To ask why all the chicken thigh hate?

[crumpetswithjam]

I pretty much exclusively cook with chicken thighs, mainly because they're cheaper, but also because they have more flavour than breasts. Occasionally I might buy breasts and dice them for stir fries or fajitas but that's v occasional.

Today I went to buy some chicken for kebabs for dinner, obviously looked for thighs. Did I find any? Nope: breasts as far as the eye could see. Six breasts. Four breasts. Two breasts. Breast mini fillets. Diced breast. Breast strips.

Two measly sad-looking packs of 3/4 thighs, use by date today.

Where are all the thighs going, or have we now managed to genetically engineer giant-breasted legless chickens?

I meant when I cook with chicken I pretty much exclusively use thighs. I don't eat chicken thighs every night. I'm not mad.

People are having to cut back so buying thighs when they would normally buy breasts I guess?

I did think this, but the shelf space for thighs is about 1/4 the size of that for breasts.

Chicken thighs taste much better than breasts. I always buy them.

I can't believe how much thighs have gone up in price, skinless and boneless thighs were more expensive in Sainsburys the other week than breast.

Because it belongs on a chicken that never left a barn with 10,000 others, was starved of food and water 24 hours (at least) before being roughly forced in to a plastic crate on its way to be hung upside down and dropped in to boiling hot electrified water?

I don't want to deal with the bone and I don't like dark meat.

We do only really put it in things like Mexican and curries though. I buy it rarely enough that I will pay the extra for diced breast.

I agree. When i did buy some breasts recently I was surprised how massive they were. I think chickens must be mutants now as i swear thighs havent got bigger by the same amount.

I think people tend to like softer, blander meat. And breasts cook quickly, and don't take much home butchering or carving, whereas (if you buy bone-in and skin-on highs anyway), you need to take them apart a bit.
I always buy thighs, although I admit I often go for boneless for speed and because I have a painful hand condition so sometimes can't face fiddling with those with bone/skin still on. They taste better and are a lot cheaper.

I never really find thighs that much cheaper, once you consider all the inedible bits the actual meat isn’t a lot.

Chicken thighs are so much tastier. But they're higher in calories and fat. So it depends what you care about more.

There’s a lot of fat coming out of thighs when you cook them, so I prefer breast.

Thank you for explaining the process of chicken slaughter to me.

Really fancy that kebab now.

The fat is where the flavour is!

Eh? None of the bits are inedible. They're all delicious.

The halal section on the chicken aisle in Tesco used to do pre diced chicken thigh. Not sure if they still do, but a lot of people might not notice it there.

No halal section down here in The Shire

Whereas chicken breasts grow on trees?

I love thighs. I always buy the ones with skin and bones. More flavour than breast, plus crispy chicken skin is amazing.

You could be forgiven for thinking they do @DanielRicciardosSmile given the display in my local Tesco today!

Personally I don’t class gristle and none as edible but you do you.

Health campaigning in the 70s onwards (incorrectly) taught people that fat = bad and makes you fat. So loads of people in the UK avoid legs and thighs because they believe they’re unhealthy and choose breasts instead. You’ll find a much better selection of non-breast parts of the chicken in world food stores and butchers in areas with large Chinese, African and Asian populations, where they’re much more widely used in cooking.

Would you like me to list all body parts?

Breast are so dry and shite! Thighs have much more flavour and don't dry out