chickens never got tender. I think the problem is the age of the chickens: These were large pieces, and the tendons on the legs were fully developed, something you never see on most young chickens sold as fryers.

A discussion on the differences in light and dark meat in "How to Read a French Fry and Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science," a cookbook and culinary technique guide by Russ Parsons, food editor of the Los Angeles Times, pointed out that dark-meat chicken needs to be cooked past 160 degrees to make sure that all the connective tissue has softened.

The legs and thighs needed to be cooked longer and with some moisture to tenderize the meat. I found I could bake the quarters if I both marinated ahead and provided moisture while the meat cooked.

The meat developed peak flavor and tenderness when slow-cooked or stewed, cooked with moisture, or when it was boiled and deboned to use in casseroles and salads.

I was a little disappointed that my bargain-buy chicken was more time-consuming to prepare, so I tried one more experiment -- cooking the meat, deboning and freezing to use later.

Would the texture and flavor suffer after being frozen?

Not in the least, I discovered. The cooked dark meat freezes even better than cooked white meat, with no perceptible taste or texture loss.

So, if the cook has time and wants to prepare, say, 5 pounds of the chicken quarters, debone and freeze the meat, the meat will be in the freezer ready to use.

Here are a few adapted recipes for cooking leg-thigh chicken quarters.

Chicken Mandarin

4 dark meat chicken quarters

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup orange marmalade

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Rinse chicken quarters with cold water; pat dry. Place chicken in a large shallow dish.

Combine soy sauce and remaining ingredients in a small bowl; stir well. Pour marinade over chicken.

Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours, turning chicken occasionally.

Remove chicken from marinade, reserving marinade. Place marinade in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Place chicken on rack in a shallow roasting pan. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 F for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until juices run clear when thigh is pierced with a fork. Baste occasionally with marinade.

Makes 4 servings.

Foil-Baked Chicken

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1/2 cup water

8 leg-thigh chicken quarters

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine all ingredients except chicken quarters. Dip chicken quarters in sauce. Place each chicken quarter on a separate piece of heavy foil. Pour 1 tablespoon sauce over each portion; seal foil securely.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Open packets; brush with remaining sauce. Bake 15 minutes more.

Makes 8 servings.

Chicken Spaghetti

4 leg-thigh chicken quarters

1 teaspoon salt

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 onions, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

1 large (28-ounce) can tomatoes

2 small (6-ounce) cans tomato paste

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 pound spaghetti noodles

1 cup grated Cheddar or Velveeta cheese

Cook chicken in water with 1 teaspoon salt until meat falls off bones. Cool. Pull meat from bones and break into small pieces. Reserve broth.

Saute pepper, onion and celery in a little broth. Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Boil gently, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add chicken and cream of mushroom soup. Mix well.

Use chicken broth (add water if necessary) to cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain spaghetti.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease two large casseroles or a small roaster. Combine spaghetti with chicken mixture. Stir in grated cheese (reserve a little to sprinkle on top). Add about 2 cups of chicken broth (chicken bouillon or a can of chicken broth may be substituted) to moisten.

Place casseroles in oven and bake at 350 degrees until mixture and cheese on top are bubbly.

Makes 6 servings.

Cook's note: This really is better the second day, although it's mighty good at the "first eating."

Tommy C. Simmons is the food editor of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.